The Golden Star Wednesday, June 27, 2012
Health cares Dear Editor, The recently published Canadian Wait Time Alliance Report Card on wait times for medical care in Canada contains two findings that should make members of the public and policy makers take note. The report estimates that one in six hospital beds are now occupied by patients who do not require acute care services but who end up in hospital due to a shortage of preventative, community-based health ser-
Thanks to Hospice On behalf of Golden & District Hospital and Staff we’d like to thank the members of the Hospice Society for the acute care patient lounge makeover. They’ve been working with Hospital staff for the past several months to improve and beautify the lounge.
vices. Wait times are best addressed by improving the entire health care continuum and investing in primary health care services, including home support and residential care, that will improve quality of care for seniors and keep them out of expensive and inappropriate hospital beds. The report also notes the important role played by the federal government in setting national health strategies and facilitating their implementation. Much progress has been made in reducing wait times in the five areas identified as priorities by fed-
eral, provincial and territorial governments under the 2004 Health Accord. Unfortunately, the federal government has stated that after the current Health Accord expires in 2014, it will continue to provide some funding, but no leadership for health care. This isn’t good enough. Our publicly funded health care system requires the shared commitment and cooperation of Ottawa and the provinces. Rick Turner, Co-chair, BC Health Coalition
Through their efforts and input, the area has been completely renovated and updated. Renovations included painting the room, building a half wall for privacy and the installation of new ceiling lights. The volunteers purchased the new furniture and TV for the area; making the room comfortable for the patients using the space. We truly appreciate the Hospice
Society’s commitment to the community and facility and are thrilled with the changes to the lounge. Thank you for the wonderful “makeover”.
Oily subject Dear Editor: There’s been another pipeline leak in Alberta. About 230,000 litres of black gold has spilled all over farmland near Elk Point, northeast of Edmonton. It’s the third dystopic gusher in a month. Crews are still working to clean up an 800,000 litre spill from a well owned by Pace Oil & Gas Ltd close to the Northwest Territories border, and a spill of up to 480,000 litres from a Plains Midstream Canada pipeline into the Red Deer River. The pipeline involved in the most recent spill belongs to Enbridge. That company is currently undergoing com-
www.thegoldenstar.net A7
Star EDITORIAL AND OPINION
Erica Phillips-Golden and Invermere Acute Health Services Administrator Christine Bailey, Golden and District Hospital Site Manager
munity hearings in anticipation of building the Northern Gateway Pipeline from Bruderheim, Alberta to Kitimat, B.C. that’s set to traverse rugged mountains, pristine wilderness and areas of high geotechnical risk, including avalanches, slides and seismic activity. The bitumin will then be loaded onto supertankers bound for Asia that really have no hope of safely navigating the notoriously treacherous waters of the Inside Passage. In April, NDP leader Adrian Dix said that under the Enbridge proposal, British Columbia would assume almost all the project’s risk, yet would see only a fraction of the benefits. By any measure, such a high-risk, low-return approach simply isn’t in B.C.’s interests.” In May, Premier Christy Clark described the Northern Gateway project as a balance of risk
Committee says no to provincial ban The British Columbia Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticide use should be commended for examining the issue of urban pesticide use so thoroughly. The committee received 8675 submissions and held 22 meetings where presentations were made by dozens of witnesses including experts from Health Canada, environmental groups, industry organizations, scientific organizations and academics. In the end, the committee made 17 recommendations but came to the conclusion that scientific evidence does not warrant preventing British Columbians from buying and using approved pesticides so pesticides should not be banned in B.C. The committee did its due diligence on this topic and discovered that pesticides in Canada are regulated by Health Canada’s Pest Management Regulatory Agency which employs over 350 scientists who are experts in their field. The review process involves a comprehensive set of 200 tests and a review of all
and benefit. She admitted that the project would create almost no jobs in B.C. It creates some jobs in the construction phase but there are very few long-term jobs that would be left in the province after that. Like Dix, she concluded that it’s a high-risk, low-return game. B.C. is taking 100 per cent of the risk. But at the moment B.C. gets about the same benefit as Nova Scotia.” The risk-benefit ratio could improve, of course, if Alberta offers B.C. access fees or a share of royalties. But it’s still a no-win proposition when one calculates the profound costs of the inevitable spills and the loss of the coastline, the fisheries, and the ancestral grounds of First Nations livelihood
scientifically credible studies that exist to ensure the product will not cause harm to people, animals or the environment. If the report from the committee had been different and they had instead recommended a ban, the groups that are unhappy with the actual outcome would be commending the government on a thorough process that looked at all available science before making the decision they did. It’s ironic that these same groups only like the growing and suggestive body of evidence when it yields the answer they want fortunately for Canadians science doesn’t work that way. The B.C. Special Committee on Cosmetic Pesticide Use did look at all available science and made the right decision to continue to ensure British Columbians have access to useful tools to protect private and public properties from pests. Sincerely, Lorne Hepworth President, CropLife Canada representing the plant science industry
and culture. Just last week the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives released a report, A Green Industrial Revolution, showing that carbon-intensive industrial policies can be overcome and a transition made to a sustainable economy and a zero carbon Canada. It’s scarcely the first report of its kind. Such possibilities are anything but new news. There’s actually no reason for Canadians to be browbeaten into embracing fossil fuel development as a divine order and oil spills as the status quo by politicians who are acting on behalf of their corporate sponsors, the oil and gas industry, rather than their constituents. Dianne Varga Kelowna, BC
Rural British Columbians want more say in how forest lands are managed June and July are generally a time when I get back into the constituency after the Spring Legislative Session, but this year I am spending this time serving as Deputy Chair of the Special Committee on Timber Supply. The meeting schedule for this committee has me travelling throughout British Columbia with little time in my own communities. While it is difficult spending so much time away from the constituency, the time spent focusing on the challenges within the forest industry is important to rural communities across the province. These are challenging times. There have been market difficulties since 2008. And the pine beetle infestation has fundamentally changed the industry in the central interior. Climate change will continue to force
us to take innovative action to ensure that forestry continues to be a viable industry in this province. As part of the Timber Supply committee, I have heard from forest professionals, First Nations, local government representatives and forest workers, and it is clear to me that tremendous wisdom sits in rural communities. We understand best how to manage our forest lands. And we want more say in how our forest lands are cared for. For eleven years, the BC Liberal government has pursued a very specific forest policy. That policy has resulted in fewer forestry jobs, a less resilient forest and reduced competition. And rural communities are paying the price. So far, 35,000 forestry jobs have been lost. And more job
losses are predicted. The Opposition has laid out a forest policy that will begin to return forestry to its traditional place as one of British Columbia’s most prosperous industries. Our policy includes a move towards much greater utilization of the resource. That means less raw log exports, more value-added and encouraging innovation to get the most jobs possible out of every log. We also believe that we can’t have a healthy forest industry without healthy forests. This will mean that we have to make a substantial investment in forest health. Our forest lands are our greatest asset, and that investment will provide dividends in return. The Opposition supports the return of a job protection commissioner to assist forestry-dependent commun-
ities in diversifying and developing new opportunities in forestry. And an NDP government would invest in skills training. Our forest industry cannot be successful if British Columbia does not have the skilled workforce it requires. I believe that forestry can once again be a primary economic driver in British Columbia, but it will take a concerted and deliberate effort on the part of government. And I believe that rural British Columbians are demanding that effort from their government, a belief that has been confirmed by the many submissions that have been made to the Timber Supply committee thus far. If you have something you would like to tell the Timber Supply committee, submissions can be received in writing until July 20th. You can email
- MLA Report By Norm Macdonald
your thoughts to timbercommittee@ leg.bc.ca or contact my office for further options.