Tag Archive for 'healthcare'

Blah vs. Blah

Published
by
Brendon J. Wilson
on September 1, 2004
in Uncategorized
. 0 Comments

It’s hard to ignore the plethora of coverage of the run-up to the presidential election, no matter how hard I try. But amidst the coverage of bloggers at the DNC, bloggers at the RNC, Michael Moore being dissed at both events, and the Swift Vet controversy, something is missing from the coverage. What could it be? Hmmm…oh, that’s right - actual examination of the issues!

Here’s something that I’ve noticed: no one seems to have done any serious analysis of either the Democratic platform or the Republican platform. That seems a little weird - or it would, if you hadn’t looked at the contents of either platform and already concluded that to the average person, they’re virtually identical.

A cursory review of the table of contents reveals the common themes (noted in Democrat-speak v. Republican-speak): Defeating Terrorism v. Winning The War on Terror, Strong Healthy Families v. Protecting Our Families, A Strong American Community v. Strengthening Our Communities.

Whoopee! Tell me something I don’t know! Then again, what else would you expect? It’s not like any politician stands up and says, “Hey everybody! I’ve been giving it a lot of thought, and I’ve decided I’m for less funding for education and healthcare!”

And therein lies the problem - everyone’s for everything before the election. Hell, just look at the size of these platforms - forty-one pages for the Democratic platform, and ninety-four pages for the Republican platform. It’s ironic that the Republicans, always pointing fingers at the “ivory tower” Democrats, have to spend twice as many pages on explaining their positions.

Who has the time to read this crap? The Republican paper is flowery, dense, soppy prose that reads like someone caught between a post-near-death-epidose rediscovery of God and an overdose on Prozac. And while shorter, the Democratic platform doesn’t seem to be able to get to its point any more directly either. These things should fit into a page of bullet points, or five pages of printed text total - if the average voter can’t read a party’s platform in less than half an hour, then the platform is a failure.

But then, isn’t that the point?

If you could actually consume and ponder the entirety of either party’s stances, you might actually be informed. But voting isn’t about being informed anymore - the issues are complex, and the machinery of government obscure and untrustworthy in the average voter’s eyes. The proceeding devolve to name-calling and muck-raking, reducing the voter’s decision to which candidate is less despicable/or has better hair. In short, it becomes the same variety of popularity contest most people are more likely to associate with high-school elections.

Then again, what do I care? It’s not like I can vote in this country. Nothing to do but sit back, and listen to well-informed strip-club waitresses hold court on the political shenigans at the RNC.

Brain Drain Tollbooth

Published
by
Brendon J. Wilson
on August 14, 2002
in opinion
. 0 Comments

The CBC reported yesterday on an ongoing attempt by the State of North Dakota to attract farmers from Canada. This attempt to incite an “agricultural brain drain” has failed so far (none of the 30 farmers the state has tried to woo so far have accepted the offer), but it reminded me about another type of “brain drain” I became aware of very recently. This form of “brain drain” is quite different, but is an equal or greater threat to Canada’s future.

Preparing for my entrance into the UBC MBA Program, I met several students who were also entering the program. All of them have only been Landed Immigrants for less than a year and came to Canada specifically to attend the MBA program. What’s shocking, at least to me, is that none of these students have any intention of staying in Canada once they have completed their MBA!

Something about this seems wrong. Should these students be counted as part of Canada’s “brain drain”? The term “brain drain” has typically implied losing highly skilled Canadian workers to other markets (primarily the United States). However, I would argue that for this term to apply, the skilled workers in question would have to be truly Canadian in the first place. At this point, it would appear these students are Canadian only for the purpose of short-term gain, rather than long commitment to Canada.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against immigrants. I originally came from Australia, so I’m also an immigrant (though I am now a naturalized Canadian citizen). I’ve lived here twenty-six years, as have my parents. We’ve paid our taxes and contributed our fair share towards building Canada’s social system. For me there seems to be something wrong with allowing people to manipulate the Canadian system to obtain cheap education, healthcare, and other social services at the expense of those of us who have committed to living in Canada. It would seem to me that these students have basically added an extra year to their program in order to bypass the cost of the International Program, before they move onto greener pastures. And they’ve done it at our expense. Who the hell do they think they are?

This is the problem: people are leaving their own country, stopping off in Canada to train up, and then moving onto other countries that are more willing to adequately compensate them for their skills. Is it unethical? Certainly, but it’s also perfectly logical. Why pay for education and healthcare when you can immigrate to Canada, stay long enough get trained (not working or paying taxes during that time), and move on?

What we need is a system that prevents against this kind of abuse. In some ways, we already have this in place; for example, my wife (an American) can’t claim welfare for the next ten years as a condition of her becoming a Landed Immigrant. Suppose that we implemented a sliding scale system for our social services, one that started at 0% coverage by the Canadian government (i.e.: you pay the full cost) to 100% coverage (i.e.: you pay the same as any other Canadian) over a ten-year period.

This would definitely prevent against Canada being taken advantage of by those who would use Canada’s generosity for their own gain. However, such a system would create second-class citizens within the country. Nobody wants to deny rights to those who seek refuge in Canada. But as much as Canada wants to be fair, I think it needs to recognize the world isn’t fair and act to protect itself.

Canada is at risk of turning into a filling station on the “brain drain” freeway. I’d say it’s time we built ourselves a tollbooth.