Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 8, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba Focus a11 Fhi i in 2001 Council uses tax dollars to compete with private Enterprise by a stunning 1 14 vote at City Hall on Winnipeg City Council decided to establish a special operating Agency Soa for its gravel pit in Birds an Soa is a tax payer funded and supported Crown in doing councillors gave up the certainty of million Worth of new and risk free revenues to the City if the pit was in favour of projected earnings of maybe with the the mayor and majority on coun cil supported and voted for funding an additional loan to this leaving the debt risk entirely with the taxpaying they supported refusing the private sector any Opportunity for three years to Supply the City with gravel at the lowest competitive so that the Soa could have its own protected Market called a monopoly and can get up and they approved establishing a govern Mentrin operation that does not have to pay taxes like the rest of they sent a signal to the business Community that while external businesses Are local Winnipeg business participation in supplying its own local government is restricted Union cards councillors Shirley Peter John Garth Steek and Mike Oshaughnessy understood the Broad Community positions that expressed opposition to this initiative and supported taxpayers in this these councillors voted against the ridiculous notion of the Pri vate sector competing against its own local which uses tax Dol Lars to go into business against tax pay whats next at City Hall engineering services Pool construction Legal ser vices land development corporation landscaping service nurseries where does it end since when was civic or any mandated to assure employment at any at any risk and with Complete disregard for the investments made and risks borne in our communities by the private Sec Tor is this the since when was our civic expand the or any govern mandated to assure employment at any at any risk and with Complete disregard for the investments made and risks borne in our communities by the private sector opportunities for and make our City More attractive for new invest ment this whole episode would be funny if it want so no playwright could Ever imagine a script approaching what occurred at Winnipeg City Hall Over the last but we deserve the government we and we elected during the debates at City Hall we heard comments such As and in not making this up i really dont care one Way or another How this matter is voted on by always thought that it was the duty of our elected representatives to care about the future of everyone in the commune my administrators wrote these reports and i have to believe whats the Point then of having councillors or Public hearings let administration write reports and let that be the end of any and All Why solicit Public input if youve already concluded that administration has All the but i guess that Why we still have acceptable lost opportunities and the highest property taxes in believe it or the private sector is now being approached to share its expertise in gravel Industry investments and strategies on the Soa advisory what for the administration represented that they already have the expertise and in any the aggregate Indus try does not require much go it alone can you imagine the spin the administration will give to the Impact of business assistance on the advisory Board if and when the Soa fails to meet projections or sales or Revenue targets is it just or does this have the smell of a Nice Little setup there is an election two years from now like the we should All remember the decision to squander our asset Soa made by our mayor and City Council on Chris Lorenc Manitoba heavy construction association Winnipeg Alberta votes anger Over p dissipates As Edmonton the woman at the reference desk in the Edmonton Public Library seemed to have a wry appreciation of orwellian there destroying health care of they Call it the health care Protection she handing Over a copy of Bill the infamous legislation that allows for profit clinics to pro vide services paid with Public Money in Alber the librarian was expressing a sentiment about Albertas controversial Law that is heard far and wide in but it was one of the few out Side of the Campaign offices of Liber als and new that i ran across it in which was what Gordon communications director for Alberta Premier Ralph had told me to expect when he advised i get a copy of the claiming there was nothing in the legislation that could Lead to two tier health care and most Alber tans know but dont take my word for you can read it As might be does it understand what All the fuss about Bill or he repeated kleins assertion during the Alberta election leaders debate that Bill 11 has been Law for a year and the sky is not while Bill 11 seems to preoccupy canadians outside of Alber the storm Over its passage last May seems to have blown Over inside the province in the sunup to the March 12 both the liberals and the new democrats Are campaigning to repeal Bill but their platforms Are attracting Little in polls released last weekend found that not Only Are Alberta tories growing in popularity As the Campaign goes tory numbers Are six percentage Points higher today than they were in 1997 when the party swept 63 of 83 seats in the Alberta growing tory support and sliding support for opposition of cannot be taken to mean that Alberta has embraced for profit health but the numbers indicate that Bill has not Hurt the govern ment in the reference librarian most when asked about health sound a lot like their concerns Are about waiting about rising costs and about where the anger displayed nightly during protests at the legislature last Spring has gone is anybody but it could As with Many things in that it was simply bought off with soaring Oil and Gas which this year produced a government healthcare which was slashed to billion from Bil lion after kleins election in has been restored and then some even As the election Campaign albertan Are being bombarded with Good news on the health the Public protest against Albertas private healthcare legislation seems to have died Bick Macwil Miami Edmonton journal to billion and is projected to climb to billion Over the next two another billion is being spent on new in for where a Good Deal of anger surfaced Over the Klein government cuts that forced a decision to close three including one that was blown million of new facilities Are in the these including a childrens will increase the number of Hospital Beds in Calgary to from Over the next few the annual occupancy rate is expected to fall to 85 per cent As a Down from 92 per cent to 95 per cent in recent a rate so High that waiting lists and hallway Medicine were As contentious in Oil Rich Alberta As they were anywhere else in bombarded even As the election Campaign albertan Are being bombarded with Good news on the health a recent Survey found that Alberta is not experiencing the Short age of specialists found in the rest of Canada because High pay rates and tax advantages Are luring specialists to Alberta at More than three times the rate were having a brain a government spokesman and that is expected to get even better As a result of a Deal struck 10 Days ago giving Alberta doctors a 22 per cent pay about for an average of which will make them the Best paid in at the Start of this the last week of the election a Simi Lar Rich Deal was reached with registered the Deal provides an Overall increase of 22 per cent in including a 17 per cent pay increase along with expanded benefits ranging from longer vacations to improved overtime rates and shift experienced nurses years on the Job Are being rewarded with an additional per cent pay so whats to complain about according to Kevin who is running for the liberals in Edmon a professional researcher and has been a Thorn in the Klein governments Side since the release in 1995 of his shredding the Public which exposed How and How the Klein government had hacked ser vices to albertan while delivering billions in subsidies to that which sold was the bestselling local political Book Ever published in it be a sign of Chang ing times that his latest Clear the economics and politics of for profit has been less sell ing Only in How since its release test year at the the gov height of Contra Versy Over Bill position As t favouring Pri vate delivery of health rare of Neavin care has been it Taft persuasively and in exhausting detai1 that there simply is no Case to be made for for prof it private health care simply increases costs and every study Ever including some Canadian studies that purport to argue show it again and the problem with private health care is that Market duplication and profit simply add Between 10 per cent and 20 per cent to costs of in the Case against for profit health care was Best made in Alberta where a 1999 study showed that in where 100 per cent of Cataract surgery is performed in Pri vate waiting lists were 16 to 24 weeks while waiting lists in where 80 per cent of such surgeries were performed in Hospi Waits averaged five to seven As the Cost of upgraded lenses in Calgary private clinics was compared to in Edmonton Public part of the reason for a Lack of alarm arises from the fact that health spending is always explained in global terms with no reference to population he in for the amount of spending and the number of Hospi Tal Beds is but it is unclear whether it is increasing on a per Capi to or whether the increases simply reflect the fact that the Cal Gary regions population has grown from about in 1988 to about one million Taft agrees that Bill in its very first bans private hospitals in but he Points out that three lines later it allows for approved surgical which Are whatever the the College of physicians and and each of the 17 regional health authorities agree they on paper that would appear to be a considerable measure of in the governments position As favouring private delivery of health care has been while the has continue to be guided by government hospitals sold in for Jim Din who As treasurer in the Klein government hacked and slashed ser vices to produce the balanced budgets that Stockwell Day inherited and took credit was appointed Rha chair Man in Taft also Points out that the two Cal Gary hospitals that were not dynamited have been sold to private healthcare one of the hospitals was sold As surplus for Mil lion despite million Worth of improvements that had recently been completed at taxpayer in recent the Calgary Rha has leased Back some of the Hospital space it previously sold it now needs the space to care for 42 Lon term All this does is give less bang for the Buck and brings in players who want a 15 per cent annual return in addition to the Cost of Taft its just an insane Way to manage tomorrow the failure of electricity deregulation letters to the editor Reynolds reference unacceptable in Lindor Reynolds now the moms too she said that moments of the concert caused girls to tremble like palsy i have cerebral the concert did not cause me to tremble As far As i but this article under no circumstances is it acceptable to use comparisons like this toward the physically Breanne Armstrong Winnipeg riot column Falls Flat although Terence Moores column were assured of a Good riot March 2 is clearly meant to be a razor Sharp poke at social there is an emptiness behind both his Humour and Seattle was a police it took one idiot to break a window and give the police licence to use their riot the vast majority r of protesters were peaceful until the police lost control of people have so Little control Over corporate sweat shops and environmental Moores column tries to make those demanding More voice feel stupid for doing but in the end he Falls As Flat As his Mike Bodner Winnipeg fas article educational please on my All those involved with the fetal alcohol syn drome through this Type of Dia Logue and we As citizens can better educate each other and our children to the perils associated with alcohol and alcohol when Alco hol producers and distributors dictate to our government what warning labels will or will not be put on their what Hope is there for those addicted to this Poison we government leaders Are failing to teach respect and moderation for this Malcolm Ratcliffe Winnipeg doonesbury by Garry Trudeau Ana Only a is this a in i it so i anti shout that ;