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Thursday, February 21, 2013 Williams Lake Tribune
VIEWPOINTS
• Publisher/Sales Mgr. Lisa Bowering • Editor Erin Hitchcock 250-392-2331 ext 243 editor@wltribune.com Free press can, of course, be good or bad, but, most certainly without freedom, the press will never be anything but bad. - Albert Camus
What really makes us healthy?
Over to you, Mr. Dix
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hat do you think of when you hear the term health care? If you are like most people you think of hospitals and clinics where doctors, nurses and other health care providers treat people who are sick. Health care is not just about treating the sick its about promoting and supporting those things that keep us well. For many years there has been an ‘individual lifestyle choices’ approach to health promotion. We have all heard the messages about eating healthy and getting regular exercise, yet changes don’t happen easily. It’s time we took a closer look at how truly difficult it can be to do these seemingly simple things. For example, being able to make the choice to eat healthy depends on knowing what healthy eating is, the availability of healthy food where one lives, having enough money to purchase healthy foods, and the ability and time to prepare healthy meals. When all these factors are taken into account the modest directive to ‘eat healthy’ becomes quite complex! What if I live in a community where fresh produce is not always available? What if I am a single parent working two jobs and I depend on processed convenience foods? Research tells us people who have more money and education are generally much healthier than less educated people or those struggling with poverty. The social determinants of health are the conditions in which people are born, grow, live, work, play, and age; they affect the health of us all. They include things like income and social status, social support networks, education, employment/working conditions, physical environments, and child development. We can dramatically improve the health of our population if we can affect the social and economic conditions in which we live. IH has recently launched the Healthy Communities Initiative a partnership project between IH and local governments that aims to improve the health of residents by addressing the social determinants of health. Kerri Wall is a Community Health Facilitator with Interior Health. Williams Lake Mayor Kerry Cook’s column was not available.
Our Viewpoint
Go Candians, go. Eh? Don’t look now but it seems as if Canadians are making their way up the international ladder. The latest example comes inadvertently via the unexpected resignation of Pope Benedict XVI. An early and, if you believe the bookies, oddson-favourite replacement is Marc Cardinal Ouellet of Quebec. Just 68, youngish when considering the ages of others who have become the leaders of the Catholic church, Cardinal Ouellet is considered by many to have the right kind of experience to lead the church in the next decades. Next up is Mark Carney, who is leaving his job as governor of the Bank of Canada to take a similar but extremely challenging job as the governor of the Bank of England. Mr. Carney must find a way to prudently nudge a
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sluggish British economy into action. Now look up. Way up. There’s astronaut Chris Hadfield, the first Canadian to command the International Space Station. His photos of Earth are stunning portrayals of not only our planet’s geography but the extent of the human footprint on its fragile surface. Now we only need to correct the International Olympic Committee’s wrongful dismissal of free style wrestling (remember Carol Huynh of Hazelton and Daniel Igali of Surrey) as a core Olympic sport. Once that’s accomplished, all will be right with the world, the Canadian world, that is.
Lisa Bowering Publisher/Sales Mgr.
- Terrace Standard
Gaeil Farrar Acting Editor
Gaylene Desautels Sherry Parker Ad Control/Production Circulation
Advertising Representatives: Brenda Webster, Lori Macala and Kym Tugnum. Ad Design: Leigh Logan, Sherri Jaeger, Mary Langstrom, Anne Blake. Staff Reporters: Gaeil Farrar (Community Editor), Greg Sabatino (Sports Editor) and Monica Lamb-Yorski. Tribune Correspondents: Veera Bonner (Big Creek), June Bliss (Alexis Creek), Linda-Lou Howarth (Riske Creek), Rosi Hartmann (Rose Lake/Miocene), Rhonda Kolcun (McLeese Lake), Bruce MacLeod (Horsefly). Tribune Contributors: Diana French, Liz Twan.
’d like to say that there are some interesting things in the budget tabled in the Legislature this week, but I can’t bring myself to get excited because this budget will never be passed into law. That’s the problem with preelection budgets: we can’t know if they’re real or not because they don’t get debated, and governments know they won’t be held accountable to them. Basically, they must be treated as a political promise from a party that wants your vote in a couple of months. That’s MLA why I’ve joined Musings w i t h Bob Simpson Independent MLAs Vicki Huntington and John van Dongen to call for the fixed election date to be changed to the fall, starting with the next election in 2017. We’d still go to the polls this spring, but moving the fixed election date to the fall for future contests will allow spring budgets to be fully debated and implemented. I introduced a Private Member’s Bill this week to change future election dates. So far, the NDP, Green Party and BC Conservatives have supported our call to change the election date to the fall, and I hope the Liberals will support this legislation as well. I do have to give the government some credit for their budget, because it admits that tax increases are necessary if we have any hope of balancing the books while continuing to provide robust public services. Realistically, however, there is no way the budget presented this week would balance our finances by the end of 2014. Now that the government has put their throne speech, budget, and election platform forward, the focus must turn to the man who wants to be our next premier: Opposition Leader Adrian Dix. After a week of telling the media that the Liberal Party has lost the moral right to govern and ought to be voted out of office, the NDP now have no excuses — they must provide an alternative vision and budget for BC as soon as possible so voters can make an informed choice on May 14th. To view copies of the 2013 budget documents, visit www. bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2013. Bob Simpson is the Independent MLA for Cariboo North.