Sunday, November 29, 2009

Hospital budget cuts now "the right thing to do" in Ontario's Liberal health monopoly

This scenario is like deja-vu to St.Catharines residents: Kevin Swayze reported in "Cambridge hospital wants to cut 85 workers, but says care won’t suffer", (Waterloo Record, Nov.27, 2009, here):

"Cambridge Memorial Hospital must slash $11 million from its budget if it is ever going to see a penny of provincial money for a long-promised expansion, local health officials say.

“I would say it’s a prerequisite for getting approval of the project,” said Murray Martin, a provincial supervisor running the hospital since September.

He understands the province intends to announce the project in the spring.

If Cambridge Memorial’s books aren’t balanced — Cambridge was on track to run a $5.6 million deficit this year — Martin said there’s no way the province would approve a $39 million expansion promised more than a decade ago.

Martin’s budget-balancing plan includes cutting 85 jobs and closing 35 beds. It was approved Thursday night by the Waterloo Wellington Local Health Integration Network, the agency that distributes provincial health dollars across the district.

It will be presented at public meetings Friday at the Cambridge Hotel and Convention Centre, 700 Hespeler Rd., at 10 a.m., noon, 4:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.

Here’s the plan to balance the $100 million budget:

Eliminate 85 positions in the workforce of 1,300. Leaving vacant job positions unfilled has already trimmed 25 positions over the last few months. Martin hopes an early retirement plan and natural attrition over the next year will reduce the layoffs to almost none.

Close 32 beds for patients awaiting transfer to long-term care facilities. This will be offset by improvements in home care, shifting some patients to Freeport Health Care Village in Kitchener and expanded wards at St. Joseph’s Hospital in Guelph, and moving many into nursing home beds across the district.

• Merge the cancer and palliative-care wards, and the pediatrics ward and the nursery for newborns.

Move some outpatient programs, such as cardiac rehabilitation, to other providers in the community.

Make more use of registered practical nurses, who earn less than registered nurses.

Create a 10-bed, “short stay” surgical ward. Along with changing operating room schedules, this reduces the number of non-emergency surgery patients staying in hospital on weekends. That’s the equivalent of closing three beds in the budget.

These changes mean Cambridge Memorial will focus more on acute-care services, shedding outpatient services and beds for patients who should be in nursing homes or other facilities where the care is less expensive.
Click here to read a four-page summary of the hospital improvement plan.
Click here to read the full report.

Click here to view the presentation to the health network meeting Nov. 28.

Former Cambridge hospital board chair John Bell wasn’t impressed with how his hospital administration has been treated by the health network or the province. He quit in protest after Martin was appointed in September, prompted by a health network study that harshly criticized hospital management.

Bell, ousted hospital president Julia Dumanian and the hospital board proposed most of the cost-cutting ideas approved Thursday night, but they weren’t fully accepted in June by the health network, he said.

“It’s very disappointing to be back to the same place, that we had to put everybody through all this disruption. I think that’s all I should say.”

Sandra Hanmer, the health network’s chief executive officer, rejected Bell’s assertion.

“The plan that was presented was not the same plan,” Hanmer said.

“There may be some similar themes, but the hospital has gone through strong a risk management approach . . . it looked what services it provides and how to provide them.”

Dr. Mike Lawrie is a family doctor and the hospital’s interim chief of staff. He supports the plan but agreed it’s pretty much what was proposed in the summer.

“The plan has been tweaked and refined. Many of the basics were there,” Lawrie said. “It’s facing hard reality in a creative way.”

Cambridge Memorial’s workers are eager to offer cost-saving ideas while maintaining — and improving — patient care, Martin said. More than 200 ideas have been received; many have already been adopted to allow the hospital to face a freeze in provincial funding at the same time facing increased staff costs from union contracts and operating expenses.

Martin was adamant care will not suffer at Cambridge Memorial. In fact, he said the staff-inspired ideas will improve care throughout the hospital.

“I think the community should be very pleased with what the (hospital improvement plan) has accomplished,” Martin said.

Hospitals are late to the cost-saving, “lean-process’’ mindset that private industry long ago adopted to operate more efficiently, Martin said.

Staff offered more than 200 ideas since September that helped find $3 million in annual savings. These include work-schedule changes, smarter ways to offer care, and more efficient ordering of supplies.

“We’ve pretty well turned over every rock to see if there are opportunities in every area of the organization,” Martin said.

Hospital staff were given details of the final phase of the cost-cutting plan at meetings Wednesday and Thursday.

Sweeping as it is, the financial makeover at the hospital has been expected in the community. The plan calls for continuation of oncology outpatient care without service changes. The clinic was rumoured to be a casualty of the cuts.

A pain clinic won’t close. Instead, there’s an investigation into expanding it to handle more patients from outside the city.

Breastfeeding support services weren’t entirely eliminated. New moms in hospital will continue to receive coaching from nurses. Once discharged, moms can use services offered by the Waterloo Region health unit.

The hospital improvement plan is based on no increase in support from the province. About 85 per cent of the hospital’s budget comes from taxpayers. The rest is raised from fees to patients, insurance companies and visitors parking in the hospital’s lots.

Martin said the efficiency push must continue, even after the improvement plan is fully implemented a year from now.

“This is going to be part of everyday hospital life until we see a strong recovery in the economy,” Martin said. “We know with the economic reality. This is not a one-off event.”

Even if the province gives more operating money than expected, the restructuring will continue, he said.

“All of this should happen because it is the right thing to do.” "

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Please note that it was a McGuinty Liberal-appointed supervisor - Murray Martin - who said that hospital cuts were the "right thing to do".
Remember this, when Deb Matthews spews her Liberal health care duplicity that her Liberals have NOT cut health care!!!


Interesting to note that "If Cambridge Memorial’s books aren’t balanced — Cambridge was on track to run a $5.6 million deficit this year — Martin said there’s no way the province would approve a $39 million expansion promised more than a decade ago."


Maybe folks in Cambridge could examine why a similar tactic (see here; here) was tried in St.Catharines by Jim Bradley's and George Smitherman's Liberals, forcing hospital budget cuts and linking this to threats that future hospital plans could be jeopardized.
The St.Catharines hospital in the Niagara Health System was reported just in mid Oct. 2009 as having one of the highest deficits in Ontario - yet a new billion dollar hospital was not only approved, but is being built.

McGuinty's LHIN's are keeping entire communities in the dark, like proverbial mushrooms.
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Read the Apr.23, 2015 Globe story here to see how Jim Bradley's monopoly-enforcing fascist Liberals continue to choke Ontario's health system and cut hospital budgets. Betcha Michael Moore doesn't care.
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Niagara Falls, Then and Now: more changes

below: Oct.23, 2009, looking at a bungalow which was at the south-west corner of Lundy's Lane and Kalar Rd. Many trees which had been cut down on this property are seen in huge pile at the left distance
above: same view, bungalow under demolition, Nov.4, 2009
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below: Oct.23, 2009 - looking at the bungalow from the north-west; the strip mall on the south-east corner of Lundy's La. and Kalar Rd. is seen at the far left.


above: same view Nov.4, 2009, as the old house was being torn down.
See video at bottom of this post.
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below: an Oct.6, 2009 view of the Bampfield House (built by James Bampfield in 1872) now operating as the Blythewood Manor bed and breakfast, on Zimmerman Ave. Blue paint covered the brick exterior walls.

above: seen Oct.8, 2009 - house is repainted in a grey primer
above: Oct.14, 2009 - a new faux-brick paint job was meticulously applied onto the entire facade.
above: by Dec, 2009, this gothic Victorian's trim was painted in a complementary burgundy tone.
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below: looking at the north-west corner of Morrison St. and Buckley Ave. There was a coffee shop on the corner, about maybe 5-6 years ago, which I had been to often; it was just across the street from the library parking lot; for a while it was a Thai restaurant, but for the last several years the place was closed. Below it is seen being demolished on Nov.23, 2009. A sink salvaged from the restaurant sits on the front lawn.
above: same view, Nov.24, 2009 - the coffee shop on the corner, and the house it was attached to, have both been demolished. The same brick house is seen in both above shots at the far left.
above: this is how the former coffee shop on the north-west corner of Morrison St. and Buckley Ave. looked on a snowy Feb.3, 2009.
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below: a view of the site, looking west along Morrison St., on Nov.23, 2009, during demolition. Buckley Ave. is in the foreground.

above: same view, Nov.24, 2009, after the two structures were demolished.
above: looking at the house and the coffee shop as they were on Feb.3, 2009.
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below: closer view during demolition, Oct.24, 2009

above: same view after demolition, Nov.25, 2009
above: a closer view of the coffee shop and sign, as they were earlier, on Feb.3, 2009. The same sign post is seen in the above three photos.
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below: Sept.30, 2009 - this building, on the north-west corner of Victoria Ave. and Willmot St., had been a shoe outlet, prior to that, it was a Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce branch. Prior to it housing the CIBC, this building was home to the "Canadian Bank of Commerce" (the words were carved into the front and side upper stone walls along the front and side). In 1961 the Bank of Commerce (established in Toronto in 1867) merged with the Imperial Bank of Canada (established in Toronto in 1875) to create the CIBC. The Imperial Bank itself had a Niagara lineage: soon after opening its own doors on Mar.16, 1875, the Imperial Bank quickly expanded by buying out the three-branch Niagara District Bank, which had been established in 1853 in St.Catharines.

above: Nov.24, 2009, an accounting firm has moved in. Note the words "Canadian Bank of Commerce" carved into the stone at the top front and side of the building.
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below: looking at the south side of Ferry St., between Stanley Ave. and Fallsview Blvd., at the Capri Restaurant, a Niagara Falls institution for years, as it was in June of 2009. It had a grand neon sign - the letters 'Capri' are seen in red neon, with the crests around them outlined in white neon, while 'restaurant' is in green neon.

above: seen at the end of Nov.2009. About mid-November 2009, the Capri Restaurant had closed, its seats and white linen covered tables gone, the Living Room Lounge signs taken off, and those great Capri neon sign letters removed.
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below: video by R.Bobak of bungalow being demolished at the SW corner of Lundy's Lane and Kalar Rd. on Nov.4, 2009. {this would later become the Freshco supermarket site}

Niagara Falls Then and Now, Buildings lost, Buildings found (PART EIGHT)

below: looking in a south-westerly direction at the curve, seen along the bottom, of Victoria Ave., at Hunter St., which is in the centre distance. The NFLA notes that this photo is from Sept. 1966, but also - erroneously - claims that this is '80 Bridgewater St. in Chippawa' -which it isn't! The Michigan Central/New York Central/Penn Central tracks are seen in the far left, and in the left distance the Minolta Tower can be seen.
above: Oct.21, 2009 - same view, the Supertest gasoline station is now a hotel parking lot; the building with the long block wall which ran along Hunter St., seen earlier above, has been torn down, as was the great looking Victorian mansion behind it; now a hotel occupies the site.
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below: date not known; this view is of the same area as above - the Supertest gas station site is seen at the bottom left, but in this view, it is a BP gas station. The Sheraton Motor Inn buildings at the bottom are still there in 2009, now the open internal areas are covered in skyroofs. At the bottom left, Victoria Ave. can be seen curving on its way towards Clifton Hill, and also can be seen stretching north into the distance, towards Bridge St. Two sets of Michigan Central railroad tracks can be seen along the bottom; to the right the tracks headed through a residential area along Palmer Ave., then shortly would have crossed the Michigan Central bridge over the Niagara River to the U.S. This photo was taken from the former Oneida/Kodak/Maple Leaf Village tower, now known as the Casino Niagara tower, and now closed to the public. below: a NFPRR streetcar crosses the Bowman Creek Ravine Bridge, at some point prior to 1903.

above: ca. 1900 - another view of the same trestle, as Niagara Falls Park and River Railway car 38 travels over the Bowman Ravine.
This ravine below the bridge was slowly filled in with tailings from the construction of the Canadian Niagara Power Co. electric generating station pits located just above Niagara Falls. The ravine was filled by 1903, at which point the bridge was completely buried in the fill. In the above photo, stone is already seen dumped at the bottom left. To the right this ravine was filled in, now the Niagara Parkway runs there, as well as part of the golf course. To the left the ravine is still open, dropping quickly and directly to the cul-de-sac of the Niagara River's famous Whirlpool Basin.
above: Jul.30, 2009 - same view where the Bowman Ravine Bridge once was. The same stone bridge abutments can still be seen in the grass at the bottom left.
above: Jul.30, 2009 - the steel rivetted beams of the buried Bowman Ravine Bridge still protrude through the grass. Where the streetcar tracks once ran is a now a bike path, following the old track right of way. In the distance from here, there are markers showing where the abutments were at the other end.
above: a historical marker about the buried Bowman Ravine railway trestle and buried gorge of a pre-glacial river which once ran here.(click any photo to enlarge!) The inscription reads: " The cut stone markers are the ends of a buried steel trestle that carried the tracks of the Niagara Falls Park And River Railway. It spanned the ravine created by Bowman's Creek, which eroded the soft glacial debris of the buried gorge of a pre-glacial river. This buried gorge extends west 3.2 km (2 miles) to the Niagara escarpment at St. David's."
It is an interesting point of geographical history to note that a former "pre-glacier river" ran here, which pre-dated the present Niagara River. The Niagara River, such as it was at the time, spilled out into the precursor of what is now Lake Ontario, somewhere in the area of St. David's, Ontario - quite a distance from where it spills into Lake Ontario today, at Niagara On The Lake. 
Somewhere not too far up the old Bowman ravine, there was a waterfall along Bowman creek called the "Harvie" falls, I cannot find any info on its exact location or details on what it looked like, or what the height was, but in all likelihood it was removed during the massive construction in the area  of the Beck Hydro tunnels. The Harvie falls, along with the Bowman Ravine, have vanished with the construction of the power plants, yet, they were still extant probably until the Bowman trestle was filled in around 1900.
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below:
looking at a 1901 map of the Whirlpool area, showing the actual course of the Bowman Creek (marked "A")
 It appears that the head of the creek started in the vicinity of Stamford Green Dr., just east of Dorchester Rd. It appears that it crossed St. Paul Ave.between Stamford Green Dr. and Brock St.
If one stands at the T-intersection of St.Paul Ave. and Brock St.(shown in the red circle), a drop in elevation can clearly be seen on both roadways. The southern edge of Stamford Presbyterian church's cemetery (which fronts onto the north-side of Brock  St.,and which shows a slope running along Brock St., is indicative of a probable location of a creek bank.
Heading towards Dorchester Rd., all surface traces of the creek have since been lost under subsequent subdivision housing development. There is also a clear slope seen in the area along Dennis Lane, which drops in elevation eastward from St. Paul Ave., another indication that a creek may have flowed in this vicinity. Heading east towards the Whirlpool, again, there seem to be no surface evidence remaining of the Bowman Creek bed, it being lost in a mix of subdivisions and industrial hydro development. I wonder if portions of the creek were canalized over the years by the local municipality (....and /or by the province, through Hydro?) and fed into the city's sewer or drainage system, or whether the creek was just randomly filled in, piecemeal, as developments took place? Clearly, these creeks still existed in 1901!

Also, interesting to note, is that the Bowman Creek is shown on the map with 2 tributaries!
The first tributary seems to have run westward from a point just south of where the streetcar trestle crossed the ravine. It is shown crossing Stanley Ave., and its head appears to have originated in the vicinity of  today's MF Ker park, although no sign of this tributary remains.
The second tributary ran northwards off the main creek, and its head would have been in the area which is now the hydro canal feeder area; again, no physical sign exists of this tributary, as the landscape of this area was massively reshaped for the hydro water supply tunnels and the reservoir.
There is a creek shown which I highlighted as "B", but I have not been able to find out what that creek was.
The other creek I highlighted as "C", was Colt's Creek, which still exists as Colt's falls and drops into the Whirlpool gorge, but the actual creek itself is no longer  visible on the surface.
The large green circled area is approx. where the Queenston quarries were, and the blue circle shows approx where the hydro reservoir now is. The part of Portage Rd., which is seen in the 1901 map heading diagonally towards the village of Queenston, has since been truncated, because the reservoir was built on where the original road once ran.

above: aerial view with the red circle showing the same area in both above photos, and the red line showing approx. where the Bowman Creek once ran. The blue circle shows the top end of  Colt's Creek, below which is Colt's Creek falls, dropping into the Whirlpool (this creek appeared on the previous above 1901 map as creek "C") . A portion of Colt Creek's surface ravine is still visible near the T-intersection of Victoria ave. and the Niagara Parkway, but the Colt Falls still exists (on a seasonal basis) and is mostly now fed from an underground pipe, showing that this creek must have been re-engineered and canalized. We saw in the 1901 map that Colt's creek headland was quite a distance westward, starting somewhere in the vicinity of Portage Rd. and Thorold Stone Rd., and we also see that it had a tributary which stretched in a south-westerly direction. Again, little to no surface evidence is left of those creeks.
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below: date unknown - looking along Falls Ave. through the Mowat Gate at the Foxhead hotel in the left foreground. Clifton Hill runs across in front of the Mowat Gate. At the right can be seen the corner of Oakes' Garden, which was officially opened Sept.18, 1938, dating this photo from the late thirties on. The General Brock Hotel is in the distance.
below: 1980 - same view as above, looking through the Mowat Gate, as a crew works on a pipe which crossed Falls Ave. The Foxhead, in the distance, is now a high-rise. Note below, to the left of the new Foxhead, that there is another building with an 'olde-tudor' facade still standing; this was also part of the old Foxhead; the same building is also seen above at the far left.
click on photos to enlarge!
above: Nov.3, 2009 - same view as both previous shots. Through the Mowat Gate in the foreground, the Foxhead is now seen reclad and has had additional stories added.
Note the same tree (seen to the right and above of the black garbage-can which is at the left of the above 2009 photo) is also seen in the 1980 photo: it's the tree with the two unmistakable really close vertical trunks at the left.
If you look just to the left of that tree in the 1980 shot, you'll see there was another large tree standing beside it; now, if you look at the 2009 shot, that tree is seen cut down - the tree stump is still visible (just to the left of the garbage can). I saw that tree being cut down in December of 2008, it was a huge oak. These two trees were certainly already standing in that earlier-above Foxhead photo from the late thirties/early-forties; they were there, just out of frame to the left!
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below: a closer view of the ye-olde-tudor styled Foxhead, with the Mowat Gate now behind the photographer; Clifton Hill runs up to the left and down to the bottom right; Falls Ave. runs into the distance. The General Brock Hotel is seen in the upper right distance. Date of this photo not known. At the far lower right, along Falls Ave. in a lot behind the Foxhead, can be seen the oval sign of an Esso gas station. Note the building at the far left, with the 'olde-tudor' facade, was also part of the Foxhead, but it was still standing after the part of the Foxhead on the corner was demolished for the high-rise, as seen in the 1980 shot previously above.

above: Nov.3, 2009 - the same view, same corner!!
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below: Nov.3, 2009 - looking along Victoria Ave., between Centre St. and Walnut St., which is in the left distance. In the right distance is the Sheraton hotel which was seen earlier, in the third photo from the top. Along the right, where the pathway now is, was where the Michigan Central tracks once ran.

above: same view as previous photo as Niagara Falls' streetcar tracks were being removed from Victoria Ave. In the far right distance (where the Sheraton would later be) was the Dominion Chain factory and smokestack. Note that the streetcar tracks ran right on Victoria Ave., note also how much much higher the railroad bed was, compared to the reconstructed area today. At the left along Victoria Ave., where the jumble of hotels is seen today, was a long, idyllic picket fence, and probably, houses. (Date of photo not known, quite possibly is from 1948, see further)
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below: May 6, 1948 - looking along Victoria Ave., between Magdalen St. and Centre St., as the streetcar tracks along Victoria Ave. are torn up. In the rear can clearly be seen the original old Samuel Zimmerman-built stables which remained after Clifton Place (the Bush Estate mansion, see here) was torn down in 1937. These stables were later incorporated into a part of the Comfort Inn hotel.
(The stables, built by Samuel Zimmerman in 1856, were torn down in the late fall of 2015, when the entire HOCO Comfort Inn hotel complex was demolished)
In the background can be seen boxcars, a gondola car, and a caboose on what was once Samuel Zimmerman's Erie and Ontario railroad (later becoming the Canada Southern later Michigan Central later New York Central later Penn Central). To the right, the tracks veered off to head towards the Inspiration Point lookout station below the Loretto academy.
[Though this can't be seen in the photo below, behind the sign at the right, behind the earth berm, the railroad track at around this point wyed into two lines: the main line went past the Loretto; the other line continued as a spur (curving in a wider south-westerly arc than the main line) heading towards Clark Ave., which it crossed and headed to Salit Steel, on the north west corner of Clark Ave. and Robinson St. I'm not sure when this Salit spur line was abandoned, probably in the 1970's, when Salit moved.]
The "frog" switch on the streetcar tracks (seen at the bottom of the photo below) led to a very short stretch of parallel track. This second track ran alongside the main track, along Victoria Ave., from (as seen in the photo blow) a point just before Magdalen St., and then quickly merged back into the main track just before where Victoria Ave. turned the corner into Ferry St. This short stretch of doubled tracks allowed streetcars to pass (jump, as in frog!) each other in opposite directions, on what was otherwise a single-track route.

above: same view, 2009 - a part of Zimmerman's stable is still seen here (obscured at this time behind the trees in the centre). The 1856 built Zimmerman stables were completely demolished in Oct. 2015.To the right, stores now have been built on the long, thin wedge of land between Victoria Ave. and the old track right of way which was seen behind the "Team Tracks" sign in 1948.
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Older shots in this essay from the Niagara Falls, Ont. Library Archive, NFLA. Current photos copyright by R.Bobak
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See more of this series at Niagara Falls Then and Now, Buildings Lost and Found, PART NINE
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Thanks for visiting Right In Niagara!
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We need an independent inquiry into McGuinty's health-care-denials scam

Melinda Dalton wrote in "Improved OHIP appeal procedure needed for those seeking cross-border care" (Waterloo Record, Nov.28, 2009, here):

"A former OHIP lawyer is calling for a new review of how Ontario handles out-of-country medical funding appeals because, he says, the complicated process leaves patients with little chance of ever having their bills reimbursed.

“This process should not be a safety valve for OHIP and that’s what it is now,” said Perry Brodkin, a Toronto lawyer who specializes in health law.

Brodkin was responding to a Metroland Special Report on cross-border care that shows what Health Minister Deb Matthews acknowledges is a dramatic increase in OHIP spending for out-of-country care. Patients who use the system express concern about the time it takes to get OHIP approval, and the difficult appeals process if refused.

Matthews was not available for comment yesterday.

The Health Services Appeal and Review Board is an independent body that reviews all claims made to OHIP, including pre-approvals and appeals for out of country treatment.

Brodkin, OHIP’s lawyer from 1973 to 1991, has assisted clients who are mounting appeals to the board, primarily by locating specialists who will testify on their behalf at a hearing.

However, he said, most people who appeal an OHIP decision simply can’t afford the help of a lawyer.

They end up mounting complicated appeals on their own, with limited knowledge of what they have to present to legally meet the standards needed for a successful appeal.

Often, it’s their own lack of knowledge that seals their fate, he said.

“People don’t understand that these hearings at the board are like a trial,” said Brodkin, adding patients generally need to convince a specialist to testify on their behalf.

“If you don’t, your appeal will be denied. Nobody tells anybody that . . . In other words, appellants to the board aren’t provided with sufficient information to enable them to have the slightest chance to have their appeal granted.”

Brodkin says after people lose their appeals, many simply think it’s the end of the road and they’re out of options.

“I advise as soon as you receive a decision from the board to contact the ombudsman,” he said.

The Ontario Ombud’s office said it received less than 10 complaints about the board in the last year and about 15 the year before.

Spokesperson Linda Williamson said that’s not necessarily representative of the number of people encountering problems with the board since not everyone is aware of their right to file a complaint with the Ombud’s office.

The Health Services Appeal and Review Board does not track or report on how many of the cases it reviews under OHIP involve refusal for out-of-country care. Last year, the 2008-09 fiscal year, it had 397 requests for appeal under OHIP, but cannot say how many were out-of-country care related.

The board also has not publicly issued an annual report for almost four years.

The Metroland report on Ontarians accessing health care in the U.S. included the story of Janet Nancarrow of Ottawa, who is preparing for an OHIP appeal hearing for her 34-year-old daughter, Lisa, who is taking part in a clinical drug trial at the Mayo Clinic.

Lisa Nancarrow’s doctors and family say the trial is her only option short of end-of-life palliative care. Her mother says that with no outside help, she had to research precedents, find expert witnesses and stay on top of voluminous paperwork, all while accompanying her daughter back and forth to Minnesota for treatments. But there are many more stories like the Nancarrows, including that of the Taylor family from Hamilton.

Stuart Taylor has spent the last two years mounting his appeal to OHIP for reimbursement of his son’s spine surgery at the Laser Spine Institute in Florida. Their initial claim was denied because the Taylors didn’t apply in advance for pre-approval and the use of lasers is considered experimental in Ontario.

Taylor said his family doctor didn’t know the procedure for out-of-country applications and he was told he could apply when he got home. He said he’s been given no help in gathering the large amount of evidence required to prove his case and the appeal has consumed a significant portion of his life.

“We won’t win, I know that. They’ve just got it all stacked up against us,” said Taylor, who remortgaged his house to pay for his son’s $28,000 surgery.

“Mentally, I’d love to abandon it because it’s dragging me down . . . but I can’t imagine (doing that) now after all this work.”

A spokesperson for the board said it could not offer any comment on the appeals process because its mandate is solely interpretation of the act.

Two previous examinations of the OHIP out-of-country system have occurred in the last few years. An investigation by the Ontario Ombud into the case of Suzanne Aucoin, a St. Catharines woman who was denied funding for the chemotherapy drug, Erbitux, in 2006, led the province to eventually reimburse Aucoin $75,000 and issue an apology.

The Ombud’s probe led the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to order an independent review of the out-of-country care system in 2007. That three-month appraisal - led by Mary Catherine Lindberg, a former assistant deputy minister of health - identified some weaknesses, and led to changes by the ministry. But now Brodkin says another review of the appeals process, by the ministry itself or an independent body, is in order.

“I think the whole process needs to be looked at and reformed,” he said.

The first thing that needs to be looked at, Brodkin said, is the decision-making power of the board, including if their jurisdictional authority should be expanded, “so they can render fair decisions, equitable decisions and don’t have to be bound by the law.”

The board is an independent body, set up by the province, to hear appeals on a wide range of decisions by the Health Ministry, under more than 14 health-related statutes.

Included is the Ontario Health Insurance Act, the law that covers eligibility for public health insurance and also out-of-country care.

“It must render its decision in accordance with the law,” Brodkin said. “It has no discretion. No compassionate grounds. Many people appear before the board and argue compassionate grounds. All those appeals are denied.”

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Let's see whether the St.Catharines Standard or Niagara This Week bother to cover this story from a local view, providing quotes from interviews with Niagara Falls Liberal MPP Kim Craitor, from St.Catharines Liberal MPP Jim Bradley, from Liberal health minister Deb Matthews, and from Liberal premier, Dalton McGuinty.
Many Obama supporters don't even believe that any Canadian would have to need to go across the border to the United States for health care; in Ontario, McGuinty's Liberals like to encourage this kind of ignorance.
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[McGuinty's Liberals would not want anyone to read this, regarding their Liberal healthcare duplicity.]
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Climate fear-mongering in the St.Catharines Standard

above: Nov.26, 2009 - more climate-change Copenhaganist global-warming fear-mongering found in Niagara's St.Catharines Standard - especially the smooth, deceptive link between speculative 'science' and the smear about Harper at the end. Well done.

You can just see local global warming fear-mongerers Liberal MPP Jim Bradley (here) and St.Catharines mayor Brian McMullan...
 
or this classic piece of St.Catharines Standard/Brian McMullan mutual brown-nosing http://www.stcatharinesstandard.ca/PrintGenArticle.aspx?e=3085)
 
...their heads in unison, screaming
We told you so! Run for the hills! The pipelines are rupturing! The pipelines are exploding! We're going to drown in floods of oil and melting glaciers!! Praise to thee, o wonderous prophets, Stephane Dion and David Suzuki! O Glory that is thine Great Seer and Saviour Al Gore, we beseech thee: save us... SAVE US...

Propaganda - what propaganda?!
The "science" is "settled", we're to believe!!

What you won't read in the St.Catharines Standard are perspectives such as these (update note - over time, since 2009, a lot of these links have changed):












Of course, the Standard can print whatever they like - "whatever" being the key concept.

But, should politicians Jim Bradley and Brian McMullan freely spout their personal climate alarmism while embedding it in skewed public policies? And should the local media simply let them get away with it, unchallenged?
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The "truth" revealed at the St.Catharines Standard

above: St.Catharines Standard, Nov.27, 2009

Isn't it nice to see the St.Catharines Standard kindly providing a link to a site showing an edited-for-propaganda video about Sarah Palin?

The St. Catharines Standard didn't quite bother to mention whether this edited video was approved by Oprah Winfrey or her production company.

Why would this even be in the St.Catharines Standard? Is this news... entertainment... gossip... info-tainment? Or plain ole smear mongering? Nah... it's just "funny stuff"!!

Did the St.Catharines Standard publish a similar funny stuff piece, linking to any videos showing Barack Obama confessing his addiction to incompetency, unprotected sex, and a love of porn? The Standard can't seem to find, let alone recommend to its readers, any links to similar video confessions from Liberal Michael Ignatieff... or from Jack Layton... or Jim Bradley... or Al Gore... or ...

Funny.
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Thursday, November 26, 2009

Where is Ontario's Chaoulli?

The Calgary Herald reported in "Albertans need to wake up to health care costs, Liepert" (Calgary Herald, Nov.20, 2009, see here):

"Speaking Thursday in Edmonton, Alberta Health Minister Ron Liepert said the province is looking at how to rein in health-care spending. Without providing further details, Liepert said the government has to consider "all means of how we pay for health care."

But he said there are no plans for new taxes or fees.

"I'm not talking about user fees. I'm talking about how can we overall have Albertans recognize the cost of health?" Liepert said.

"Can it continue to be a one-payer system forever?"

Finance Minister Iris Evans added she looks forward to the day Albertans can be shown the true costs of their health-care services, perhaps through some type of electronic records.

"Publicly funded health is, right now, a bottomless pit. We are just continuing to pour money in," Evans said.

Liepert and Evans made their comments the same day the Canadian Institute for Health Information said health-care spending -- on a per person basis -- is increasing across Canada, and is forecasted to be the highest in Alberta."


Wonder when Ontario Liberals McGuinty and Deb Matthews will begin to address this very same issue? Will Ontario health care remain single-payer forever? Has Matthews had enough time in her learning curve as Ontario's chief health care monopolist to think about an answer? George Smitherman realized, and admitted, that Ontario's health care system couldn't do it all, years ago - but of course he then merrily continued to do nothing except promulgate the same monopoly Matthews is now propping up.

Now Christina Spencer writes in "CMA president slams partisan politics over H1N1" (Toronto Sun, posted Nov.25, 2009, here):

"Canada’s top doctor bluntly decried the “nasty” politicking that has erupted around the country’s H1N1 response and challenged federal politicians to hold an open, honest discussion about how to fund future health care.

Wednesday, in her first major speech as head of the Canadian Medical Association, Dr. Anne Doig told the Economic Club of Canada in Toronto that both doctors and patients are frustrated that politicians “waged a war of words alleging mismanagement of the nation’s response to H1N1.

“As a family physician whose primary focus is her patients, I say this partisan political posturing must stop.”

Instead, she urged politicians to honestly discuss the rising demand for and cost of health services as the boomer generation ages, what she called the “silver tsunami.”

Canadians “have got to realize they can’t afford the health-care system they think they’re paying for. If we want to pay for more and we want to have a solely taxation-based system, then we need to understand what that means,” she told Sun Media.

Instead, “Canada’s federal politicians have completely abdicated their duty to fulfil the legacy of our once proud health system,” she said in her speech. “They prefer to wrap themselves in the Canadian flag, dismissing any criticism of our health-care system as unpatriotic.”

As an example, Doig pointed to the continuing refusal of the Conservative government to release $500 million in promised funding to the Canada Health Infoway, which works on better use of information technology to improve quality of care.

“Unfortunately they haven’t been transparent enough to come forward and tell us what the reason is,” Doig said.

She said improving care and funding needs to be thrashed out long before the First Ministers’ Health Accord expires in 2014. The 2004 accord guaranteed federal funding of $41.2 billion over 10 years.

A recent report from the Canadian Institute for Health Information said health spending nationwide will surpass $183 billion this year — or $5,452 per capita.

“The current political environment — with its minority parliaments, economic preoccupations and dark deficit clouds on the horizon for the foreseeable future — isn’t exactly conducive to bold, innovative thinking,” Doig warned."


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So let's hear from the solemn health care monopolists from all parties (especially from the provinces, which are responsible for health care delivery) explaining how they will fund everything under the sun, including health care, without bloating and bankrupting their treasuries.

Once again - where's the debate?

No one wants to talk about a private-parallel system. Any hint of change that's not socialistic in nature is immediately derided with the standard predictable hoots of Americanization and accusations of immorality.

And Doig should probably know - maybe she doesn't - that of those politicians who she claims at the federal level prefer to wrap themselves in the flag, dismissing reform ideas as unpatriotic bla bla bla: those federal politicians are almost exclusively Liberals and NDPeers. Come on - don't even pretend it ain't so, Ms. Doig - that is beneath you, and undercuts your position.

Even as the current Conservatives spend billions (while in deficit) on health care, the left still portrays them as health care cutters. Perhaps Doig can actually discuss each federal party's reactions to the Romanow report, the Kirby report, the Mazankowski report, to the Chaoulli decision, to the Shona Holmes case...

Perhaps Doig might mention the health care cuts in Liberal Ontario and Liberal BC. Why are they not questioned?

And what's this stuff Doig writes of about 'minority parliaments' and 'economic pre occupations'? That's what government is, and does! What, is Doig thinking that some massive majority of a single party is better to ram through some kind of new health legislation, the way McGuinty did?! What better time to discuss health care than in a minority?

Look at McGuinty's Liberal health care system - he's had six years at it in an unchallenged majority - so what the hell is Doig jerking the feds for? Look at McGuinty's Commitment to the Future of Medicare act - that legislation stinks: but conveniently Doig isn't transparent enough to tell us why she isn't criticizing it; perhaps it's unpatriotic to question a Liberal.

Has Doig asked all fed and provincial parties, in power or opposition, their views on the transformation of the failing single-payer health monopoly to another model?

Has Iggy bothered to tell anyone what his Liberals' health care policies are?! You can expect some smug flag wavin' over there, from the body-bag party, which tried to benefit from the H1N1 issue. [Maybe it was someone else Doig was referring to?] Will Iggy support the re-writing of the Canada Health Act?!

We expect more leadership from the CMA than this tepid, less-than-clinical response from Doig.

Doig should get on EVERY politician's ass, without playing coy partisan games herself: say what you mean, be specific, show us examples and options, keeping in mind that patients should have access to payer/provider choice, and keeping in mind that NO POLITICIAN deserves to be or should be in charge of a health care monopoly.

If the last two reminders are not on Doig's list of essential goals, then this CMA head is just wasting everyone's valuable time.

Fish or cut bait, Ms. Doig.

We all know that the proverbial "something" has to be done - but then we don't do it.

Force the debate, if you have to - it's obvious that status-quo loving politicians, as much as they pretend to care for patients, are loathe to even touch the issue without a flag and a trite Tip-O-the-Hat to Tommy Douglas.

Someone has to lead a debate NOT mired in "patriotic" Douglasonian-socialist treacle.

Will it be up to the courts to decide on behalf of patients, because the politicians couldn't get off their asses on this?

Where is Ontario's Chaoulli?

Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Forget about any global warming facts

Further to my previous post, let's look at the St.Catharines Standard's Nov.25, 2009 story, above, by Sun Media's Jim Peat "Hacked e-mails in Britain 'much ado about nothing': prof".
Well, speaking of nothing - nothing in this story, or in the Standard's previous editions, gives proper context to the issue or actually shows what the emails said, or, why some would bother to think that they are a big deal, and why others would pretend that they are about nothing.
Even the tag line at the very top is misleading and calculatedly phony: WHAT "CLIMATE CHANGE DEBATE" is the Standard talking about?! This is a report of climate change propaganda, not debate!
The spin of the story is TO DENY FACTS; TO SMOTHER DEBATE; TO SUPPRESS AND DENIGRATE SKEPTICS! How dare anyone question the basis of socialist political climate pseudo-science? If you only read the St.Catharines Standard, then all you'll take from the article is what they'd like to spin you with: hey.... don't worry... nothing to look at 'ere, folks - just the, ahem... facts... move along, now!!!

You'll take from the article that global warming is 'all settled'. You'll believe - without proof - that global warming is caused by humans - just because we (the St.Catharines Standard and the Ontario Liberal Party) reported it is so!

And if we say it's true often enough, then, well... it must BE true!

Ah, the beautifully crafted lack of environmental context in the St.Catharines Standard is breathtaking! No Green Team investigation here, no splainin' to... um... that average Joe Niagara what the factual context is, no sireee!

"There's no real denying that humans are behind climate change" the Standard reports some Uof T hack spouting - without actually presenting all the facts! Facts - who needs those when we've got Al Gore and Stephane Dion and David Suzuki handling the "truth" front?
Peat reports U of T prof Douglas MacDonald saying that "climate change policy now isn't really hinging on the science and whether or not this is actually being caused by human beings."
Well isn't THAT good to know: who gives a f*ck about the facts?
Hysterical Liberal climate change fearmongering shouldn't be based on facts - right Jim Bradley? It should be used as the basis for alarm, false deadlines, and political rhetoric; it should be used as the basis for idiotic socialist political policy implementations!!
To that end, the prof then says climate change policy now hinges on "who bears what portion of the total cost".
Voila - the circle of idiocy is complete: We'll force you to pay for a "problem" we can't prove exists, but that you caused!
It's f#cking PERFECT.
MacDonald dismisses that the climate change debate (which is, after all, what the Standard pretended that this story was about, at the heading: "debate" !!) was based on misleading, even falsified, information/speculation from the AGW propagandists. He doesn't wanna talk about that. Astounding that the good ole perfessor is so dismissive regarding theoretical AGW that all he can do is say "We're past all that"!!
What??! So 'It's settled' - that's what you'd like us to believe?!
So we're past asking Liberal MPP Jim Bradley (Ontario's Grit Grandpappy of GreenFear) where he obtained his global warming data, with which he propagandized Ontarians?!
We're just to supposed to forget the AGW-pushers' deceptions?!
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Jim Bradley's secret climate-change recipe

Further on the global warming subject in this post earlier, is Lorne Gunter's great column here "Cooking the Climate Books" (National Post, Nov.25, 2009)

Dalton McGuinty's Liberals, such as Jim Bradley, propagated the AGW global warming hoax. Many local Niagara politicians, even the mayor of St.Catharines, Brian McMullan, were poisoned by the AGW/climate change hoax, and willingly continued to spread their alarmist beliefs - their GreenFear - through green-infected policies. This Al Gore/David Suzuki abetted idiocy culminated on a national level into a fever pitch with federal Liberal Stephane Bumbledore Dion's Gorzukion Green Shift flameout.

To this day, Niagara's local kyodiot - St.Catharines Liberal MPP Jim Bradley - hasn't revealed specifically which "scientific" evidence he relied upon to badger Ontario into supporting Kyoto!!

And, a secretive Bradley has never specifically named the scientists whom he dismissively accused in 2002 of being "rogue" and apparently, also as being 'funded by the oil industry'!
The link was here, since removed by the Brock University Press.
The Jim Bradley climate-change propaganda story, written by Susan Kirwin, was titled "Kyoto Protocol will succeed", and appeared in the Brock Press, St.Catharines, Ontario, Nov.19, 2002) Nobody in the media has ever challenged Ontario's two-time Liberal Environment Minister Jim Bradley about his global-warming lies.

At the same time, Jim Bradley has never revealed who funded those mysterious 'scientists' who convinced Bradley himself that statist political 'solutions' would 'solve' global-warming!!!!

One of Ontario's top climate-change cooks is keeping that part of his recipe secret.

(... Add one part hoax, to two parts smugness, mix in a previous blend of statistical lies and omissions with a dash of deception; blend furiously while quickly adding heaps of indignant outrage, spin entire mixture with your own political blend of spicy GreenFear mongering and coercive authoritarianism... don't forget to add  heaping helpins' of taxpayer cash, as well - and voila: your expensive Liberal Kyodiot cupcakes are ready to infect the masses...)
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McGuinty Liberals guilty of trafficking health-, economic-, and enviro-fiction

The St.Catharines Standard carries stories, such as the GreenFear-mongering piece above, from May 14, 2009; but where are the challenges to the greenie orthodoxy in the local press?
above - from the National Post, Nov.12, 2009 - the side of the same story which the St.Catharines Standard couldn't be bothered to examine. Sure, why should they!!!!?
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Dalton McGuinty said during question period in Queen's Park, on Nov.24, 2009, that the opposition was "trafficking fiction" regarding the HST.

Hahhaha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And this comes from Liberal McGuinty, the greatest political liar Ontario has ever known!!

McGuinty could have used his insight to describe Al Gore, the kyodiot fellow windbag of Liberals such as McGuinty and MPP Jim Bradley. Gore's in Toronto to promote, pardon... traffic, his book... pardon, kindling... preaching more Gore enviro-fiction. The lefties will unquestioningly lap it up. (Tickets to Gore's Pre-Copenhagen-Propaganda-Fest at the CNE Allstream Centre were $500, the proceeds going to - wait for it - yes: David Suzuki's Greensheviks!) Gosh, you can pretty much bet there won't be a peep of inquisitiveness regarding Gore's years of enviro-bluster from the St.Catharines Standard's (here) laughable 'Green team'!!



See here ("Jim Bradley, Kyoto's pipsqueak", Dec.31, 2007) where I wrote:

"Jim Bradley once dismissively referred to ... “rogue scientists”! (Brock Press, Nov. 19, 2002, by Susan Kerwin) A smug Bradley referred to other politicians (who didn't sing from Bradley's hymn-book) derisively, for example calling Alberta’s Premier Ralph Klein a “Neanderthal”. (St. Catharines Standard, Oct.23, 2002)

But to this day, Jim Bradley, who has questionable (if any) scientific credentials himself, has not revealed what specific scientific evidence (if any) he himself relied upon to politically agitate for Kyoto’s adoption!

Why doesn’t Jim Bradley reveal what specific evidence, in existence prior to the end of 2002, convinced him to support such a flawed concept?" (See more here)


See here ("Liberal Jim Bradley and the "Mystery of the Secret Kyoto files"", Jun.19, 2007) where I wrote:

"In October 2002, St. Catharines Liberal environment critic, M.P.P. Jim Bradley, was booted out of the Legislature for heckling the Ernie Eves' Conservatives, alleging they were "hiding" hundreds of Kyoto documents. Bradley claimed these "secret" files would show that the impact upon Ontario of implementing Kyoto "is not going to be as dire as they have suggested." (Globe and Mail, Nov. 19, 2002) Bradley blustered: "We know that your government is not telling the whole story." (Brantford Expositor, Oct. 23, 2002) A St. Catharines Standard editorial (Nov. 20,2002) called upon Premier Eves "to open the doors and windows and let the sunshine in."

Is anyone today, in 2007, calling to "let the sunshine in" on the failed policies of Ontario's Premier Dalton McGuinty? Are his now-governing Liberals, who for four years fibbed like Pinocchio, "telling the whole story"?

What documents have the Grits hidden, concealing Kyoto's economic impact upon Ontarians? Could it be that, contrary to the histrionics of the Al Gore and David Suzuki traveling salvation shows, the apocalypse is not now? Could it be that not implementing Kyoto is not "going to be as dire as they have suggested"?

Bradley dismissed Kyoto-skeptic experts as "rogue scientists". (Brock Press, Nov. 19, 2002) What are Bradley's scientific credentials? Is this guy fit to pontificate on the science of climate change? In 2002, as Bradley shrieked about his alleged Kyoto "secret" documents, what actual science was he basing his beliefs on at the time - the Mann "hockey-stick" graph, since discredited? Should we believe a "pipsqueak" politician like Bradley, as Ralph Klein once described him (The Standard, Oct. 23, 2002); or, should we believe scientists around the world (lovingly known as 'deniers') who question the climate models, methodology and data interpretations used by fear-inducing, pro-Kyoto tax-grabbers? For example, renowned French scientist Dr. Claude Allègre has stated, as have many others, that there is no basis for saying that the "science is settled." (National Post, Mar. 2, 2007) Patrick Moore, former Greenpeace president, said "Gore and Suzuki will have to eat major crow" over their insistence that man-made global warming is scientifically settled. (Roy Green show, CHML, Mar. 21, 2007)"




So: specifically which "rogue scientists" (see here, Brock Press, interview with Susan Kerwin, Brock University, St.Catharines, Ontario, Nov.19, 2002 edition) was Mr. Bradley referring to, back in 2002?!?

Why won't Jim Bradley, the Liberal MPP from St.Catharines, publicly reveal which information, from which scientists, he used to make his statement?
Why isn't any of Niagara's press (or Ontario's press, for that matter) bothering to ask!!??

Could it be that Liberal Jim Bradley himself was fronting biased POLITICAL positions of "rogue scientists" - the ones now featured in "Climategate" ??! (see here; also here, National Post, Nov.24, 2009)

As Joe Olson wrote here [American Thinker, Nov.25, 2009] :

"Nothing happens in a vacuum and these rogue 'scientists' did not hatch this plot of their own volition. These individuals have been carefully selected and groomed for decades to have preeminence over all other scientists in institutions created or hijacked for a demonic political motive. Human caused global warming has been a Progressive/Eugenic philosophy for over a century and if you are new to this 'debate' then you can not possibly put all the facts in context without a review of history... Now that enough dots have been exposed it is more believable to accept the premise that carbon control and tax has always been about the destruction of western economies and freedom. The resulting social chaos would justify the 'work force reductions' that totalitarian regimes have always required and delivered. There will be no doubt of motives as FIOA request fill in the rest of the picture. Humanity owes a deep debt of gratitude to the hacker/whistleblower in this event. The guilty deserve the wrath of all. "

So, then: Let's look at Liberal MPP Jim Bradley and his beliefs - as Ontario's Environment Minister - on population control: (see here)
Let's ask why, seven years later, Ontario Liberal MPP Jim Bradley still has not revealed which scientists he was referring to in 2002 who were "rogue"; and which specific 'scientists' Bradley was relying on at the time to base his Kyoto-bluster in the Ontario Legislature? Was it the phoney Mann-made-hockey-stick graph which convinced Jim Bradley that Bradley's innate statist political leanings were justified by "science" (later shown to be misleading)??
What's melting is Jim Bradley's Liberal credibility: AGW science certainly isn't settled, it's alleged. Bradley has not proven otherwise. What's settled is Jim Bradley's cavalier, self-serving, GreenFear-mongering politization of a scientific question.
What's settled is Jim Bradley's kyodiot secretiveness.
Whether it is in regards to the HST, to Caledonia, to Ontario's health care monopoly, or the economy, or environmental science, who are the real "rogues" still trafficking fiction in Ontario?
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