44 Replies to “Tommy Douglas, Not Dead Enough”

  1. It’s a disgrace that brad wall hasn’t done anything of significance to deregulate health care (and other sectors). A CINO.

  3. well gord, an oil change takes 15 minutes, and engine change takes a little long. And with our supreme courts as they are today, Saskabush would be going there for a long time if they just did what they should, something that is on full display in the USA and here in Canada

  4. Glasnost … couldn’t have said it any better myself. At least Saskatchewan is taking steps, albeit baby ones, to get our wretched health care system out of the 1960’s. This MRI scheme is brilliant and has no down side except for the fact that it disturbs the sensibilities of lefties. Anything that causes discomfort to socialists has got to be a good thing.
    I can hardly wait for Murray Mandryk’s predictable take on the whole matter.

  5. There is plenty that wall could do and not break the terms of the CHA. He hasn’t done any of them.
    And he’s been in power for NINE years currently with a huge majority.
    When exactly would there be a better time to make massive yet CHA compliant changes than now?

  6. I’m sure Murray Mandryk is squirreled away in the mostly vacant Leader Post building
    working on the inevitable Brad Wall hit piece on this. That is IF he can drop his
    other bone long enough!
    I’m counting the days until my subscription to that socialist waste of paper is at
    an end!

  7. Something that the CBC story forgot to include:
    “Saskatchewan says it’s not the only jurisdiction with private MRIs. It says British Columbia, Alberta, Quebec, Nova Scotia and New Brunswick all have private MRI and CT clinics.”
    http://www.leaderpost.com/health/family-child/feds+order+saskatchewan+stop+private+scans+province+defy/12446706/story.html
    I’m sure this pertinent information missing was just an oversight and not fake news, altered news or biased, progressive slanted news from our taxpayer funded state broadcaster. Once that tidbit is added the story looks much different, doesn’t it? It looks like the federal government is discriminating against both the conservative government and the citizens of Saskatchewan since other Canadian provinces are not being threatened by Trudeau’s Liberal government. It makes Ottawa look like vindictive a-holes who are threatening the health of citizens because they have a political problem with Premier Wall, a vocal opponent of many federal Liberal policies. The biggest victims are those who are poorer because the upper middle class and the rich can afford to get diagnostics out-of-province *without* having to pay for a second MRI to shorten Saskatchwan’s public health wait list. The 2-for-1 private MRIs were great for those with limited resources and, of course, for taxpayers.
    Good job, Liberal Party of Canada and PMJT. Thanks for screwing the working class and the poor in Saskatchewan….again.
    Shit like this confirms my dislike of progressive politicians, big centralralized government, weaponized public healthcare and the MSM.

  8. This is going to be a big beautiful thing, when Obamakkare is destroyed on Jan. 21 ! It’s going to be Uuuuuge ! A big beautiful reversal of the Socialist crap sandwich that Obama forced the middle class to eat. No more spirit-crushing premiums to pay for some poor girl’s abortion. No more redistribution of your income to pay for other people’s stupid choices (NOTE: I paid for all my own stupid choices as a youth … not mommy, daddy, or the Socialist State paid for my stupidity – I did). The government (us) paid for every poor persons necessary medical care before Obamakkare … and we will continue to care for the poor when it’s gone. Only we won’t do it by crushing the middle class. Thank you Rust Belt voters! Thank you ! And welcome to the NEW Trumpublican Party !

  9. Shows how stupid Trudeau is. His geography sucks. He meant to take a dump on Alberta like his father but mixed it up with Saskatchewan. Sorry Saskatchewan. Just because 9 other provinces have private MRI clinics doesn’t mean the Liberals shouldn’t attack. The other provinces have Marxist governments so they are okay.

  10. There is a REASON why the Fed Health Minister wants to end private MRIs and get back to the waiting list. It is the same reason that new MRIs are not getting licensed and brought on line to service that waiting list.
    The reason is -rationing-. If you, the patient, get an MRI of your whatever, that you know is messed up, then the medical system is faced with the task of treating you. Because now you have a picture of that thing that’s messed up, and nobody can pretend it’s okay.
    In a single payer system, patient care is a COST. The bureaucracy views patient care as a waste of money that could have been spent furthering the bureaucracy. Every million dollar workup done on some old lady is a million dollars that did not go to unionized public sector employees.
    Solution? Bottleneck the process of diagnosis. Step one, limit the number of medical imaging machines to a throughput that your hospital system can handle. No diagnosis, no problem.
    That is why the feds are dumping on Sask.

  12. PM Butts is putting the screws to Saskatchewan because of its stand on the carbon tax.

  13. Basically, the Liberal Party of Canada are the ones throwing granny off the cliff by denying her faster diagnostics (at no charge to her or the taxpayers). The Saskatchewan Party should spoof this youtube video to show PMJT pushing granny’s wheelchair (or a child with cancer) off the CHA cliff.
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OGnE83A1Z4U
    What’s PMJT’s next move after increasing the length of suffering of the old, the sick and the poor on medical waiting lists- drowning kittens, kicking puppies? The PM would have to be pretty sick and twisted if he upholds his Health Minister’s threats to punish Saskatchewan, and only Saskatchewan, for private MRIs that help sick people who are less fortunate by getting wealthier residents to purchase two MRIs. Or, he is getting really, really bad advice.

  14. BINGO!!
    If they know what the problem is they have to treat it. It’s a lot cheaper to say lets monitor it and see what happens. Death cost less to the state than treatment.

  15. It would truly be a revolutionary concept that Canadians would be free to spend their own money on their own health care in their own country. That goes against the “Canadian values” of submission to the politics of envy, resentment, and hatred. Castro’s Cuba is much closer than many think, particularly with the Spawn in power. Perhaps we should have a revolution and exile those that praise Cuba to Cuba.

  16. And meanwhile Bobblehead Ralphie smiles up adoringly at the Turd, forgetting that he was sent to represent the people here.
    He’s been Ottawized. Time for term limits!

  17. I didn’t see the part in the the Federal minister’s letter where she says the money they will withhold from the Saskatchewan government will be used to reimburse the individuals who had to pay for their own MRI.

  20. Trump should make public all medical treatment received by Canadian public servants/politicians in the USA.

  21. Up until the (voluntary) 2 for 1 MRI program, diagnostics was always an intentional or unintentional bottleneck to accessing timely health care in Saskatchewan. I was working for a Sask Crown Corp in the 90s when the NDP was still in power. The NDP were extremely two-faced about MRIs and other diagnostics.
    One face was the no queue jumping, we must all suffer equally face. In fact the NDP SOBs passed a resolution at one of the party’s policy conferences that would have forbidden doctors from looking at out of province MRI’s, CTs, ultrasounds, etc. (the NDP Premier had the good sense to squash this cruel resolution). Well, good sense and fear of being ridiculed for hypocrisy because of their second face. The NDP government was sending injured workers from Crown Corps who were on Workers Comp to Alberta and North Dakota to speed up recovery times and get them back to work. One of our welders with a painful knee injury was told by his doctor that it would be a 3-6 month wait in Sask but through Worker Comp he was able to phone a diagnostics clinic in Minot, ND and get an appointment immediately. He said it was like phoning for a haircut, “What day would you like to come in, sir?” rather than begging your doctor to make some calls and get you further up the waiting list.

  22. Similarly, when my mother was ill years ago in BC it was ‘illegal’ to get a private MRI.
    3 times she went to emergency, was given the acute care workup and discharged without further followup. The last time her minister took her to emergency but got no further than the rest of us. Dogs and cats were getting MRIs before humans during the ‘graveyard’ shift; I know because my sister works in veterinary healthcare.
    After a few ‘DefCon 5’ type letter/faxes to the appropriate authorities who had just cut $35 billion in health care transfers (cf Paul Martin, Finance Minister); I packed up my mother to UBC Health Sciences Neurology unit for service after a visit to VGH radiology where a friend worked as a technician.
    “Supervised neglect” due to lengthy line ups, IS NOT HEALTH CARE SERVICE.
    Furthermore, restricting diagnostics only prevents physicians with 8,12,or 16 years of training from doing their jobs.
    Minister Philpott’s prescription for health care is to return to the the tried and true method of Canadian healthcare:
    GO AWAY AND DIE!
    Cheers
    Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
    1st Saint Nicolaas Army
    Army Group ‘True North’

  23. Progressive Canadians stance on public healthcare, Liberals and the socialist NDP, is the number one reason I’ll never vote for either. I’m not a conservative. I understand that Devine’s PC party in Sask were crooks and I am glad the party was destroyed but the cruelty of the NDP in letting people suffer and die on waiting lists because of a political ideology was far worse. Money can be recovered and economies rebuilt but months/years of suffering while waiting for healthcare and the early death of loved ones can never be undone. Then to hear progressives self-righteously drone on about the cruelty of American healthcare. I can see why progressives can justify/ignore the inhumane treatment of Cubans and other victims of communism….they carry the same indifference to suffering and don’t care about individual rights or freedoms that don’t help their cause. They pretend to but non-VIP people,citizens are merely pawns that are expendable. PMJT is no different from any other progressives from what he’s shown with this health care funding threat and carbon taxes. He’s a pro-poverty, pro-suffering, tax and spend, childishly vindictive Liberal.

  24. Well Gord, you may think the time is rite, I may think the time is rite, many voters may not think the time is rite. After the fall of the USSR, 12-15 years later, many of the old people in East Germany lamented for the “old” ways. People, generally, do not do change well, so one needs to be cautious, other wise they will for you out and demand thing be return to the old ways, as happened when turd-A-loo was voted in.

  25. The Canada health act doesn’t apply so long as Sask doesn’t take welfare from the federal gov’t…that’s not likely to happen. Sask. wants it’s cake, and eat it too…
    Just as socialist as ever…do anything to keep the welfare flowing.

  26. Presumably you run for election to do things. Wall has had nine years and done bugger all. There are no excuses beyond cowardice and lack philosophical conviction. Wall is guilty of both.

  27. It was never about helping people, healthcare, or anything else. It has always been solely about control. Things like the Holodomor cannot happen without a great deal of control. And people keep giving their liberty away by millimeters.

  28. Term limits are up to the voters; don’t hate the playa, hate the game. Regina, a government town, has the only Liberal MP for miles; who else are career bureaucrats going to vote for? For the limited government guys, or the tax and spend guys…

  29. Seriously? Brad Wall wants us to be Columbia House for organ donation now? Freaking negative billing? Congratulations on voting for that guy. All about control; less individual freedom, ever growing leviathan.

  30. Seems a case of putting ideology ahead of evidence. I thought the Liberals promised they would base decisions on evidence and facts not ideology and that was something only the Harper government did, I guess they only mean that for right wing ideas, not left wing. Anyways getting rid of these hurts people of all incomes. Unlike BC, Alberta, Quebec, New Brunswick, and Nova Scotia who all have private MRI clinics, for every paid one, there must be one for free so not just the rich but poor too can get faster treatment and at zero cost to the taxpayer. The problem with equality is the only way to achieve it, is to bring everyone down to the lowest common denominator.

  31. Brad Wall is clearly all about the virtue signalling. Once again, my decision to forego participating in elections is being affirmed as rational. Wake me when Trump moves to Saskatchewan. Or even Kellie Leitch…

  32. I agree. Progressives always tout the communist line on health care until a loved one is the one on the wait list. Everybody kind of ignores the fact that those that are more equal or special go to the head of the list or to clinics that we are not allowed to go to. It is amazing that the people do not catch on.
    That said, I have my own story. I had my own brush with crossing the river on Nov 14. Some 150 km/hr driving by my wife for sixty kms, slowed down to 125 through 90 zone at Martensville, fast work at Lenore Clinic, a quick ambulance ride to RUH, an Echo-gram, five days, an Angio-gram and three stints later I am here to write about it. I thought that the treatment and diagnosis were great. Possibly some by-passes in the future. I received a bill for the ambulance ride.

  33. Not just Quebec, but BC has several, Alberta has a few, Nova Scotia has one or two and New Brunswick has one. Ontario bans them as does Manitoba, PEI and Newfoundland don’t ban them but none have opened yet. Besides I am not sure this does violate the Canada Health Act. If you read it closely it bans payment for medically necessary hospital and physician services so a standalone private clinic does not fall under this. Likewise it bans extra billing which means any procedure that is publicly funded cannot also charge user fees, but is silent on those that are entirely private. The problem is the CHA is so vague that pretty much any political leader can use it how they feel like. It’s more a political tool used to scare voters at election time about the bogeyman of American style private health care. Interestingly enough last time Liberals were in power, BC, Alberta, Quebec, and Nova Scotia all had private MRI clinics and they were never once penalized for them. The only time the feds ever threatened to was in 2000 during the federal election but this was dropped after Chretien was re-elected.

  34. “…Regina, a government town, has the only Liberal MP for miles; who else are career bureaucrats going to vote for? For the limited government guys, or the tax and spend guys…” That right there is why term limits are needed. Entrenched fattened hogs at the trough are hard to muscle out. Look for another argument.

  36. Reiter wrote a letter back to Philpott, telling her the province has saved a million dollars with its buy one, get one program. It says 1,100 patients have been taken off the public waiting list.
    Philpott told reporters in Ottawa on Monday that was not a good reason to continue the program.
    “So, you know what they’ve proved by that? The fact that they brought their waiting list under control is that they have the capacity to deliver the care, but those people already paid for that care through their tax,” she said.
    “They shouldn’t have to pay again.”
    Clearly, Philpott doesn’t understand the economics or financing of healthcare. Those extra MRIs were NOT paid for by taxation, so people aren’t paying twice. The government didn’t invest in those machines – private enterprise did on the basis of making money on charging people. I dislike the government 2 for 1 rule because it means the purchasers of an MRI are being double charged to pay for the second one. That is offensive. Just let me pay for the bloody MRI based on what it costs. People can always go to Minot, ND, or Fargo ND, or Billings, MT, or Buffalo, NY, or Bellingham, WA. Or ANYWHERE else on earth, bring back a USB stick with the scans and poof – you can bypass the waiting list.

  37. Glad all is well. The existing healthcare system can work but not if it becomes an ideological prison that won’t allow for innovation and privatizing some services. Canada is the only developed country with socialized care that is this restrictive. There’s lots of better public systems (not UK). Scandinavian countries have far more private care facilities. The Canadian healthcare model is terrible. I blame the unions and progressive politicians for failing to allow any meaningful innovation. They’re standing in the way of people getting better healthcare. Using healthcare as a weapon to get back at a political rival is a new low though.

  39. Heh, irony might be a better word…that’s the practical reality. Also why the communists are allowing private MRIs. Same reason cheap vacations are allowed in Cuba…
    One of those ‘inconvenient’ facts…

  40. Delighted to hear your ticker didn’t get the better of you…
    Cheers
    Hans Rupprecht, Commander in Chief
    1st Saint Nicolaas Army
    Army Group ‘True North’

  41. Thanks for the well wishes. Me too Hans. If I had been alone out in the field it would have been game over. I think He figured it was not time for me yet. The food was actually not bad although it could have used a little salt. The nurses in Observation were pretty and caring. My wife was jealous.
    We are still waiting for the photo radar speeding ticket.

  42. “Socialists are satisfied eating sawdust as long as they know nobody else can buy a steak.”
    Very profound. Thank you.
    May I add that they are satisfied with the notion of eating sawdust, meanwhile actually eating soybean while the Leftist Elites eat Kobe beef.
    Nuance. …It’s all in the story telling as Fidel would say.

  43. So glad to hear you’re recovering Ken. I’m of an age where several friends have had serious heart issues. Royal Jubilee in Victoria is renowned for their heart care as attested to by these friends.
    The health system works well if you require emergency care and surprisingly, even the elderly (mother, 91)are attended to for serious issues. But if you need knee surgery, hip surgery or other ‘painful but not life threatening’ procedures can take (seemingly)forever.

  44. Brad Wall is smart enough not to do anything. You don’t get to be a premier and stay in power by upsetting the apple cart.
    His protestations with Ottawa are easy pickings. Create a straw man. Huff and puff – but never really do anything. That’s the Brad Wall way. And hey, it works.

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