After posting an Official Opposition attack ad, I did promise the commenters who objected to the ad that more positive content was coming. While there is criticism of the Alberta government to be found in these two podcasts - one from Official Opposition Leader David Swann, one from Health critic Kevin Taft - I think they're pretty rational, reasonable interviews, particularly David's.
Listen here.
1 comment:
These sound like decent enough interviews. I don't get the impression that Tamara is ever going to ask the really tough questions, but that's how partisan political interviews go, so no surprises there. I am glad she gives music credits in the second interview. I'd hate to see you guys get torpedoed by the arts community for using uncredited work.
As for the content, I say Alberta is still suffering from the massive cuts to health care Mr. Klien made back in the 1990's. He succeeded in polarizing the health care community, which as Dr. Swann & Mr. Taft both point out, is a system that works best when it is diverse and not polarized.
I find it interesting that Dr. Swann can make an informed medical opinion about H1N1. That's a distinction that few politicians have, let alone a provincial Premier. In this special case of the pandemic, Dr. Swann seems to be able to speak with authority on the subject. It's obvious that the Conservative leadership cannot, otherwise why would the Calgary Flames have made national headlines for their preferential inoculations?
In BC, health care is also divided into large regions. Unlike Alberta, this process did not completely gut the system, although the regionalization did cause problems. Localized health care delivery did provide some prompt service, but at a high cost. Mr. Taft was right in suggesting that although localized heath care was better for employment and some delivery issues, it was not sustainable in the long run (my words, though). In BC, we are facing those issues currently.
The majority of H1N1 vaccine doses in BC are distributed through doctors' offices. This puts a huge load on the doctors, but on the other hand, they are in the best position to distribute the vaccine intelligently. The few clinics we do employ have had the usual problems with people jumping the queue, which is sad. We generally don't have the monster line-ups Albertans have had to endure.
I talked with my doctor about this at length. It was the first time I've ever seen him livid. The short telling of the story is that he dislikes that Mr. Iginla & the other VIP's got their shots, while doctors are still waiting to get theirs, let alone others in high-risk categories.
As for me, I am going to attempt to be the last person in Canada to get the H1N1 shot. At the rate things are going, my progress looks good!
Post a Comment