A4 - The Terrace Standard, Wednesday, June 12, 2002
TERRACE |
ESTABLISHED APRIL 27, [988
PUBLISHER: ROD LINK
ADDRESS: 3210 Clinton Street Terrace, B.C. = V8G 5R2
TELEPHONE: (250) 638-7283 © FAX: (250) 638-8432

WEB: www.terracestandard.com
EMAIL: standard@kermode.net

Bucks for docs

ANYBODY WHO thinks there will now be
peace between doctors and the provincial govern-
ment stemming from the settlement two weeks
ago is sadly mistaken. We'll be back at this ex-
pensive game of chicken two years from now —
in 2004 - when the settlement concludes.

It comes down to supply and demand. When
supply exceeds demand, the price for a good or
service tends to drop. But when demand exceeds
supply, the price goes up. And that’s exactly
where we are now.

It’s also exactly where we were two years ago
when first physicians in Prince George, then in
Williams Lake and then in places such as Terrace
told the provincial government they needed more
money to keep them in rural B.C. and to attract
others.

This brought about a deal resulting in annual
bonuses paid to doctors in Terrace and other
places. And this was in addition to an existing
program which topped up a rural doc’s fees.

The simple fact is there aren’t enough doctors
to meet demand. B.C. can’t produce enough doc-
tors from the one medical school we have at
UBC to replace physicians who are retiring.
Other provinces are willing to up the ante to at-
tract and keep doctors. So are other countries.

The result is an endless round of bargaining
with doctors holding most of the power to
achieve monetarily lush settlements. Consider
that this most recent settlement of $392 million
will mean we will pay doctors $2.4 billion — give
or take 10 per cent of the total provincial budget.

It took the provincial government an increase in _
Medical Services Plan premiunis and ‘in the sdléss
tax to find the money to reach a deal this time. ‘|
Most British Columbians can’t afford these in-
creases now and surely cannot afford yet more
tax increases next time the province and the doc-
tors seek to negotiate a fee settlement.

The solution is to lessen the dependence upon
physicians by reducing the demand we place on
their services. In other words, this would be an
attempt to restore a balance between supply and
demand for future fee negotiations. This is not to
bash doctors, but the current practice of paying
them more and more can’t go on.

One way is to consider nurse-practitioners,
people who have skills midway between those of
a nurse and a physician. Suitable use of this type
of medical professional could make health care
less expensive (or at least contain costs) given
that they would be paid less than physicians and
still meet the demands of people for certain kinds
of treatment which don’t require the services of
highly-trained physicians.

In major trauma cases there’s a phrase called
“the golden hour,” the crucial period in which
treatment is required. We’re in that now when it
comes to health care and the clock is ticking.

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Special thanks to all our contributors and correspondents
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NOW THAT THE NURSES

HAVE A
DOCTORS HAVE FIN
WITH THE GOVERNMENT, TH

ONLY OWE THING KEEPING
GETTING MY

ME FROM

VICTORIA — The Liberal gov-
eriment’s announcement that
it is scrapping the Human
Rights Commission will be
welcomed by a lot of people.

Those would be the same
people whose only knowledge
of the commission's work
stems from the media cover-
age of the most absurd issues
the commission has dealt with
over the years.

Dog bites man is not a
story, but man bites dog is,
simply because it is out of the
norm. Equally out of the norm
were the screwball complaints
to the commission that re-
ceived wide coverage.

There was the case of the
Ukrainian entrepreneur who
wanted to sell perogies under
the label of Honky Bill. Can’t
have minorities ridiculed,
even if the source is a member
of said minority. Must be poli-
tically correct.

Then there was the chap
whose religious sensibilities

av, were offended. because he had
ESA es pay ; ae

oO

landle poinsettias ata de-
partment store during the
Christmas season. He got a
whopping $30,000 for the
“humiliation” he suffered.
Poor guy.

I especially liked the case
of the American couple who
stopped at a Rogers Pass eat-
ery with a brood of kids in tow
and were asked whether they
might not rather eat in the
restaurant part of the estab-
lishment as opposed to the for-
mal dining room.

Not that the restaurant staff
told them they couldn’t eat in

CONTRACT ANP THE
ALLY SETTLED

ERE'S

KY

—

“FROM THE CAPITAL.

HUBERT BEYER

the dining room, but the mere
sugpestion of a choice caused
them to be deeply offended.

They launched a complaint
and repeatedly appeared at
drawn-out hearings, their tra-
vel and accommodation paid
for in the end by the owner of
the restaurant.

You get my drift. The weir-
der the complaint, the more
assured it was of receiving
wide-spread coverage. .

The fact that the comris-
sion dealt with thousands of
valid complaints, resolving
most of them within a reason-
able time frame, didn’t rate a
column-inch worth of cover-
age. Yet all decisions and rul-
ings were there for the media
to peruse and teport on.

I remember writing a cal-
umn about a case in which a
Victoria restaurant owner was
given a heavy fine for sexually
harassing his female staff. The
complaint was launched by a
young woman who had been
given a choice between giving

h, rd
L nS i / ¢
Let

em

re

hucked with bath water

in to her boss's advances or get
fired. To my knowledge, | was
the only reporter of columnist
to touch on that particular
story.

A potential complaint that
unfortunately never was laun-
ched would have concerned a
certain cabinet minister who
had too many hands and hor-
mones for his own good and
that of his staff. It was said
around the office never to get
caught alone with the minister
in the photo copier room.

The commission members
were well aware of the pro-
blem and weren’t really relish-
ing the thought of actually
having to deal with the issue.

Meanwhile, the Human
Rights Tribunal will not be af-
fected by the elimination of
the commission. Members of
the public, the government
says, will be able to take com-
plaints of discrimination dir-
ectly to the tribunal.

The problem with that is

sion. Only 15 per cent were
sent to the tribunal, That bedy
will not be able to deal with
the onslaught of complaints
that is bound to come its way.

The commission's fired act-
ing chief says: axing the com-
mission will violate human-
rights standards set by the Uni-
led Nations and ratified by Ca-
nada.

At a news conference 24
hours after he was summarily
dismissed, Harinder Mahil said
thal getting rid of the commis-

HOSPITAL
CLOSED

DUE To PROVINCIAL
GOVT HEALTH CUT

te

Ne
! a
‘ |
i

AH 1
NIGH

r

sion will leave B.C. as the only
province without an indepen-
dent agency tackling discrimi-
nation and advocaling human
rights.

While the government in-
tends to retain a Human Rights
Tribunal to rule on individual
complaints, Mr, Mahil said-thal
is not enough to meet UN stan-
dards.

The UN, he said requires
state human-rights agencies to
have adequate powers of in-
vestigation, sufficient resources
and a broad mandate to.‘pro-
mote universal human-rights
standards, he said.

As is often the case with
this government’s policies, the
decision to get rid of the
Human Rights Commission
will disproportionately affect
the less well to do.

If Gordon Campbell, the
premier, feels he-is being dis-
criminated against, he can hire
a lawyer and beat his real or
imagined tormenters ta pulp in

op that, about 85 per cent of? allnucaeourt-ofdaw.«2 B. sit Elub at
‘complaints were either rejec- -"
ted or resolved by the commis-».

““Jf-a'“repular Joe" is being
-harassed, ‘he will either have to
take it or correct the injustice
with his fists, which is, of
course, not a good thing to do,
as it will land him in jail.

lf the commission didn’t
function as it should, the gov-
emment should have fixed it,
Instead it decided to throw out
the baby with the bathwater.
Not very smart, but not surpris-
ing either.

Beyer can be reached at:
E-mail: huberit@coolcom.com
Tei (250) 381-6900; Web
hittp:/iwww.hubertbeyer.com

The truth is stranger than fiction

TRUTH CAN indeed he stran-
ger than fiction. Five media
tidbits from last week’s events
prove it.

To help explain Prime
Minister Jean Chretien’s
abrupt firing of defence mini-
ster Art Eggleton hours after
we learned of the $36,000
contract Eggleton had given to
an ex-girlfriend, a journalist
told two stories about Chre-
tien’s boarding school exper-
jences.

While in high school, Chre-
tien was not doing well. Ra-
ther than go home and admit
to his parents how dire his si-
tuation was, Chretien left
school but stayed with friends
until the end of the school
year.

In a second incident, Chre-
tien faked an appendicitis at-
tack to get him out of trouble,
Even when checked by.a doc-
tor, Chretien feigned such pain
and typical symptoms he was
rushed to hospital and, rather
than admit his ruse, he under-
went an appendectomy. Such
are the lengths Chretien will
go to rather than admit to any-
thing.

Wie (X'S StinGer!

Wow! Look At TT THAT's A

THROUGH BIFOCALS
CLAUDETTE SANDECKI

On June 3 CNN reported
the Masai tribesmen of Kenya
have only recently heard of
September I! terrorist attack
on New York City. Appalled
by the attack, and wanting to
show their concern for Ameri-

cans, the Masai have gener- ~

ously opted to give 14 of their
precious cows to the U.S.
CNN didn’t add any detail
to the story, Will-the cows be
allowed to enter America
without a six month quaran-
tine? Who will pay the cost of

Sie! AND IT'S

) SOME oF THEM OLL!-OlOGISTS
ARE PRETTY SMART, EH WINCH 2

shipping them from one conti-
nent to anather? And who in
America will take possession
of the animals? Is the plan ta
integrate them into some ran-
cher’s herd? The cows shown
in the news clip didn’t look
like future hamburgers or
steaks.

CBC spoke to a 22-year-old
Ontario astrophysicist who re-
cently appeared on the David
Letterman show in the seg-
ment devoted to weird accom-
plishments. Thanks to shoul-
ders he can dislocate at will,
he is able to pass his body
through a tennis racquet.

A saleable skill, to be sure,
Every company seeks to hire
at least one such flexible indi-
vidual, I’m certain. But how
did he discover his potential
for his “art”?

Much more noteworthy was
his comment that jugglers
often are qualified engineers.
Seems that like musicians,
physical flexibility goes hand
in hand with mathematical ta-
lent,

Far from Ontario, on the
prairies a gopher infestation

FOR STICKING
INTREES TO
LAY E668 IN

NO NorTHERWER
HAS GONE ae PORE

TM GONNA
BE ONE!

has inspired a startling method
of eradication. To curb a ga-
pher population that threatens
fractures and sprains to its
parks and sports fields users,
Edmonton has taken to blasting
gophers from their burrows. It’s
using a mixture of one part pro-
pane (which is heavy and falls
to the ground) and six parts
oxygen. This gas mixture is
pumped into the burcow, and
exploded,

Observers have complained,
distressed by the sight of wee
furry corpses arching through
the sky. ee

Lastly, this statistic from an
American TV broadcast: 90 per
cent of juvenile delinquents
have reading difficulties. Based
on this fact, the U.S. justice
system estimates its future: pri-
son needs on the Grade 4 liter-
acy test scores.

To think that as early as
grade four, when kids are nine
years old, their future can be
mapped straight to jail as an
adult, ;

The link between illiteracy
and a life wasted in jail makes
me uneasy about next week's -
expected school closures.

FAYS BETTER
A THAN TRAPPING!

THE NExr
GENERAT iq) |