The great Canadian cartoonist Michael de Adder drew that one seventeen years ago, during the SARS outbreak. But it works just as well today. For it reflects what many people all over Canada are feeling about the latest killer virus, Covid-19, as it keepsramping up. Shock. Fear. Panic. Stunned confusion. Madness. But as for me, I just hope Canadians can be made to understand one of the biggest lessons of SARS: Protect our hospitals and health workers, or watch a pandemic turn into a living nightmare.
I did something unusual last Saturday. I took a whole day off social media. No blogging, no tweeting, no reaching into my pocket to pull out my mobile to check out what was happening in Canada or the world. Part of the reason I did that was because it was a beautiful day, and I have vowed to make this summer my best one ever. So instead of staring at a screen, I stared out at Toronto from one my favourite vantage points on Ward's Island.
It should be obvious by now that there is something terribly wrong with Donald Trump. This deranged tweet he fired off yesterday is only more evidence of that.
For in a normal world he would have been arrested for inciting violence against the media. And then there was that bizarre press conference.
He was a giant, an unforgettable character on the stage of life. And he deserves all the tributes that are pouring in from all over the world. But while many call Muhammad Ali "The Greatest" for the kind of boxer he was. I choose to admire him for the courage of his convictions.
When I was a boy my grandmother read me a story about an old woman whose body was discovered in a rooming house, days or weeks after she died. And when they went through her possessions they found a diary, with only these same words written on every page: "Nobody came today." And although my canny granny was probably just trying to guilt me out for not visiting HER enough i.e. more than four or five times a week. That story changed forever how I viewed seniors and loneliness.
As you probably know, from now on in Harperland if you're old or disabled, or can't walk for miles or clamber over a snow drift to get to your ugly new community mailbox. If you want home delivery, you have to get a doctor's note. Not CONada Post says because they don't trust seniors. But only because they care about their health, and want to know their "special needs." After all didn't they once suggest it might be an "exercise opportunity?"
But sadly, or scandalously, it seems those wretched suits forgot to check with Canada's doctors, and they're not happy.
The other day I told you about a tiny candle of decency in the darkness that is Gaza. Ontario's plan to bring wounded children to be treated in the province's hospitals. The Ontario government is willing to provide medical care to 100 injured children from Gaza, it said Tuesday – several days after a Palestinian-Canadian doctor made a public plea to bring kids to Canada for treatment. And I said that was MY Canada. But sadly my Canada isn't Harperland, and the Cons are no better than beasts.
Well the day of decision is finally here. The day Stephen Harper must decide whether to approve the Northern Gateway Pipeline. And no doubt he is psyching himself up in his bunker, by among other things reminding himself that David Suzuki was on that list of Canadian heroes I wrote about yesterday. And he isn't. But of course it won't be an easy decision, because there are no easy political options.
He has waited a long time to make his move. From the day he was first elected with the support of a group that was founded to kill medicare. He had to restrain himself for so many years. But it was always going to be the biggest, bloodiest, and most prized trophy in his skull rack. The one that told him the Canada he hated so much was dead at last. And now the Con War on Medicare has finally begun.
People are always asking me whether I REALLY believe that the Cons should be arrested eh? And I'm always having to say yes I really do. Not just because of the way they have hijacked our democracy, and all their sordid scandals. But because they are actually prepared to hurt, or even kill Canadians, in the name of their foul ideology.
It's not easy looking for heroes in Harperland. Everywhere I look all I see is corruption and scandal. Grubby politicians and small greedy people. But of course there are real heroes out there. And these were four of the best
The birds have been flocking back to the island as they do every spring. Flying in from south of the lake, on their way north. But this year I'm not as glad to see them, as I usually am. Because this year they can't help reminding me of what's going on in China.
He has always wanted to strangle it. He has had to restrain himself for so long. From the moment he entered politics, with the support of an organization that was founded to destroy medicare. But now at last his foul assault on our precious healthcare system has begun. And it's both stealthy and monstrous.
Oh boy. Trying to keep up with Stephen Harper these days is like trying to keep up with a pickpocket working a crowded railway station. Or a pimp working a Republican convention. One moment he's selling us out to the Chinese Communist Capitalist Party. The next moment he's preparing to sell us out to the Europeans and Big Pharma.
OMG. I don't blame the Cons for thinking that Canada's doctors are after them.
But that'll teach them to treat sick refugees as less than human.
“There is a new way of thinking in medicine, which is that doctors, because of their stature, privilege and expertise, have a duty to speak out and cannot remain silent when the government places conditions on patients that make them sick,” said Dr. Philip Berger, chief of family and community medicine at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto.
For let's be absolutely clear, the idea of denying health care to desperate refugees is nothing but naked xenophobia, and the closest thing I have ever seen to attempted genocide in Canada.
I wasn't planning to write about this storm in the twittersphere.
Because what can you say eh? Except that it's obviously summer. Tony Clement is a shameless idiot. Ezra Levant is a freak of nature. And Norman Bethune is bigger than all of them.
But now that the grotesque Con Rob Anders has crawled out of his hole to dump on Bethune's legacy
I was trying to think about something to blog about on this cold, wet miserable night. Then I read about the death of Joe Bodolai, the American who nurtured so many great young comedians in Canada.
Who killed himself the other day by drinking a mixture of Gatorade and anti-freeze, but not before writing this last post.
And it stopped me in my tracks. Because what puny words could I write about anything compared to something so honest and so powerful that moved me so much?
They promised they wouldn't go after medicare. But that was then and this is now.
The Conservative government is putting the provinces on notice that Ottawa plans to shrink the rate of growth in health transfers.
As Finance Minister Jim Flaherty prepares to meet his provincial and territorial counterparts Monday in Victoria, signals continue to pile up that Ottawa will not keep increasing transfers by 6 per cent a year beyond the 2015-16 fiscal year.
And what does Stephen Harper have to say about this?
“We have committed to the 6 per cent for a few more years. Over the long term I think all governments recognize – federal government, provincial governments – that the cost of the health care system cannot continue to rise more quickly than our revenue. And that's a problem and that's a challenge we will all be dealing with in the next few years to come as we discuss the future of our health care system,” he said.
Dr. Jeffrey Turnbull is the President of the Canadian Medical Association, a man I greatly admire, and my kind of doctor.
He is a firm believer in public health care, an egalitarian who contends that every Canadian has the right to quality care, whether it’s one of the five million without a family doctor, one of the 30 waiting for a bed this day in The Ottawa Hospital, or one of the homeless living under the Laurier Bridge.
He wants doctors to get involved in the fight for poverty reduction and affordable housing. “I think we have to broaden our perspective a little bit,” he says, “and look at the social determinants of health.”
The greedy doctors hate him, the idealistic ones worship him.
So I wish all Canadians could have heard what he said today, about the future of our health system.
We can no longer tolerate leaving a system so large, so vital to the well-being of our citizens and to the success of our country, to manage itself without core information systems, indicators and measures of success; without modern governance, transparent accountability and visionary leadership; and, above all, without a clear and unwavering focus on the people the system is designed to serve - the patients.
The stirring call for the federal government to take a leading role in making medicare better for all Canadians.
Canada's doctors think the best way to do this is to start with the fundamentals: that is the principles underlying medicare: universality, accessibility, comprehensiveness, portability, and public administration. What we cherish about our system are the ideals embodied in these principles - the idea that the health care you get is the same whether you are rich or poor, or live in Whitehorse or Whitby.
The bold vision, the common sense, and above all the wonderful humanity.
I am also convinced that, if we are to live up to our country's values, we also need to look at the health of our citizens in a wider context. As CMA president, I've had the opportunity to meet with physicians in every part of the country, in communities large and small. One after another, they tell me of patients who struggle with poverty, hunger and lack of adequate housing, and who pay the price with their health.
The poor have greater rates of addiction, disability, mental illness, cancer and heart disease, and chronic illness such as diabetes. The poor get sicker than the rest of us, and they die sooner.
A voice for those who cannot speak for themselves. Those who are seen but not heard...
The tragedy is that Turnbull's words too will fall on deaf ears. Because Stephen Harper has no interest in reforming our public health system. He wants to privatize it. Or strangle it in its bed.
Which is why I agree with the good doctor.
When Canadians go to the polls, it will likely be their last opportunity to signal, through the ballot box, the focus they expect from federal politicians prior to the expiry of the Health Accord. As Canadians, we will need to choose wisely, as our vote will have an impact that will last far beyond the mandate of the next Parliament.
Why I believe that medicare should be a central issue in the next election campaign. Why I think we should ask Canadians how can they trust Stephen Harper to protect our health system, when he spent so many years trying to DESTROY it?
And of course, why I made this humble video...
I'm making a better one eh? The ending was too abrupt, and I should have added a poor senior sobbing in one of Stephen Harper's welfare hospitals. Because they are the ones who will suffer the most.
But the message will be the same. My heroes are healers, not killers.
As you know I'm trying to stay away from writing about politics this weekend, so I can write about some of the other things that get me out of bed in the morning.
And this is one of them.
Because I've seen enough suffering, sometimes I think of death as something like this.
But not when they're young, and haven't had a chance to live a full life. Then I feel they've been cheated.
When David Smyth was told two months ago that the aggressive leukemia he had been warding off his entire life had finally arrived, he was reflective and gracious.
“I’ve had a good life,” Smyth told his parents. “Thank you.”
And I thought the way so many people tried to save his life was awesome.
The Oakville youth inspired communities across Southern Ontario, who lined up in hundreds to have their cheeks swabbed and tested.
Numerous donor drives were held, with more planned for the coming weeks.
Trent University in Peterborough was planning an event on Sept. 21 aiming to have its entire student population tested.
That's my idea of Canada. People helping each other
But still it wasn't enough. The good news?
By trying to save David's life, they saved the life of his friend.
