Two Bloggers (including me) Who are a wee bit Incredulous

March 11, 2009 at 11:02 pm | Posted in Politics | Leave a comment

• BC hospitals to receive cash for doing their job:

  From the Peace Arch News: “The busiest four hospitals in the Fraser Health region will start earning cash bonuses for every emergency room patient they discharge or admit quickly.”

  Temujin @ Dust my Broom does a spit take:

  So let me get this straight. We have a publicly funded, state-run monopoly on health care in this Province. Doctors are not allowed to directly charge their patients for any services rendered, and patients are forced to pay into the Medical Services Plan in BC regardless of whether they want to or not. The consumer (patient) has no choice but to pay for the health services provided by the monopoly (the state), because the government does not allow for direct competition for medical services. Health care in a for-profit system is “baaaaaaaad”, but cash incentives from unwilling taxpayers is good?

• Uh, there is no emergency bunker for the Canadian PM, but you can stay in my mom’s basement Mr. Harper

  reneethewriter @ Canada’s World has a piece about how the Mexican government’s war on drugs is affecting Canada. The title of the post reflects one of her sources, the Globe and Mail article Mexico’s drug war becomes Canadian security issue.

  Both the post and the article are very readable, and do certainly make the case that what happens in Mexico affects Canada; however, I’m not seeing about Canada’s national security other than assurances from the RCMP and CSIS. I don’t want to dismiss these organizations, but I’m not getting how this is a national security risk.

  Are Mexican drug lords going to attack Canadian military bases? Is some kind of terrorism going to result from this situation? Does Canada need Tommy Douglas’ grandson to save us? Certainly there’s an increase in voilent crime, but frankly throwing around the term “national security risk” sounds a little Threat Level Orange to me.

Previous Politics:

• Get Your Protest On: Tar Sands, Housing Strategy, and Ban Bush from Canada
• Minimum Wage, Federal NDP, Lester Pearson, and Israel Cynicism
• The Economist: Prohibition has failed; legalisation is the least bad solution

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