Lack of Democracy and Corporatism in Health Care:
The Dementia of Health Care Gurus Ken Fyke and Roy Romanow

   
Nipawin - Thursday, December 20, 2001 - by: Mario deSantis

polling

"National [health care] surveys won't be done, Mr. Romanow said, but he does plan an approach known as deliberative polling"

--by Brian Laghi, journalist

 

 

mismanaging

The debate in health care is becoming more pressing because as more money is being spent into the system so more money is needed to sustain the health care system. Whenever we analyzed the management of health care in Saskatchewan, we found that the provincial government along with the Saskatchewan Organizations of Health Organizations and the health districts were mismanaging public resources.
 
 

40% of
budget

At this same time we had Romanow's government which prided itself of having the best health care system in Canada since they were spending more than every other province in health care, a whopping 40% of the provincial budget.

 

 

making
it worse

In trying to understand the health care scenario I became so powerless and disappointed as I recognized that the quality of health care was being measured by the amount of public money spent, that is by drilling holes into the ground. I became more incensed when politicians and health care gurus began their debate for the possible downsizing and therefore more privatization of the health care system.

 

 

experts
have
power

We found that the fundamental problem of the deterioration of health care and really of our social and economic system in the last thirty years rests on the deterioration of our individual freedom, that is the erosion to express our individual freedom as our governments became the elitist expression of our big corporations. But today, as I am understanding more of the concepts of corporatism and corporatization, I must say that here in Canada, and particularly in Saskatchewan, the erosion of our individual freedom has been accompanied by the accentuated power of our dominant elites and expert gurus found not only in the big corporations (corporatization) but in our industries, professional associations, academic disciplines, and governmental or pseudo governmental bureaucracies (corporatism).
 
 

Fyke

In Saskatchewan, Romanow's gurus have cyclically downsized the province to greatness, and Ken Fyke is the last guru to further downsize the delivery of health care services so that more savings can be accomplished by executing better management strategies, better plans, and better coordinated specialized expertise: all these better management practices at the expense of creativity of people at large.

 

 

people
don't
matter

The problem in health care is not one of left or right politics, it is not one of public versus private spending, as it is one of democracy and societal organization and structure. Corporatism is to be blamed for our societal shortcomings, the interest of a multiciplicity of agencies all working for themselves and against people at large. This is why we have the highest crime rates in the cities of Saskatoon and Regina, this is why we have a corrupted Saskatoon police force, this is why we have children not even in their teens pimping and forcing their friends into prostitution, this is why we have fraudulent researches committed at the University of Saskatchewan and at other agencies, this is why we have a corrupted justice system, this is why we have governmental agencies infringing on basic human rights.
   

business
gets free
ride

All of this social nightmare has occurred in parallel to the shifting of our social reorganization and downsizing. Just think of this social reorganization when John Ralston Saul rightly points out that "30 years ago, corporations provided 47% of the tax base. Today they provide 10%." Think now of the absurdity of privatizing portions of health care! Yes, democracy must be in our own hands, in our own personal voices as we cannot trust anybody anymore.
   
-------------------------References
  Pertinent articles published in Ensign
   
  Canadians invited to debate future of health system, by Brian Laghi, December 18, 2001, The Globe and Mail
   
  Health costs rocket past $100B. Report finds expenses rising at a record rate -- especially for governments' share, Mark Kennedy, Ottawa Citizen, with files from Joan Bryden, Southam News, December 19, 2001 http://www.nationalpost.com/home/story.html?f=/stories/20011219/911154.html
   
  Saskatchewan's big health-care bet, by Jeffrey Simpson, December 18, 2001 The Globe and Mail
   
  FROM CORPORATISM TO DEMOCRACY, re: book The Unconscious Civilization, by John Ralston Saul http://www.dhushara.com/book/multinet/saul.htm
   
  Canadian author [John Ralston Saul] speaks on Corporatism and Democracy, by Cathy Taylor http://www.smokylake.com/cathy/saul.htm
   
  Girl, 12, tried to force 15-year-old into prostitution, court hears. 'Everybody does it,', Lori Coolican, The StarPhoenix, December 19, 2001 http://www.nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20011219/911349.html
   
  Injusticebusters, web site managed by Sheila Steel and Richard Klassen, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan http://www.injusticebusters.com/
   
  Coalition Against No Fault Insurance, web site managed by Lorie Terry, Regina, Saskatchewan http://www.angelfire.com/nf/coalitionagainstnf/