Today’s letters: ER closures should not be accepted as ‘normal’

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ER closures are not ‘normal,’ minister

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Re: Ontario ER closures not unprecedented, health minister says, Aug. 8.

What a relief hearing from provincial Health Minister Sylvia Jones that ER closures are not unprecedented. We’ve failed Ontarians in the past so what’s the big deal if we are doing it again? Very comforting.

The motto in the Ontario Health Ministry must be “Strive for mediocrity.” In order to serve you better, we’ve closed this ER; please drive 80 kms to the next nearest overcrowded ER as it may be open. Best of luck.

True story: a few years ago, the notice on the door of our local bank branch said that exact thing: “In order to serve you better, we’ve
closed this branch.” It must be spreading!

Garry Logue, Ottawa

What universe is the health minister living in?

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Gee, I didn’t think the nurses in Ontario were all on vacation. I thought they were so overworked and underpaid that nobody wants to be a nurse anymore. I’m so glad the minister has told us the truth as she sees it from the planet she lives on far away.

Jean Currie, Ottawa

Don’t trash the single-payer system

Health Minister Sylvia Jones appears on track to continue underfunding nursing and other forms of health care and promoting private care. Decent health care can never be cheap. Fix the current single-payer system; don’t trash it.

David Palframan, M.D., Ottawa

Paramedic rules are just stupid

The biggest problem with the health-care system is that it is run by the government, which is more concerned about rules and regulations than about efficient and effective service.

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Take, for example, the issue of having zero ambulances available. This is because of a stupid rule requiring paramedics (and their ambulances) to sit idle until a hospital worker takes over a patient. In one case I was waiting in hospital with my wife and there were 10 paramedics in the hallway with five patients. They were there for more than two hours. Once the hospital takes over, one or two nurses look after these five patients.

Why not have a pair of paramedics look after these patients until they are handed over? I hope that someone who cares reads this.

Greg Cameron, Ottawa

What will it take to change views on nursing?

I don’t believe many of the registered nurses from the 1980s and ’90s are still practising. So, few will remember when pay equity was the big issue.

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We nurses felt we should have pay parity with police officers. No such luck. Word was, we were compared to pastry chefs. Unfortunately, nursing is still female-dominated and I don’t think it is any more valued today than in the 1990s.

I don’t know what it will take to get nurses the recognition on all levels — pay, benefit, equity and respect — they deserve. Perhaps if the whole health system gets nearer to total collapse, views will change among those in charge.

Mary Sue Boyle (proud graduate of Toronto General Hospital 1968), Kemptville

Why people are leaving nursing careers

The Citizen has carried numerous examples of the challenges facing nurses. I heard an example that sets out starkly the choice one nurse made. She left her profession to become a painter with a drywall and painting company. She is happy with her decision. The hours are regular, the pay is roughly what she had been earning and when she finishes her work day, it does not stay with her.

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Gerry Van Kessel, Gatineau

Fill health-care gaps with ‘dreamers’

While Canada’s health-care spending is in line with other democracies, our results are not. Only the Americans make us look good.

We spend much more than most on administration, but we penny-pinch with nurses, beds and equipment. Wait times are horrible. ER rooms are shut down. Ambulances line up, unable to drop off patients. Nurses are leaving in droves. Thousands of jobs remain vacant. All the provinces ever do is demand more money from the federal government. But money alone will not bring our nurses back. In the long run, the health system needs a total overhaul.

Ultimately, we need a true national public health-care system, just like most other democracies. They are more efficient, effective and accountable. Of course, that would take years. In the short term, we urgently need more doctors and nurses.

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Want a quick solution? In the U.S., some 280,000 health-care workers are so-called “dreamers” — undocumented immigrants. All “dreamers” by definition, have lived in the U.S. for many years with unblemished records. They are losing hope. Canada could offer them what they dream about: a job, respect and fast citizenship.

Patrick Esmonde-White, Ottawa

A little context on those teacher comparisons

Re: Letter, Let’s compare teachers, nurses, Aug. 8.

I heartily concur with the writer’s comments about the working conditions for nurses in Ontario. Improvement is essential, particularly in wages. I would like to clarify and add some reality, however, to her comments about the teaching profession.

She stated that teachers have three paid professional days, as if this were some kind of holiday. Not so. Professional days are working days, and they represent a very small part of the professional development that teachers pursue regularly, on their own dime.

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Yes, the mandated working day for teachers is five hours, but that is five hours in front of a class, working with groups and individuals, often with very high numbers of students. Readers should have some understanding of the countless hours that go into preparing for the delivery of programs to address the learning needs of  diverse students. This requires hard-earned skills and knowledge, and working nights and weekends to meet the needs of students in that five-hour class window. As for accountability, performance reviews are done every year.

The nursing profession in Ontario has been profoundly undervalued and this must be addressed. But please have a more accurate understanding of the workload teachers carry before making  comparisons.

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Jan Secord, Ottawa

Blood agency needs to rethink this policy

Re: Donors, recipients upset after Canadian Blood Services lifts mask mandates, Aug. 11.

I saw one of my health-care providers this past week. Both of us were wearing a mask during treatment. I asked her why she continues to do so and the reply was: “We’re doing a good job of ignoring that COVID is still out there, so I will continue to wear a mask.”

If Canadian Blood Services wants to address the current drop in donations, perhaps it should consider those words and how some donors see the situation right now.

Ron Grossman, Blackburn

The federal public service is not special

Re: Public service unions say federal government’s guidance on hybrid work flawed, July 29.

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I’m curious as to why members of the public service feel they are different from the private sector, and must be handled with extreme care. The rest of us have been back to the office, working, for months now. Some, never left work at all during the pandemic.

With multiple news reports about delays in delivery of federal government services, it confuses me when I read comments from public servants to the effect that: “I work so much better at home, I get so much more done.” If that were truly the case, why aren’t our government services running 100 per cent better than in 2019? The bureaucracy was never a well-oiled machine, but it is running at least 100 per cent worse than in 2019.

What is missing with the remote model is collaboration, innovation and efficiency. A day or two in the office, with flexibility at either end of the week, provides a massive opportunity to collaborate, innovate and change the status quo. Sitting in your basement by yourself, tapping away and “doing your job” does not make for a better outcome.

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Please, just get back to work, you are not special.

Krista McCredie, Ottawa

Everyone should have access to memorial

Re: Ottawa’s National War Memorial is not a backdrop for your protest, Aug. 5.

Every person should have the right to visit the site of the War Memorial, even if it means there will be more urinators, dancers, desecrators, flag drapers and self-titled freedom fighters. Those we have enshrined and promised to remember did not sacrifice for just some of us but rather for all of us.

I would support additional surveillance, both physical and electronic, and stiffer penalties for criminal acts. I would also suggest prohibiting group political protests at the site. It is a sacred place, not Speaker’s Corner. I am still convinced that every person must have the right to visit the War Memorial, touch the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, contemplate the sacrifices made, educate our children and grandchildren, give thanks for the Canada we have inherited, and perhaps even pray and to weep.

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Anything less dishonours those who gave so much.

Cmdr.(Retd) John W. McDermott, CD, RCN, Carlsbad Springs

Yes, some things are indeed sacred

Keep up the good work, Brigitte Pellerin. You could not have said it any better. Wonderful and lovely. Hearts do live on, especially when we let them.

Pat Gates, Ottawa & Westport

Why user-pay would work for transit

Re: Fare-free transit will help solve Ottawa’s woes, Aug. 9.

Yes, we must reduce car-based commuting. This will be helped by transit that is reliable, comfortable, clean, convenient and affordable. However, the current fare structure of OC Transpo presents a heavy subsidy to those who live in the far suburbs. I live in Westboro, and pay the same fare to travel six km to the Rideau Centre as does someone travelling 23 km from the Kanata Centrum, four times as far.

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If we want to discourage urban sprawl and encourage higher population density in 15-minute neighbourhoods, we must make it financially preferable to live close to city centres. Many of the world’s large cities have fare zones. The further you travel the more you pay.

Yes, there are some people who need financial help to journey to work or school. The technology is already there to support different fare structures. Surely there can be a fare category based on some proof or attestation of financial need. This is better than providing free transit to affluent knowledge workers and executives living in large homes on former agriculture land.

Affordable transit means being more affordable than the alternative: the private car. Again, user-pay should prevail. The more road one uses, the more one should pay. Rather than all taxpayers funding roads regardless of how much or how little they use them, drivers should pay by the distance travelled. This is achieved by tolls.

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So, some good points by writers Nick Grover and Donald Swartz, but I disagree with their proposal.

David Welch, Westboro

The case for free transit is sound

Thank you, Nick Grover and Donald Swartz, for clearly articulating why free public transit is sound public policy. Traffic congestion, endless road repair and road-widening, air and noise pollution are all products of our reliance on private vehicles.

We are in a climate crisis which must be managed immediately with innovative action. Now is the time to use the public purse to improve our quality of life in Ottawa.

Julie Newlands, Ottawa

Here’s how to fund true free transit

The authors writing on fare-free transit neglected to mention that Ottawa taxpayers currently contribute 45 per cent to the actual cost of OC Transpo fares through a transit levy on their property taxes. They also pay for the OC Transpo annual deficit and the LRT long-term debt. As a result, Ottawa transit riders are getting a massive discount on the actual cost of a fare.

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I suggest that real “free transit” be proposed where ridership the transit levy is removed from property taxes, and taxpayers no longer pay the annual deficit or the LRT long-term debt. Where then would the massive transit funding come from? From reducing the bloated bureaucracy within the City of Ottawa.

The City of Edmonton requires 10,000 municipal workers and the City of Calgary requires 13,000. These numbers include emergency services such as police, fire and paramedics. Both cities have the same population as Ottawa. Why, then, does the City of Ottawa require more than 18,000 employees?

A reduction of 20 per cent in the number of city employees would pay for “free transit” to the financial delight of both transit riders and property taxpayers.

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Leo Berndt, Ottawa

A multilateral answer to grain convoys

As many in sub-saharan Africa and the parts of the Middle East now face the spectre of famine due to the blockade of Ukraine’s ports, the world community is in full hand-wringing mode. NATO naval mine clearance and escorts for grain convoys are out of the question.

However, our prime minister could propose a multilateral solution: a United Nations-flagged operation with naval escorts provided by navies acceptable to all sides. India, Brazil, South Africa and Turkey come to mind, as they all field fully professional navies.

Samphe Lhalungpa, retired UN international development professional, Ottawa