Wednesday-Night #904
Thursday May 13, 2004 gaz
Hospital patients bring own nurses
A sign staffing levels critical: union. Dismayed by lack of attention in institutions, some families are hiring private caregivers And In Quebec, the shortage of nurses is chronic
see also W-N Medical notes | WN on Nursing
On the eve of the celebration of Canada's one hundred and thirty-second
birthday, the thoughtful guests pondered where our country now stands
both in relationship to the international community, and within its own
borders, to the provinces,especially our home province of Québec.
How different are we from the Americans? How similar? How close do we want to
get? Are we closer to the Americans, or do we relate more to the Central and
South Americans in our dealings with the United States? All this and other
heady stuff came up for debate at the Nicholsons' on Wednesday June 30, 1999.
HEALTH CARE AND THE NURSES' STRIKE
On health care, we are very different from the Americans. In contrast to
the United States, where millionaire Dr. Spock died in poverty
having spent his fortune on health care, no one in Canada is rendered a
pauper because of the cost of being in ill-health.
In the beginning, the Castonguay Commission report set up the framework
for a universal health plan, fashioned on the Saskatchewan N.D.P.
government's plan. Health being under provincial jurisdiction, the
federal government shared equally with provincial governments, the health
costs meeting the criteria set forth in the Castonguay report.
Essentially, these were: universality, portability and free coverage of
all basic hospital services. With such new concepts as home care and
CLSCs, the provinces received less funding, but much greater latitude
in how the money was to be spent. Although the original intent had been
to provide quality universal, portable, comprehensive health care, the
emphasis has shifted from care to such concerns as finance and
linguistics, to the detriment of patients and professionals alike.
In the present labour dispute, the provincial government plays both
negotiator and provider of funds, but the health care establishments have
the responsibility of providing care within the confines of collective
labour agreements and funding over which they exercise no control. While
the current Nurses' strike enjoys widespread support, the government
appears to be prepared to offer higher salaries and more costly non-
salary benefits, with the costs passed along to the health care
establishments. Without the expectation of equivalent increase in
funding, health care establishments can expect total costs of salaries and
benefits to rise from an already unacceptable 72% to 80% of total
operating budget.
It has been suggested that the underlying cause of the problem is the
apparent compulsion of the present government to permit much funding to
be driven by such political considerations as establishing "winning
conditions."
SMOKING ADDICTION
Gerald Ratzer read aloud and tabled a copy of the letter he wrote to Allan Rock on smoking addiction and his proposals to reduce it. see below
While not physically separated, the smokers, non-smokers and anti-smokers
were quite far apart on philosophy. It was deemed unlikely that any
principle would motivate the feds to slaughter the golden tobacco goose.
The argument that death through smoking caused higher health care costs
was countered by the suggestion that life is almost always costly in its
final moments and hence a saving was actually incurred by having victims
die early. No assessment was made however, of the victim's potential
contribution to society if his life had not been shortened by tobacco. A
suggestion was made that the government list and limit either nicotine
content, reducing the limit by 20% per year for five years, or do the
same with tar content.
The anti-smoking group placed the encouragement to smoke tobacco in the
same category as legal suicide or legally assisted euthanasia as well as
proclaiming the rights of non-smokers to be free of second hand smoke.
Do see our Medical page on Smoke
NEW BANKING RULES
There was also some disagreement on Paul Martin's new banking rules.
Some guests insisted that his actions reflect his continuing ambition to become
Prime Minister, and argued forcefully that government should not interfere with the workings of private business as long as competition is not compromised. Those opposing this
point of view underlined the coercive nature of banks providing such other
services as insurance and car leasing. As usual, there was considerable skepticism regarding the banks' motives in insisting on providing these additional services as a condition for obtaining primary banking. Most feel that this concentration of services would
raise consumer costs and unfairly eliminate competition in those areas.
There was some suggestion that the issue in the proposed bank measures is
technology, that the motivation for the banks to merge was largely based on
the high cost of initiating digital cash and the financial rewards
flowing therefrom. See Bank Forecast and Bank Stories for Mr. Paragon [these files will be updated soon].
KOSOVO
The Greek government is having a difficult time squaring its
participation in NATO bombing of Kosovo less than three hundred
kilometres from the Greek border with the support of the Greek Orthodox
Church for their co-religionists, the Serbs. Papandreo appears to have
succeeded in bringing the Greek population together by balancing both
sides.
THE ECONOMY
The economy is moving ahead. The 3/4% interest rate decrease in the
United States last fall was a preemptive move which proved excessive;
Alan Greenspan will have to be more cautious over the remainder of
the year. The second quarter is moving ahead at a non-inflationary 3.5%, though the housing
market has weakened over April and May because of high mortgage rates.
In Canada, the annual rate of growth is expected at two percent which is
in the middle of the (1%-3%) acceptable range. Job creation has been disappointing.
Canada had a strong first quarter in housing starts, slowing down in the
past three or four months, so Canada is not in a position to raise
interest rates.
The good news is that Asia (May 13 #845) has begun to recover. Also, South American growth is
so rapid that we can anticipate that the negotiations for the Free Trade Zone of the Americas will remain on track and all of North, Central and South America in a free trade zone by the year 2005. (Editor's Note: Québec City was recently designated as the site for the "Summit of the Americas" in 2001.) Meanwhile, an expansion of NAFTA to include South American countries, especially Chile, Brazil and Argentina is expected in the near future.
As for the[Cdn»US chart] Canadian dollar, despite an improved Commodity Price Index (up 11%), it
has not moved, remaining undervalued. This has not stopped foreigners
from investing in Canadian securities. Our economy is doing very well
with thirty billion dollars of debt having been paid down in the last two
years.
COMMON CURRENCY VERSUS ADOPTION OF THE US DOLLAR
Despite the fact that some South American countries (notably Argentina)
favour the concept of adopting the United States dollar as the
universal medium of exchange, it is very unlikely that it will happen
here, and even less likely that the United States will permit other
nations to share in formulating its monetary policies. At this stage, only some academics and Québec politicians have recommended adoption of the U.S. dollar, however it should be noted that most Canadian exports are priced in U.S. dollars now. "Currency is not a monogamous relationship" says Professor Tony Deutsch. With respect to the adoption of the US$ by Latin American nations, we are reminded that they would be facing a "seigneurage" cost of 31B$, an issue which we have not seen discussed and on which Wednesday Night would appreciate receiving clarification!
Canada is very different from the United States. 85% of our trade is with the United States; this is not true in reverse. We have a rising trade surplus vs. a U.S. trade deficit. Forty percent of Canada's exports are commodities. When we had a commodity
crisis, it was our ability to control our own monetary policy that saved
us from crippling interest rates.
If the Democrats win the next U.S. election, interest rates will
decrease, savings, already low will go lower. Once we get by January 1,
2000 and the Y2K bug, the market will again soar. However, our market experts concur with Ed Yardini that the U.S. market is over valued by as much as 40-44%, leading to an exaggerated earnings outlook. They are also worried by a 10% inflation of assets which leads inevitably to a loss of discipline.
QUOTE OF THE EVENING:
"The Canadian dollar is the Zeller's of the currency market."
THANKS AND RECOGNITION
As the discussion drew to a close, David Nicholson invited George Cavadias to thank Dr. Mark Roper for being with us and for painting a very clear picture of the issues and costs involved in the nurses' strike and the continuing unrest in the healthcare sector.
Me Marie Cormier added an eloquent word to Jacques Clément for his usual thorough and enlightening overview of the economy, the central banks' policies and role.
Attention was called to the article that appeared in June 28th's Gazette on "A homeroom reunion for 8E" and its teacher Holly Higgins (now Jonas), a great tribute to Holly.
Edited Diana Thébaud Nicholson
Marie Cormier |
Notes by Herbert Bercovitz
Edited by Diana Thébaud Nicholson
A second edition of "Sam Steele, Lion of the Frontier" by
Robert Sewart has been issued to coincide with the recreation of the RCMP March West on the 125th anniversary of the March. Bob was in Regina on June 6th for the launch of the new edition. We are proud to own a copy of this marvelous account of one of the first members of the (then) North-West Mounted Police, and we understand that not only is it the official book of the RCMP March West, but it must have been approved by Mickey and Minnie!
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