Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - July 29, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Winnipeg free press july 1995 politics of guns the imagery was More than just a Little family and friends gathered Friday at a local Church to Bury the body of Joseph the 13yearold boy who was shot in the Back last Justice minister Rosemary Vodrey was meeting her provincial counterparts in Calgary on a mat Ter of National the 1 topic for discussion How to kill the key component of a proposed Federal Law that might have helped prevent Joseph spences for months now Ottawa has been struggling to pass and proclaim Tough new gun control legislation designed to reduce violent the most contentious aspect of the currently before the is a clause which requires gun owners to Register their the pro gun control including virtually every police chief and police association in the considers this clause to be the Corner Stone of the the including a number of people who sell or use see the clause As a big pain in the butt and want it dropped from the Legisla Well never know whether Ottawa gun control legislation would have been enough to prevent spences but what we do know is that the boy was shot in the Back with a Shotgun of unknown origin in what police believe to be a Street Gan related we know these gangs have been arming themselves to the Teeth in recent years by stealing guns from houses and illegally buying them on the possibly from people who Are legally buying the weapons at the local gun store and reselling them at a huge we know police have raided houses where Street gang members live or hang out and have confiscated enough weapons to Stock a Small we know that Winnipeg police chief Dale Henry and Brandon police chief Brian Scott have told any politician who asks that gun registration will be a big help in trying to prevent shootings like the one that claimed the life of Joseph so Why is is who is usually More than Happy to be seen helping the police fight so opposed to gun control the answer of course is that Many of the particularly those in Rural who oppose gun control vote Many of the people in favor of gun con who live in Urban it May have been a Little naive to expect the Filmon government to take any serious action to Deal with win Nipges growing problems with Street gangs and youth violence in the Wake of last weeks but is Vodrey and her colleagues could at least have the decency to Stop trying to get in the Way of a government that is prepared to take some measures to Deal with the prob the for its could do the same and pass the gun control is Vodrey went to Calgary to talk about gun maybe she could have Learned More about the Issue by staying Home and attending Joseph spences a helpful step health minister Jim Mccrae has taken one Small step towards relieving the shortage of doctors in Rural there is More that he and local Community leaders can do to the provincial government will now allow foreign trained physicians who have not yet passed qualifying but who have graduated from medical schools that measure up to Canadian to practise in areas with chronic physician shortages for five years under the supervision of a licensed the current system allows physicians Only one Chance to pass those exams before their oneyear conditional licences they Are forced to leave the province if they do not pass the exam which is offered Only once a they will be Given More time to meet Canad an the conditional registry will not help most of the 76 foreign trained physicians living in Manitoba whose medical education is not up to they still require More training before a licence can be that is not Rural Manitoban Are entitled to appropriate standards of More can be Community leaders across the province Are beginning to realize that doctors must be recruited aggressively and that once they arrive it is not reasonable to expect them to work 24 hours a seven Days a smaller communities May have to Pool their grouping them in such a Way that the doctor in one Community takes Calls for a doctor in a town 25 Miles patients May not always see that familiar but they will see a physician who is pre pared to get out of bed in the Middle of the conditional registries Are a helpful local the department of health and the University of Manitoba medical school should make sure that All Manitoban have reasonable Access to Good medical editorials Brian Cole 6977044 Winnipeg free press Winnipeg free press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 Rudy Duncan executive editor Brian Cole editorial Page editor directors Calvin James circulation Verne Kalichuk human resources Stephan Majorki operations Perry Nixdorf Glenn Williams 1995 Winnipeg free a division of newspapers division of Thomson newspapers company limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member of the Manitoba press Council now we steal wheelchairs the Flag Over City Hall drooped several degrees last week when it was reported that misfortune had befallen a Man who has been travelling the world in a wheelchair on behalf of a Good his journey had taken him to More than 20 countries around the but not until he reached Winnipeg did somebody think of stealing his it happened on his first night in town and although a kindhearted Cit Izen soon provided a replacement it is difficult to imagine that he will soon forget his visit to the in years to come when he hears the City mentioned in Idle conversation he will undoubtedly say to of that where they stole my wheelchair we can Only Hope and Pray that he does not write a Best Selling Book about his world of is the sort of Inci Dent that makes the chamber of the the talk show hosts and members of the Winnipeg boosters club wish that they had taken the last bus to Plum after in Plum Coulee you Are Likely to get a warm country Wel come and a Nice slice of homemade Apple you can be fairly certain that nobody will steal your wheel chair or run off with your seeing Eye even if you happen to leave them unattended for five minutes on the main Plum Coulee May be but when you Are there you dont have to Roll up the windows and lock the car you have to wonder who would steal a some freckle faced kid who just wanted to make a fast car for the annual soap Box Derby some senior citizen with a yen for High Speed in the corridors of Beacon Hill Lodge just somebody who wanted something with wheels on it to throw into the River and who Lay his hands on a Safeway shopping cart a bicycle thief who Christopher Dafoe had never Learned to ride a two Wheeler possibly it was just some miser Able an untypical i who simply wanted some thing to steal and happened to spot the wheelchair before he had time to notice the lifesaving ring on the Norwood Bridge or the geraniums in the Roadside i am of that the thief was i find it hard to believe that any woman would stoop so although i May be i am told that women now Rob Banks just the i am cer Tain it was a a woman would have taken the All this stealing of cars and wheel chairs makes you Long for the Good old Days when Winni Eggers left the windows open on a hot summer propped the Bike against a tree in the front Yard and left the Wash out on the line All i am not certain when the rot set but not Many people leave the door unlocked any More and if you Chain your Bike to a tree for five min utes some passerby will smartly remove the the handle bars and the they dont just swipe your crab apples these they dig up the tree an take it Christ Mas lights that form the words peace on Earth Are removed from the front garbage cans Are pinched from the Back Cash is filched from the collection plate Joe free press admirers replaced Hussein Nike bans stolen while the priest is Blessing folded newspapers thrown toward front porches by Carrier boys Are intercepted by dishonest a cat i know had his litter Box stolen off the Back the notion of private property appears to have gone by the if you Are not Riding on it or in if you Are not sitting on it or holding it firmly in your hand you can kiss it if it is not bolted to a Pound chunk of Granite or held Down by cables As thick As your Arm it will simply vanish while you Are in the House getting a Glass of they Are hiding just behind the when you walk Over to turn off the Hose they will make off with your Lawn As you Bend Over to put the clips on your Pant cuffs some body is disappearing Down the Street on your where will it end someday it will no longer be Safe to leave grandma in her rocking chair on the front porch i just went into the House to get my when i came Back grandma was the bastards even took her Martini there Are of to turn All this rampant dishonesty to your not Long ago a Man i know found himself with an old washing machine on his it was going to Cost him to have it removed to the he decided to put it out on the Back porch while he was thinking Over what to do with the next Day the washing machine was he soon got rid of three old a Cushion the dog used to sleep a chair with three a Bike with one wheel half a dozen cans of dried up paint and a set of Rusty Golf Sweet Are the uses of Christopher Dafoe is editor of the his column appears on sat Rich rewards of country practice Russell just As we were walking out the door for Din Ner at the chinese restaurant on russells main the phone a 90yearold women was hav ing a heart attack and David Folk would have to catch up with us the general practitioner was not on Call that but since the sick women was his patient he would attend to her and join us when he that is How Folk and his Laurel live their lives in this pretty town of Kilometres West of Folk is one of Only two doctors who service a patient population of in the he is on Call every second night and every second the Only other physician in has announced he will quit his practice in september and move out to British leaving Folk alone to care for Many times the number of patients that an average City doctor would every night if the town cant attract another doctor Between now and Folk will be on Call every every 24 hours a the 39yearold physician was born in Zambia then Northern trained in South Africa and before practising in uranium Saskatchewan and Manitoba he arrived in Russell seven years i love the Romance of Medicine in a Rural he after showing up at the restaurant an hour after the rest of i do lots of emergency care and treat people from Ages 0 to love the i know my patients uncles and i can phone the school principal and ask if there Are any his major frustration is the isolation from med ical colleagues and Lack of Access to there is a 38bed Hospital in rus built in the late which employs seven rns and seven Folk loves what he does and gets paid handsomely for doing with so Many nights and weekends on Call and with a higher fee for ser vice because of the Rural a physician can earn considerably More in the country than in the the problem is there is no time to enjoy attracting medical graduates to towns and villages is not a problem unique to says Deputy health minister John a former Rural family doctor himself and former Dean of the University of Manitoba medical medical schools Are taking in fewer physicians fees Are capped in some Immi Grant doctors Are having a hard time getting accredited and american recruiters Are becoming far More he we Are victims of our own Suc Wade Points we have trained such Good family physicians that they Are in demand in the United where there is a shortage of Well trained family Manitoba family practitioners Are routinely enticed by headhunters from the United whose clients offer starting salaries of us a year or the Prospect of living in warm climates with a less demanding Call schedule is having an More and More Canadian doctors Are moving promised riches a graduating medical student in Manitoba is faced with a difficult Choice follow the american dream with its Promise of Sunshine and a relaxed stay in Manitoba and Hope to be issued a Billing number to practice in or head out into the country for a few years and risk not being in a position to work in Winnipeg there Are ways of making the Rural option More say a medical student commits to practising in a Small town for three years after the town can offer bursaries to that student to help cover tuition costs and the expenses of room and Board for the years the student is at medical after the student sets up prac Tice and starts repaying the Loans or medical faculties can also consider differential tuition offering discounts to those who Promise to stay in Manitoba after there is something else that can be local Chambers of com Merce and town councils can Start wooing physicians the Way the americans Are wooing but with a different instead of heralding tropical weather and a fat places such As Russell can extol the Virtues of a caring com Safe clean air and plenty of peace and David Folk and Laurel Malkin Are raising their two children in a place that has no professional hockey team and no Ballet but it has something else a rewarding professional and family now if some energetic medical graduate would Only see the Wisdom in setting shop out Folk might even have a moment to relax and smell the Jim Carr is a free press editorial his column appears on sat ;