01 Dec 2010
Alberta Tory Party wants to do a five year plan to reduce wait times.
.....you can't legislate wait times......you have to create them.
If you constantly have 300 sick people who require hospitialization and you only have 250 beds then you have to build 
(or open) 50 more beds. If you build ten new operating rooms in Calgary why would you create a five year plan to reduce waiting
times for hip surgeries? Just open the operating rooms! 
If you postpone required and needed things then they will likely cost more later. 

30 Nov 2010
Is the Alberta Tory Party operating under the Schnick Principle? Since the days of Ralph Klein's leadership the province has been
run using economics as the bottom line not physical requirements. We are building a $1.4B hospital in SE Calgary when the 
original cost when it was first proposed in the 1990's was $400M but because of Ralph Klein's desire to have the province debt free
the hospital was postponed. By doing this the government essentially created a $1B infrastructal debt. Is the provincial government
surrounding itself with people that think the province has to be run based on economic decisions? Is that why the Alberta Health Board
has been cutting hospital beds and not opening new operating rooms that have been built? How can it be prudent to invest millions 
on new facilities then leave them empty?

26 Nov 2010
At one time people came up through the ranks to management. This system wasn't perfect but at least the managers knew
what was required to get the job done. The Alberta government operates on the same principle as many large corporations and agencies. 
They need a CEO for the health care system so instead of getting someone who is familiar  with the system they go to Australia to hire someone.
What would you rather have for the Alberta Health Board a manager with a degree in management or a medical doctor or other working health
professional that can also manage?  
Who would make a better manager for the Health Care system Stephen Duckett or Raj Sherman.  Dr. Sherman says the system is broken and 
needs fixing. Duckett eats a cookie. Do all the MLAs that voted Dr Sherman off caucus believe that they are doing the right thing or 
were they told to? Should MLAs be afraid to speak against the government for fear of reprisal? Is Dr Sherman the only MLA that thinks
the system is broken? Are the others afraid to speak up?



23 Nov 2010
Are Canadians too polite or do we just not get involved? Why are we not indignant when someone like Stephen Duckett
pulls his cookie caper? Who hired this guy and what criteria did they use? When are people going to realize that if 
you are going to manage something you should know how it works? Can you fix something if you don't know what's wrong 
with it and if you know what's wrong why don't you fix it?



22 Nov 2010

What in the heck is going on? The Alberta health care system is in dire straits and Stephen Duckett takes time
out to eat a cookie. I don't know what his mandate exactly is but I don't think there has been any improvement
in the health care since he was hired and there are reports that wait times at the emergency wards have increased
since he took over. I think he should be relieved of his duties and because there hasn't been any improvement he 
shouldn't be given any severance payment.


2 Nov 2010

WE STILL HAVEN'T CAUGHT UP TO kLEIN'S SLASHING OF HOSPITALS IN THE 1990's
Should the Calgary city council be worried about holding the city budget to a certain percentage increase or should 
they be concentrating on making sure there is minimum waste in city finances? If we delay something now that we need 
until another year then when we do purchase it we will be paying a higher price. If we don't go ahead with the airport 
tunnel now before the airport authority constructs their new runway over Barlow Trail then later the cost of a tunnel will 
be many times higher. A perfect example of this is the hospital being build in south Calgary by the provincial Government. 
The original estimate about a decade ago was for the hospital to cost about 500 million dollars and to be complete by 2010. 
Now the estimate is for the hospital to cost 1.4 billion and to be finished by late 2011. The old General (Bow Valley) 
Hospital had 250 beds, the new South Calgary Hospital will have 260 beds.


11 October 2009
Everyone is jumping on the influenzia band wagon. Several organizations such as soccer associations are stopping hand shaking
after games. I would be more comfortable if they told everyone to shake hands and then go wash them because as it is now they 
finish the game pick up their gear and head home.  On the way they open doors that other people have touched with their supposedly
safe hands because they didn't shake after the game. Too many times people jump on the hot topic, use all the proper buzz words 
and become policy setters without any real knowledge or expertise. Who decided that it was okay to walk around with snot on 
your sleeve? I can remember when people would cough into a kleenex and throw it away. Better still if you have a cold stay home 
with a box of kleenex. Do we have a lot of children coughing  and sneezing into their sleeves and then running around rubbing
and bumping into each other.  I'm sure their mothers don't wash their coats everyday.

7 FEB 2009
Once again I wonder if we are putting a value on human life.  During several conversations and articles in the newspapers this week 
the topic has come around to the 60 year old woman that gave birth to twin boys recently in Calgary. Most of the comments are either
about the high cost involved for the hospital care of the mother and babies or the ethics of the doctor that would treat a 60 year old.
Are doctors ethically allowed to discriminate based on age? Should these 60 year olds not be allowed to become parents because they probably
won't be around for their kids' high school graduation? I don't think there is any question this couple will be good parents. Why are we so set 
against paying for a 60 year old to have a baby and realize a lifetime desire but we don't question why or what we pay to rescue or recover 
people caught in avalances? Often they are in an out of bounds area. What's the annual cost to treat cancers related to cigarette smoke?
Is the real question "Why would 60 year olds want to become parents?"