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Here are a few thought-provoking comments from recent weeks:
Universal health care, done better
When Canadian ‘free’ Medicare came into existence, my father said to me, ‘For now it’s a good thing. But we who have established this system also know what it costs to visit a doctor, or hospital, etc.
‘The next generation will have no idea, and soon everyone will consider it a right, not a privilege, paid for by everyone who pays taxes. They will forget how to address minor health challenges at home. You’ll see people running to the doctor’s office with every sniffle, sneeze and cough. We’ll become dependents on a system, rather than managing it!’
I believe I have seen and do witness the fulfillment of his prophetic warning.
We would do well to stop tinkering at the cosmetic edges of a ‘sacred cow’ which cannot survive. We should redesign, from scratch, a new efficient and limber model — asking patients and professionals what ought to be incorporated — while devising an intentional transition plan to implement over two to five years.
People and professionals will buy into a plan they have built together.
— Clareneuf
I’m a former RN and a senior now. I have always been grateful for and proud of our Canadian public health system. I appreciated that it wasn’t free.
However, somewhere over the years, I lost the depth of awareness of that. Then one day I laid eyes on a copy of an invoice for the surgery and hospital care I had received the previous year. I was shocked to my core to realize how much I had been taking for granted.
Universal health care is a hard-fought right in Canada. But must we be kept ignorant of the true cost of each of these services we use personally?
— Maureen
I am very proud to have served as a peacekeeper with the United Nations Emergency Force in Gaza in 1957. It was a time to be proud as a Canadian.
Lester Pearson helping to form the peacekeepers and receiving the Nobel Peace Prize. And Gen. ELM Burns, a Canadian general and diplomat, headed the UN Forces from 1956-1959.
The UNEF served from 1956 until 1967, when the UNEF left Gaza. In 1967, war raised its ugly head and has not stopped to this day.
— Eugene Bellows
Editorial: A necessary resignation — and unnecessary standard
The proportion of bilingual English-French speakers in Canada is roughly 18 per cent, and this has held steady over the last three census reports.
While it’s important to recognize our bilingual heritage, to exclude four of every five Canadians from a role in public life is to ignore that our society has become much more diverse than it was 100 years ago.
Language learning, as an adult, is a time-consuming and arduous process and there is an opportunity cost to devoting those cognitive resources to that, rather than anything else. While bilingualism may feel important and necessary in Eastern Canada, I can tell you that it is a skill that feels entirely unnecessary in the Western provinces. French is not spoken in our public spaces, nor taught in our schools. The most French that a Western Canadian will encounter is on the back of a soup can.
If we are serious about building an inclusive society where people can succeed on the basis of merit, while still recognizing our heritage, I would suggest we ask that Canadians speak one of our two official languages with fluency, while ensuring that communications that concern Canadians are available in all relevant languages. There are excellent and professional options available for language translation, and there is no shame in using them.
— Jen
If both official languages are not taught throughout school as compulsory, and fluency is not required to graduate across Canada, then it should not be a priority skill needed for hiring or firing.
— Barbara
Op-Ed: Interesting work loses its appeal
I believe one thing that might be overlooked, especially with the younger generations coming into the workforce, is that they don’t live to work. They work to live.
A lot of younger people I’ve talked to say they just care about a job that earns them enough money; that allows them to pursue what they love outside of work, like family, travel and social activities. Work is no longer the social activity it once was and life/work balance is much more important nowadays.
I don’t believe it is as troubling as some people make it out to be. I think we’re just looking at the trend through an older generation’s eyes.
— gorr2701
Op-Ed: Carney’s middle-power mirage
Canada is experiencing a critical deterioration of our economy, our public safety, our national security, our health care, our education, and especially within our broken and porous immigration sectors.
Honestly, does any reasonable Canadian truly have confidence in the future outlook for our nation’s prosperity, safety and quality of life? Tens of millions hardworking Canadians, elders and families are now making serious and difficult affordability choices.
For those who seek to attribute the root causes of this crisis and calamity to a bombastic U.S. president who has been in office for just over a year, I strongly encourage you to evaluate the Liberal party’s performance objectively. Our enemy is most certainly not our strongest critical trading partner and trusted military ally!
— Andrew McConnell
I am a 70 year old senior. I am a flood victim from Princeton BC.I have been living in a motel for 5 years because no one will help me. I lost my family Dr. I have to stay in a motel to go to a walk in clinic. BC Transit cancelled my bus pass because I don’ use it enough. I was assaulted by a male tenant in a BC Housing apt. No one would help me. What happened to my country. Why do we have to beg for help and I have asked every senior organization. No one cares.