Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 16, 2001, Winnipeg, Manitoba A10 Winnith Ohki Macii 2001 editorials Freedom of Trade Liberty of religion Equality of civil rights mistakes with errors the hippocratic oath recited by medical Stu dents commits them to hold a patients welfare As the first it does not say what a Doc Tor should do if a mistake is made when delivering the obvious answer to that is to quickly and to in the absence of regulatory compulsion the codes of ethics of the nursing and physicians licensing bodies also say nothing of Dis closing errors the decision to fess up is largely left to individual patients often learn of mistakes Long after the sometimes not at it is an unacceptable Situa this is particularly worrisome in Light of studies in a number of countries that show thou Sands of patients die annually As a result of errors in american studies com piled in 1999 by the National Academy of sciences Institute of medi Cine gave a conservative estimate of deaths the study looked at cases that were not High patients that should have left the Hospital comparable numbers were seen in studies in the United King Dom and in All those health systems Are being challenged to part of the answer lies in adopting a reporting system that looks for not for Little of this is happening in in the absence of Homegrown this country can Only using the experience of other about How Many medical errors Are less still has happened in which is remarkable Given the fact that the 30month inquest following the deaths of 12 children who underwent heart surgery in 1996 at the health sciences Centre found this tragedy fed off widespread coverup and a Trustus culture led parents to rely on a Hospital administration and some physicians that were More deserving of Manitoba should be leading Canada in the charge to Arm patients against such Saskatchewan is struggling to set up a reporting system that doctors and despite the hot breath of litigation on their will buy without willing any statistics Gath ered will fall Short of an accurate reflection of whats happening in solutions include protecting a reporting system against As the Sinclair report into the paediatric deaths it should be mandatory that medical errors Are fully and quickly disclosed to the it is impractical to believe that mistakes in health care will not it is to strive for that goal and better reporting of medical errors is a critical element to achieving in Mani health care hospitals and regulatory bodies can Start by acting upon the ample evidence and sound advice already at their Finger too Many trustees there Are 10 trustees on the Board of the Turtle River school where Pupil enrolment is reported to be in Winnipeg one school Divi the Board is composed of nine trustees and the enrolment is reported to be in other in Turtle River there is one trustee for every while in Winnipeg one there is one trustee for every Why exactly some trustees Are responsible on a per Pupil basis for 41 times As Many students As Are other trustees is that it makes no rational sense to have such is especially Given that every school trustee has an equal vote in deciding issues raised by the Manitoba association of school the relatively Large numbers of school trustees in mostly Rural has resulted in a political imbalance wherein Rural trustees representing about 40 per cent of total enrolment Wield about 80 per cent of votes on Mast including such predominately Urban issues As Spe Cial Nursery programs and nutrition pro Mast members at their annual meeting today will be asked to vote on reforms that would bring Urban and Rural clout into balance and could Lead to substantial reductions in the 440 total num Ber of school trustees elected to 53 Manitoba school there is no doubt that both measures Are Long but simply tinkering with the number of trustees and their distribution hardly begins to address the larger Issue of the malaise that infects school Board throughout school boards appear to have become Little More than rub be stamp operations that collect demands for More spending from administrators and pass them on to property complaining that they Are help less to do otherwise Given the Levels of provincial which Are routinely decried As invade contract negotiations with teachers and other employees amount to Little More than paper with school boards again pleading helplessness in the face of precedents set in this or that competing throughout school Board elections consistently demonstrate the Public no longer pays much attention to Public schools and the trustees who ostensibly manage it is All Well and Good that trustees at the annual meeting will debate whether their numbers Are too More would be a debate about making school boards More regard Leafs of the number of plan up take to the Busy or filth our 9uovjnvoving up traffic and irritating Drivers to pure How 19 that than Viphat vie current of do How to get Ottawa to notice the farm min Reform of parliament major parliamentary reforms introduced this session Are expected to be part of a limited and gradual modernization of the they will also be meant to dispel some current my the conciliatory note is coming from the lib eral government that has heard repeated Calls from its own ranks for a greater say in policy it is also aimed at the opposition members wanting to fill the important positions such As chairpersons of commons and Senate reports that the government is discussing a possible agreement among All parties follows a recent debate Over an nip motion that would have had the same effect by setting up anal party commons committee to study voting the Resolution want voted even those who want the system to bet Ter reflect the growing Region ligation of the country and Stop voter apathy Are wrong if they put All their Hopes in a revamped Parlia they should also be looking to the provinces and even the major cities for the needed its in those jurisdictions where responsibilities and taxing Powers Are grow ing As the Federal government continues to pull Back its Money and major say in Public ser vices and provincial governments have been filling part of the vacuum but in Many cases have passed on the Job to Munici pal governments where Money is often in Short major cities such As Toronto Are becoming Micro provinces that need eve growing resources and controls to ensure millions of people live in a decent they Are pressing for wider taxing Powers and other funding sources with the provinces and the Federal the connection among the various Levels of government should have been made but want when the nip Resolution was before the com had it maps would have looked at some form of voting by proportional representation to Stop the declining voter turnout in Federal Liberal House Leader Don Boudria splashed generous amounts of disapproval on the motion and said Broad Reform is for later a decision that reports now say he has moved up on his he was against a radically different Parlia ment where members could vote without Fol lowing their party line on Given issues and where various minority groups and different ideologies would have members elected Accord ing to a proportion of the votes proportional representation has been regularly opposed by the liberals in favour of the cur rent system of f electoral sys where the candidate with the most not necessarily the wins the the reforms Are seen by opposition politicians and political analysts to be the cure for voter be it the coastal or Quebec nip Leader Alexa Mcdonough illustrated the unfairness of the current process in a breakdown of the 1997 Federal election her party and the bloc quebecois each won 11 per cent of the which translated into 21 nip seats and 44 bloc Only the Cabinet decided to alter the elections act to meet an Ontario court Deci Sion that a dozen and not the 50 once can establish a political the Challenge had been made by the communist party of other less defined changes were promised in the speech from the throne and will be tabled probably later in this according to he followed with the familiar refrain the governments gradual modernization of our electoral Laws in my a prudent and balanced approach to a Complex Issue that is at the heart of our system of in this instance voter As the sole representative of his or her con a member of parliament is directly responsible to his or her constituents on any Issue with which parliament May be Boudria maps speak for All Riding Vot he not Only those supporting their his fault finding of the nip motion was mixed with a touch of a doomsday proportional representation allows Small on Issue parties to become Kingmaker of a which enables them to sometimes Force their own Agenda on a nation As whole he is Mcdonough wanted the proposed com Mons committee to hold Public hearings out Side parliament to review How proportional representation would strengthen National she May get her if the liberals appoint a similar body to restore the influence Parlia ment once had on the country Gerald Mcduffins an editor with the issues network go Dales giant leap backwards Frances Russell even Brian Mulroney International Trade Pat cant fathom what the Chretien liberals Are is now a is puzzled by the liberals Pursuit of a Continental Energy the tory minister who presided Over the negotiation of the free Trade agreement frankly admitted in a Csc radio interview this week that the Deal locked Canadas Energy into a Continental under International agreements the fat and its the North american free Trade agreement we cant turn off their Energy unless we turn off our she then she provided the Likely explanation for the liberals behaviour herself the Only thing i think the americans might achieve is dismantling our Public utile the must Marvel at Canadas govern they anticipate what the americans want and offer it before they even have to last natural resources minister Ralph Goodale travelled to Mexico City to discuss president George Bush proposal for a trilateral Energy plan with mexican Energy minister Ernesto Martens and Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham pronounced himself pleased with the at this historic we agreed on the need for a strategy that promotes regional integration and helps meet the needs of the people of North he for his Goodale said that from a Cana Dian Point of the meshing among regulatory authorities is an important thing to in a wide ranging interview with the Toron to Goodale took what the paper called a giant leap beyond Ottawa longstanding policy of pursuing More Hydro grids and eve greater Energy exports to pooling Energy of the Federal minister tacked on the shopworn and entirely disingenuous assurances that have tripped off every politicians Tongue since mul Roney Canada will not be part of any North american Energy policy that rests away control Over its resources Canada is not inter ested in subjugating our interests to anyone Canada will be astute and vigilant in standing up for Canada in any new Energy pact with the who does Goodale think Hes fooling in the North american trilateral Sim ply Means Canadian harmonization to and acceptance of policy and As the never ending american Trade harassment the never cedes sovereignty to Goodale should have listened to a speech last week by former Royal Bank chief economist John now an Ontario lib eral to the Montreal finance addressing Quebec desire for a european style economic and political Union in North Mccallum said its not in the cards unless que Bec Are defeatist and rein vent themselves to be identical to the if Canada and the to proceed Down the policy harmonization who would accommodate to whom Mccallum Canada can achieve North american pol icy harmonization if we but Only by copying existing policies from taxes to social Only to a very f limited extent did the United states cede sovereignty when it signed the fat and he the economist politician went on to expose the Central fallacy of Mulrone Chretien free Canada failed to achieve its Funda mental objective of persuading the americans to Jettison their Trade Laws in favour of a Supra National dispute settlement Mccallum As is Clear from the continuing Case of softwood Laws and special interests can Trump Naftal whenever push comes to Carney seems to have come to much the same unfortunately for 13 years too the Bottom line is the americans will sign any free Trade agreement they feel quite comfortable in she told Csc they interpret free Trade As mean ing fair Trade in their interests and if they dont agree with they Are economic Goliath and the Jim Baker approach in the Bush administration is they Are entitled to whatever they can canadians today Are paying More than six times what they did in 1998 for their own Nat ural although this country has no domes tic Trade pressure is intensifying across the from Prince Edward Island potatoes to the Canadian wheat in the Teeth of All Goodale is Tonying up what critics Call deep integration on senator Max Baucus has just told Canadas softwood lumber negotiators to shut up and sign whatever limits the wants to set on an Industry Worth billion to this he Hast noticed that Canada has been on its Knees for some Winnipeg free press press est 1872 Winnipeg Tribune est 1890 vol 129 n0100 Winnipeg Kree a division of newspapers division of Thomson Canada limited published seven Days a week at 1355 Mountain Avenue Manitoba r2x pm 6977000 a member Manitoba press Council Rudy publisher email Patrick editor ;