Since the beginnings of the human race, there have been the givers and the takers. The takers have always used the nurturing qualities of the givers to take advantage of them. This ancient tradition continues to this day, showing up most recently in the imminent collapse of our medical system.
Historically:
Canada pretends to have a great health care system, but we’re not willing to pay for it. Sort of like our armed forces. We want to be a power in the world, but we never give our military enough money, and our record for treating injured veterans is abysmal. Sort of like our record of treating illness in the rest of the population, come to think of it. But since COVID, it’s much worse.
The Anti-Everything Takers
Resistance to vaccination created new waves of unvaccinated COVID victims, overwhelming hospitals and stressing workers.
Liberal-minded leaders were too concerned with protecting the rights of individuals, and made it too easy for antivaxxers, antimaskers, and other antagonistic types to take advantage of the system. As the non-vaccinated have always done, this selfish minority depended on the vaccination of the rest of us to protect them, and when it didn’t, they could still count on the hospital system that they refused to cooperate with to heal them. In doing so, they exposed the whole country to the threat of a collapsing medical system.
Historically
Conservative-leaning leaders have been too concerned with “balancing the budget” (they seldom do) and have underfunded medical programs, facilities and the universities that train medical practitioners. Instead, they have spent the people’s tax money on supporting their business partners, as they always do. If nurses were paid enough, there would be enough workers attracted to that occupation to handle the situation. But no, instead we have to make sure businessmen make lots of money, so we support the takers instead, so they can take some more.
The Result
Selfish individuals can profit by taking advantage of the freedoms we all enjoy. Anyone can start up an agency that places nurses. They can cherry-pick where they set up their businesses, and offer nurses better wages and working conditions, luring them away from their government hospital jobs. This exacerbates the shortages, and the desperate hospitals must pay a premium for agency nurses. So, the overstressed regular nurses now spend extra time bringing temps up to speed on hospital procedures.
Everybody wins except the sick, the medical workers, and the taxpayer. Take that back. Only a small number of selfish people win.
A Solution Waiting in the Wings
Continued colonial attitudes, combined with ivory towerism among academics, means that foreign-trained medical personnel can’t get qualified.
Immigration Backlog
To make that worse, there are qualified personnel in immigration lineups who are ready to work but don’t have permission. You’d think some bright light in the Immigration Department would scan the backlog, filter out medical personnel, and move them forward. But I guess that’s too easy.
The Bottom Line
There are plenty of countries in Europe that manage decent health care systems for reasonable budgets because they don’t give their population quite the same amount of freedom in what choices they make, and their governments take their responsibilities more seriously. Yes, it comes at a price in personal freedom, but at this moment in Canada’s history, a little less freedom and a little more responsibility — on the part of our citizens, our politicians and our bureaucracy — would make a great deal of difference in solving this problem.