Canadian Politics Thread

[Warhippy]

17 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

Almost a million B.C. residents have no family doctor. Many blame the province's fee-for-service system | CBC News

 

I thought this was interesting since we are talking about family doctors.  I guess over a million people have to move and find a new place to live...

 

Almost a million B.C. residents have no family doctor. Many blame the province's fee-for-service system
 

Camille Currie has less than a year of battery life on her pacemaker and no family doctor.

 

The Greater Victoria resident and mother of two says she also has bleeding and connective-tissue disorders that would make post-op care challenging when she does get the battery replaced. If she has trouble healing, she is afraid she will have to line up at an urgent and primary care centre (UPCC). 

 

Currie also says both her children have a rare auto-inflammatory disorder.

 

Yet she and her family are among almost a million British Columbians without a family doctor. According to the B.C. College of Family Physicians, only 80 per cent of residents in the Capital Regional District have one, compared to 84 per cent of people provincewide.

 

According to Canadian tech company Medimap, which publishes online wait-times for walk-in clinics, B.C. residents wait an average of 58 minutes at walk-in clinics — more than double the national average. Victoria had the longest average wait time in the country at more than 2½ hours.

 

CBC spoke to patients, doctors and other people impacted by the shortage for a special series titled "A Crisis in Care: The Family Doctor Shortage in Greater Victoria" to examine the roots of the problem, and one issue that came up multiple times was B.C.'s fee-for-service system.

 

Current system leading to doctor burnout

 

Fee-for-service is a system of care that pays doctors for each office visit.

 

People familiar with how it works say the high volume of administrative work needed for doctors to get payment — combined with the low amount of take-home pay it generates — is discouraging doctors from practising family medicine, and that's created a dire need for family physicians and a reliance on emergency rooms and clinics.

 

"B.C. is not providing us with universal health care," said Currie on CBC's All Points West on Tuesday.

 

Dr. Adrian Yee, a hematologist in Victoria, said the Urgent and Primary Care Centre (UPCC) system is failing many of his elderly patients, who come to him with medical conditions that have worsened while they waited to see a primary care provider. 

 

Greater Victoria physician Jennifer Lush is trying, though.

 

Lush has been a family doctor for 20 years and understands why others would choose not to be. Most doctors are paid about $30 per patient visit and, from that, Lush pays for staff, medical equipment and office space.

 

She says she works 70-hour weeks and struggles with work-life balance.

 

Half the hours Lush puts in are unpaid, she says, because they are spent doing paperwork.

 

"The minute my kids are tucked in bed, I'm pulling out my computer and I start charting. Often I will chart until two or three in the morning," Lush told CBC's On The Island on Tuesday.

 

Comparable to minimum wage

 

A report published in the Canadian Family Physician Journal in November 2021 found up-and-coming doctors are choosing more hospital-based work and specialized practice rather than family medicine — in part because they're worried about the consequences of B.C.'s fee-for-service model on work-life balance.

 

Alicia Pawluk became a doctor in 2018 and does hospital-based work alongside treating patients at the Cool Aid Community Health Centre in Victoria.

 

She says under the current system, the take-home income of a family doctor is comparable to minimum wage.

 

"The average physician graduates with about $200,000 of debt. Minimum wage is not going to be able to cover the sort of payments that we need to make," said Pawluk.

 

In May 2020, the College of Family Physicians of Canada called for alternative funding models to replace the fee-for-service method in order to recruit and retain more family doctors.

 

B.C. Health Minister Adrian Dix said connecting people with a family doctor has been his "highest priority" since entering the role in 2017.

 

To reduce the administrative burden on doctors, and help people who don't have one, Dix's ministry invested in UPCCs to provide same-day, urgent, non-emergency support. He said the province is also increasing the use of alternative payment methods to attract more family physicians.

 

"The will of doctors and others to work with us to reform and make the system better is there, and we need to do so," Dix told CBC's On The Island on Thursday.

 

'I did not receive that care until too late'

 

Change can't come soon enough for Joy Williamson, who has been without a doctor for eight years. Diagnosed with breast cancer in 2020, she believes it would have been caught sooner if she had had one.

 

"I did not receive that care until too late," said Williamson, who explained that the cancer had travelled to her lymph nodes by the time it was detected and she needed to have her whole breast removed instead of a lumpectomy.

 

Joy Williamson believes that not having a family doctor delayed her breast cancer diagnosis.

 

The day before her surgery, Williamson was worried she had a blood infection and says she drove around Greater Victoria with her husband and two kids for hours looking for a UPCC that was not full. She ended up waiting five hours in emergency for a diagnosis.

 

Currie hears how frustrating that is firsthand. She created B.C. Health Care Matters, a website where patients can petition for change and share their stories.

 

Those stories include parents who waited eight hours in emergency with sick kids, and a senior couple with mobility issues who lined up for hours, several days in a row, at a UPCC that was constantly full.

 

As time ticks closer to Currie's own pending surgery, her own fear grows.

 

"This pacemaker is going to run out and I can only pray that I will be able to trust the system," she said.

 

17 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

@Ricky Ravioli You aren't lying

 

A crisis in care: CBC series examines Victoria's family doctor shortage | CBC News

 

A crisis in care: CBC series examines Victoria's family doctor shortage

 

Southern Vancouver Island has some of longest walk-in clinic waits in the province and country

 

Patients in the greater Victoria area are increasingly frustrated by a lack of family doctors.

 

Over the past year, at least three doctors have left urgent and primary care centres and three clinics have closed, leaving hundreds of people without primary care.

 

According to the B.C. College of Family Physicians, only 80 per cent of residents in the Capital Regional District have one, compared to 84 per cent of people provincewide, while a report from the Canadian tech company Medimap found Victoria walk-in clinics have the longest wait time in the country, at more than 2½ hours.

 

CBC Victoria dove into the reasons behind this crisis, its impacts and some possible solutions in a special weeklong series, A Crisis in Care: The Family Doctor Shortage in Greater Victoria, which you can find in the segments below.

A more current article

 

https://www.vancouverisawesome.com/opinion/baldrey-will-bcs-new-patient-ratio-system-help-ease-health-care-pressures-8392584

 

Edit** Saw Pete beat me to it

Edited March 11 by Warhippy

[Warhippy]

16 hours ago, Elias Pettersson said:

 

Pete posted the most recent info from February 16, 2024 which I did not see.  As of July 5, 2023 there were still 895,000 people in BC without a family doctor.  So, it is a credit to the BC government to get that number down to 220,000 in just a few months.  We still have 220,000 people without a family doctor, so there is still some work to do.

 

The fact that some people on the left feel the best response to this issue is to tell the poster to move is quite disturbing to say the least.  Questioning what is happening in Canada is now grounds for being ridiculed and insulted.  And they wonder why Trudeau's poll numbers are tanking....

The sad and brutal truth is that migration is the norm for humans and animals looking for better lives or existence.  The difference between people and animals is that animals WILL move to better their lives where as humans will take to message boards and whine.

 

Don't have a good job?  Can't afford to live in your area?  Crime a bit much?  No accessibility?  No good schools?  Move somewhere for better opportunities.  It's really that simple.

 

It's not a left or right situation.  People need to stop labelling things as such.  The bottom line is moving yourself for a better quality of life has been the norm forever.

[Warhippy]

15 hours ago, AatuD2 said:

Trudeau's gonna be ousted because his identity politics and acting has run it's course. 

Define identity politics if you would for me.

[RupertKBD]

If someone is actually going to vote against the current government because of "identity politics", it's a sad commentary on the state of things....It's literally casting a vote for a reason that doesn't affect you whatsoever....

 

If you're a fiscal conservative and think that the Trudeau government has spent beyond their means, that's fine....but please don't gaslight everyone, by complaining about "printing money" and then in the next breath, complaining about a lack of government funding for whatever the cause celebre' happens to be on that particular day.

 

When you do that sort of thing, (and many of the anti Trudeau crowd ITT do it) it really just ends up being a case of looking for something (anything) to complain about.

[The Arrogant Worms]

[112]

16 minutes ago, RupertKBD said:

If someone is actually going to vote against the current government because of "identity politics", it's a sad commentary on the state of things....It's literally casting a vote for a reason that doesn't affect you whatsoever....

 

If you're a fiscal conservative and think that the Trudeau government has spent beyond their means, that's fine....but please don't gaslight everyone, by complaining about "printing money" and then in the next breath, complaining about a lack of government funding for whatever the cause celebre' happens to be on that particular day.

 

When you do that sort of thing, (and many of the anti Trudeau crowd ITT do it) it really just ends up being a case of looking for something (anything) to complain about.

I mean, what's the Prime Minister to do when we see instances of, e.g., antisemitism rising in our country? Not comment on it or try to do anything unifying? How about with First Nations and the unfortunate states many of them live within?

 

I don't think it's so much that Trudeau is driving a wedge into the nation by focusing on "identity politics" as much as the wedge is there whether he does anything or not.

 

It's not like Poilievre isn't getting in on the "identity politics" either and it seems like he's taking a less-than-unifying approach considering his comments on transgender women.

 

Different groups exist in this nation; we're diverse. And sometimes that comes with problems such as hate and discrimination. I think Trudeau's stance on such social issues isn't particularly alarming, and I'd rather have a PM who isn't afraid to denounce actual division at risk of being accused of division himself.

[Boudrias]

1 hour ago, Warhippy said:

The sad and brutal truth is that migration is the norm for humans and animals looking for better lives or existence.  The difference between people and animals is that animals WILL move to better their lives where as humans will take to message boards and whine.

 

Don't have a good job?  Can't afford to live in your area?  Crime a bit much?  No accessibility?  No good schools?  Move somewhere for better opportunities.  It's really that simple.

 

It's not a left or right situation.  People need to stop labelling things as such.  The bottom line is moving yourself for a better quality of life has been the norm forever.

While I don’t totally disagree with your logic that being the case most of the Maritimes would be deserted by now.

[RupertKBD]

9 minutes ago, 112 said:

I mean, what's the Prime Minister to do when we see instances of, e.g., antisemitism rising in our country? Not comment on it or try to do anything unifying? How about with First Nations and the unfortunate states many of them live within?

 

I don't think it's so much that Trudeau is driving a wedge into the nation by focusing on "identity politics" as much as the wedge is there whether he does anything or not.

 

It's not like Poilievre isn't getting in on the "identity politics" either and it seems like he's taking a less-than-unifying approach considering his comments on transgender women.

 

Different groups exist in this nation; we're diverse. And sometimes that comes with problems such as hate and discrimination. I think Trudeau's stance on such social issues isn't particularly alarming, and I'd rather have a PM who isn't afraid to denounce actual division at risk of being accused of division himself.

 

I just think people should pick a lane....

 

Complaining about governments overspending one day and then complaining about military underfunding the next, is pretty much like the people who used to complain about Alain Vigneault "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result", but then whining about "juggling the lines too much" the following game.

 

It's basically a case of deciding you don't like someone and then using any excuse you can find to complain about that person. You can see it in this thread. Certain posters quite obviously spend time searching for reasons to criticize the Trudeau government.

[Bob Long]

4 minutes ago, RupertKBD said:

 

I just think people should pick a lane....

 

Complaining about governments overspending one day and then complaining about military underfunding the next, is pretty much like the people who used to complain about Alain Vigneault "Doing the same thing over and over and expecting a different result", but then whining about "juggling the lines too much" the following game.

 

It's basically a case of deciding you don't like someone and then using any excuse you can find to complain about that person. You can see it in this thread. Certain posters quite obviously spend time searching for reasons to criticize the Trudeau government.

 

There are lots of legitimate reasons to be upset with parts of Trudeau's history, but what I don't see are viable alternatives.

[RupertKBD]

9 minutes ago, Bob Long said:

There are lots of legitimate reasons to be upset with parts of Trudeau's history, but what I don't see are viable alternatives.

 

I agree.....but when the same posters are complaining about two things that are contradictory in nature, then it just becomes complaining for the sake of complaining....

 

@Boudrias is the only one that I can think of ITT that actually walks the walk when it comes to fiscal responsibility. I don't usually agree with his positions, but at least he isn't being intellectually dishonest.

Edited March 11 by RupertKBD

[Warhippy]

31 minutes ago, Boudrias said:

While I don’t totally disagree with your logic that being the case most of the Maritimes would be deserted by now.

It's odd that so many actually migrated back east in the last 15 years or so due to unaffordable living in the west though.  Newfoundland and NewBrunswick not withstanding

 

[Wiggums]

38 minutes ago, 112 said:

I mean, what's the Prime Minister to do when we see instances of, e.g., antisemitism rising in our country? Not comment on it or try to do anything unifying? How about with First Nations and the unfortunate states many of them live within?

 

I don't think it's so much that Trudeau is driving a wedge into the nation by focusing on "identity politics" as much as the wedge is there whether he does anything or not.

 

It's not like Poilievre isn't getting in on the "identity politics" either and it seems like he's taking a less-than-unifying approach considering his comments on transgender women.

 

Different groups exist in this nation; we're diverse. And sometimes that comes with problems such as hate and discrimination. I think Trudeau's stance on such social issues isn't particularly alarming, and I'd rather have a PM who isn't afraid to denounce actual division at risk of being accused of division himself.

 

Identity politics is the left's go to move.  The more they talk about racism the more prevalent it will become or seem.  They then use that as bargaining tool and make people believe they are in this good fight against this crazy race war that doesn't even exist.  The left has set back race relations by about 30 years

 

Combatting racism by teaching white kids they are evil oppressors and that minorities are lesser than whites and have less opportunity is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.

 

 

 

[The Lock]

On 3/9/2024 at 11:33 AM, Boudrias said:

I suggest that Canadians have no idea what they spend on health care whether they are able to access it or not. Determine that number and then compare it to the Americans. I suspect most think healthcare is free.

 

This, to me, misses the point on our health care system. It's obviously not free and I think you would find your presumption here that "most think healthcare is free" is actually false. People do see it being taxed afterall.

 

However, it's still a better system than what the states has. At least the ability to go to a walk-in clinic when you have little to no money is available here and this fact just escalates in importance if we're talking about someone with an illness or issue of some sort where they need to see the neurologists, etc. A large number of Americans get none of that. Nada.

 

There's a lot of things I'm centrist about, but if our healthcare system gets questions and the US healthcare system becomes more "desired" up here, I draw a massive line in the sand and will fight tooth and nail to keep our healthcare up here, because I think more people who want the US system up here have no idea what they even want. They just think "oh I'm being taxed... booooo"... and then would likely wonder why they have a $10K bill they next time they go see the doctor if the legislature they wanted actually got passed.

Edited March 11 by The Lock

[Duodenum]

32 minutes ago, RupertKBD said:

 

I agree.....but when the same posters are complaining about two things that are contradictory in nature, then it just becomes complaining for the sake of complaining....

 

@Boudrias is the only one that I can think of ITT that actually walks the walk when it comes to fiscal responsibility. I don't usually agree with his positions, but at least he isn't being intellectually dishonest.

Boudrias is cut from the old conservative cloth when they still had morals and cared about the economy, military, and other important things instead of focusing on genders and being anti-left. 

 

He has original thoughts and doesn't just parrot the flavour of the month, smart dude. Gives good trading/investing advice as well. 

 

Wish the others were more like him. 

[Boudrias]

11 minutes ago, Wiggums said:

 

Identity politics is the left's go to move.  The more they talk about racism the more prevalent it will become or seem.  They then use that as bargaining tool and make people believe they are in this good fight against this crazy race war that doesn't even exist.  The left has set back race relations by about 30 years

 

Combatting racism by teaching white kids they are evil oppressors and that minorities are lesser than whites and have less opportunity is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.

 

 

 

By whatever measure when one citizen is not treated the same as the next then it breeds division. 

[King Heffy]

1 minute ago, The Lock said:

 

This, to me, misses the point on our health care system. It's obviously not free and I think you would find your presumption here that "most think healthcare is free" is actually false. People do see it being taxed afterall.

 

However, it's still a better system than what the states has. At least the ability to go to a walk-in clinic when you have little to no money is available here and this fact just escalates in importance if we're talking about someone with an illness or issue of some sort where they need to see the neurologists, etc. A large number of Americans get none of that. Nada.

 

There's a lot of things I'm centrist about, but if our healthcare system gets questions and the US healthcare system becomes more "desired" up here, I draw a massive line in the sand and will fight tooth and nail to keep our healthcare up here, because I think more people who want the US system up here have no idea what they even want. They just think "oh I'm being taxed... booooo"... and then would likely wonder why they have a $10K bill they next time they go see the doctor if the legislature they wanted actually got passed.

If they want the US style healthcare system that badly, they just have to take a trip to the US and pay up.  No need to import that garbage here.

[Wiggums]

2 minutes ago, Boudrias said:

By whatever measure when one citizen is not treated the same as the next then it breeds division. 

 

Exactly.  

 

 

[The Lock]

3 minutes ago, Boudrias said:

By whatever measure when one citizen is not treated the same as the next then it breeds division. 

 

And this is why certain right wing legislatures are more harmful than good. They don't treat all citizens the same.

[Warhippy]

18 minutes ago, Wiggums said:

 

Identity politics is the left's go to move.  The more they talk about racism the more prevalent it will become or seem.  They then use that as bargaining tool and make people believe they are in this good fight against this crazy race war that doesn't even exist.  The left has set back race relations by about 30 years

 

Combatting racism by teaching white kids they are evil oppressors and that minorities are lesser than whites and have less opportunity is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.

 

 

 

define identity politics for me in your own words

[112]

13 minutes ago, Wiggums said:

 

Identity politics is the left's go to move.  The more they talk about racism the more prevalent it will become or seem.  They then use that as bargaining tool and make people believe they are in this good fight against this crazy race war that doesn't even exist.  The left has set back race relations by about 30 years

 

Combatting racism by teaching white kids they are evil oppressors and that minorities are lesser than whites and have less opportunity is the most disgusting thing I've ever seen.

 

 

 

Nobody is teaching white children that they are evil oppressors, though. Minorities have unique struggles and experiences whether you like to admit it or not. It's important for children to have a basic grasp of discrimination, etc., and why it's wrong, and for them to understand that nobody is less than them because of their race or other protected class. This ideally starts at home, but schools imo have an obligation to instill values of acceptance as well.

 

Do you have sociological studies that find talking about racism increases racist attitudes? I don't hear from any parliamentarian that there is a race war.

 

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who's an actual ethnic minority as to whether they've experienced more or less hate in recent years as opposed to the times before "identity politics" became popular.

 

 

[Boudrias]

3 minutes ago, The Lock said:

 

This, to me, misses the point on our health care system. It's obviously not free and I think you would find your presumption here that "most think healthcare is free" is actually false. People do see it being taxed afterall.

 

However, it's still a better system than what the states has. At least the ability to go to a walk-in clinic when you have little to no money is available here and this fact just escalates in importance if we're talking about someone with an illness or issue of some sort where they need to see the neurologists, etc. A large number of Americans get none of that. Nada.

 

There's a lot of things I'm centrist about, but if our healthcare system gets questions and the US healthcare system becomes more "desired" up here, I draw a massive line in the sand and will fight tooth and nail to keep our healthcare up here, because I think more people who want the US system up here have no idea what they even want. They just think "oh I'm being taxed... booooo"... and then would likely wonder why they have a $10K bill they next time they go see the doctor if the legislature they wanted actually got passed.

What I was trying to advocate was more transparency about healthcare. I am not suggesting the American system. The Canadian healthcare system consumes a lot of government resources. Canadians should have a clear idea of costs and even an opportunity to suggest improvements. An open discussion with measurable outcomes. For example, IHA established a registry for new doctor applicants. I used it and was able to get a doctor. Great idea. I told my NDP MLA that. My suggestion was establishing how many people required a doctor and publishing that number with a year by year review. 

[Warhippy]

Just now, 112 said:

Nobody is teaching white children that they are evil oppressors, though. Minorities have unique struggles and experiences whether you like to admit it or not. It's important for children to have a basic grasp of discrimination, etc., and why it's wrong, and for them to understand that nobody is less than them because of their race or other protected class. This ideally starts at home, but schools imo have an obligation to instill values of acceptance as well.

 

Do you have sociological studies that find talking about racism increases racist attitudes? I don't hear from any parliamentarian that there is a race war.

 

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who's an actual ethnic minority as to whether they've experienced more or less hate in recent years as opposed to the times before "identity politics" became popular.

 

 

The idea that "the left has set back race relations by 30 years" or that there is in fact a "race war" that isn't just an ongoing fight for equality is absolutely ridiculous and only highlights how out of touch people are.

 

because some movements, agencies and government spokespeople continue to highlight the glaring issues and ongoing degradation of certain groups and because humanity is now rising up and saying "you can't say this, call them that or this behaviour is not acceptable" some are claiming there is a war on their heritage or history.

 

The reality is that we as a species are moving on and they're terrified of being left behind.  They don't know how to act if they can't put others down to make themselves feel better and when they get called out for their actions or behaviour they feel as though they're the victims.  When their history or heritage is built upon shitting on others based on race, religion, orientation or political belief and they're not allowed to practice it they get upset.

[The Lock]

7 minutes ago, Boudrias said:

What I was trying to advocate was more transparency about healthcare. I am not suggesting the American system. The Canadian healthcare system consumes a lot of government resources. Canadians should have a clear idea of costs and even an opportunity to suggest improvements. An open discussion with measurable outcomes. For example, IHA established a registry for new doctor applicants. I used it and was able to get a doctor. Great idea. I told my NDP MLA that. My suggestion was establishing how many people required a doctor and publishing that number with a year by year review. 

 

That's fair. I kind of jumped into the conversation and saw someone else complaining about the taxes behind it and practically stating the American system was better somehow so I went on guard a bit. lol

[DSVII]

16 minutes ago, 112 said:

Nobody is teaching white children that they are evil oppressors, though. Minorities have unique struggles and experiences whether you like to admit it or not. It's important for children to have a basic grasp of discrimination, etc., and why it's wrong, and for them to understand that nobody is less than them because of their race or other protected class. This ideally starts at home, but schools imo have an obligation to instill values of acceptance as well.

 

Do you have sociological studies that find talking about racism increases racist attitudes? I don't hear from any parliamentarian that there is a race war.

 

It would be interesting to hear from anyone who's an actual ethnic minority as to whether they've experienced more or less hate in recent years as opposed to the times before "identity politics" became popular.

 

 

 

Unrelated, but it got me thinking about this random documentary on the Jamaican patty vs the Canadian Government a few years ago. Great stuff.

 

 

[Wiggums]

14 minutes ago, Warhippy said:

The idea that "the left has set back race relations by 30 years" or that there is in fact a "race war" that isn't just an ongoing fight for equality is absolutely ridiculous and only highlights how out of touch people are.

 

because some movements, agencies and government spokespeople continue to highlight the glaring issues and ongoing degradation of certain groups and because humanity is now rising up and saying "you can't say this, call them that or this behaviour is not acceptable" some are claiming there is a war on their heritage or history.

 

The reality is that we as a species are moving on and they're terrified of being left behind.  They don't know how to act if they can't put others down to make themselves feel better and when they get called out for their actions or behaviour they feel as though they're the victims.  When their history or heritage is built upon shitting on others based on race, religion, orientation or political belief and they're not allowed to practice it they get upset.

 

We were already moving on as a species just fine without all the identity politics.

 

Where is the inequality?  What is an example of this?