A wine glass is lifted to Jeff's excellent explanation.  "Well said!"

On 16-Nov-07, at 1:15 PM, Jeff Denis wrote:

> It seems you and I have different understandings of the word  
> "political." I am
> not just talking about party politics. I am talking about the  
> conflict of
> interests and values between people who care about the well-being  
> of others and
> people who don't. Unfortunately the latter have a great deal of  
> power in North
> America. And politics is about power.
>
> I agree "we need to elect good people," regardless of party  
> affiliation. It's
> just that people affiliated with parties like the Conservatives and  
> Republicans
> tend to have interests in mind other than the well-being of the  
> population at
> large. And I agree "the strategies need to be at all levels." The  
> Canadian
> Health Network probably will turn to private donations to keep the  
> website
> running, if that's what it has to do. But that doesn't mean we  
> should give up
> the fight to keep such programs running with public funding, which,  
> in the long
> run is both more efficient and more fair. (In a similar way, when  
> people are
> poor and governments refuse to implement anti-poverty policies, we  
> develop food
> banks and shelters as a temporary aid. But that doesn't mean we  
> should give up
> the fight to end poverty.)
>
> Jeff
>
>
> Quoting Diana Liw <[log in to unmask]>:
>
>> "Dennis's point that health policy is inherently political."
>>
>> That my friend is the real problem.  When health and welfare of  
>> people are in
>> the hands of the politicians, and not in the hands of the people,  
>> and the
>> goal is political win as opposed to the well-being of the people,  
>> people stop
>> voting (right or wrong) because they don't see any point.  So I  
>> would think
>> the strategies need to be at all levels.  We need to elect good  
>> people in the
>> office, not good politicians that play party politics.  I hope  
>> people get it!
>>
>>
>>>>> Jeff Denis <[log in to unmask]> 11/16/07 9:24 AM >>>
>> People who vote for governments like the Conservatives or the  
>> Republicans,
>> people who don't vote at all, people who don't pay attention to  
>> the news and
>> aren't aware of issues like this when they do cast their ballots...
>>
>> I'm not necessarily blaming these people. Some of them are poor  
>> and poorly
>> educated, and there are powerful forces that want to keep them  
>> ignorant and
>> apathetic. Such people may not have the time to keep up with the  
>> news or to
>> register to vote. Their first priority is day-to-day survival.
>>
>> But, I'd argue, most of the Conservative and Republican leaders  
>> and their
>> financial and strategic backers are fully awake. They just want a  
>> different
>> kind of world than I or most others on this listserv do. And so,  
>> we are back
>> to
>> Dennis's point that health policy is inherently political.
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>>
>> Quoting Diana Liw <[log in to unmask]>:
>>
>>> I agree, the real world doesn't have to be like this, but it is,  
>>> at least
>> for
>>> right now.
>>>
>>> Who are the ones that need to wake up?
>>>
>>>>>> Jeff Denis <[log in to unmask]> 11/16/07 7:47 AM >>>
>>> You're missing the point. If the public funding were assured (as  
>>> it was in
>>> the
>>> past), health care professionals could spend their time doing  
>>> what they
>> were
>>> trained for: organizing and delivering health programs rather than
>>> fundraising.
>>>
>>> And why is the government cutting well-used and informative  
>>> programs when
>> it
>>> has
>>> a massive budget surplus? Why did it cancel the childcare  
>>> agreements and
>> the
>>> Kelowna accord to which every provincial government, the Assembly  
>>> of First
>>> Nations, and the prior federal government agreed? The current  
>>> minority
>>> Conservative government does not represent the bulk of the Canadian
>>> population.
>>> Their policies make it more difficult to build strong,  
>>> coordinated health
>>> programs that will be there for every citizen. The "real world"  
>>> doesn't
>> have
>>> to
>>> be like this. And if enough people wake up, one day, it won't be.
>>>
>>> Jeff
>>>
>>>
>>> Quoting Diana Liw <[log in to unmask]>:
>>>
>>>> Just curious.  If this website is such a great collaborative  
>>>> efforts of
>>>> health care professionals, government, university and etc, why  
>>>> does it
>>>> have to shut down due to funding cuts?  Are there no fund raising
>>>> efforts?  How much does it to cost to run this website?  Just  
>>>> because
>>>> "governmental" funding went away, doesn't mean that the  
>>>> government is
>>>> prohibiting the website to continue.  I am sure these 26  
>>>> organizations
>>>> can figure out a way to keep this website going if they really  
>>>> want to.
>>>> This could be a real test of how well and committed the network is.
>>>>
>>>> Anyway, this is what NGOs and CBOs face every day.  Welcome to  
>>>> the real
>>>> world.
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>>> "J. Alison Stirling" <[log in to unmask]> 11/16/07 6:34 AM >>>
>>>> Carol Goar, health editor of the Toronto Star, packs a wallop in  
>>>> Friday
>>>> November 16th's editorial article titled
>>>>
>>>> "Conservatives axe network"
>>>>
>>>> http://www.thestar.com/comment/article/276891
>>>>
>>>> This is how a nation's social infrastructure is dismantled.
>>>>
>>>> First, the Conservatives cancelled the child-care agreements the
>>>> Liberals had signed with the provinces. Next, they gutted the  
>>>> Kelowna
>>>> Accord, the $5.1 billion federal-provincial agreement to tackle
>>>> aboriginal poverty. Now they're scrapping another piece of Liberal
>>>> handiwork.
>>>>
>>>> Effective March 31, 2008, the Canadian Health Network will cease to
>>>> exist.
>>>>
>>>> For the past eight years, it has provided citizens and medical
>>>> professionals with a reliable, non-commercial source of online
>>>> information about how to stay healthy and prevent disease.
>>>>
>>>> Although the website (www.canadian-health-network.ca) is managed  
>>>> by the
>>>> Winnipeg-based Public Health Agency of Canada, it is a  
>>>> collaboration of
>>>> 26 organizations * government departments, universities, hospitals,
>>>> libraries and non-profit health providers * who draw on 1,600
>>>> specialists across the country.
>>>>
>>>> Nothing quite like it exists anywhere in the world. The closest
>>>> approximation is New Zealand's Health Promotion Forum.
>>>>
>>>> Two weeks ago, Catherine Drew, executive director of the Canadian
>>>> Health Network, notified the 26 member agencies that the program  
>>>> would
>>>> be eliminated at the end of the fiscal year.
>>>>
>>>> Most of the participants were shocked. A few had been picking up
>>>> trouble signals * funding delays and bureaucratic dithering.
>>>>
>>>> The only explanation Drew provided was that the Public Health  
>>>> Agency
>>>> had been ordered to cut its grants and contributions to outside  
>>>> groups
>>>> by $16.7 million and it had reluctantly decided to pull the plug  
>>>> on the
>>>> network.
>>>>
>>>> "Why would the government choose to cut this program when it has a
>>>> surplus?" asked Connie Clement, executive director of the Ontario
>>>> Prevention Clearinghouse, one of the network's affiliates.  
>>>> "Where does
>>>> it put the question of partnerships between the government and the
>>>> non-profit sector?"
>>>>
>>>> Four or five years ago, such a move might have been  
>>>> understandable. The
>>>> Canadian Health Network got off to a slow start. During its
>>>> developmental stages, few people knew what it was or how it worked.
>>>>
>>>> But lately, its website has been getting 380,000 hits a month,  
>>>> 40 per
>>>> cent of them health-care professionals. In the last year alone, its
>>>> usage has increased by 70 per cent. It has established a  
>>>> reputation as a
>>>> trustworthy portal in a cyberworld of drug manufacturers, health- 
>>>> care
>>>> conglomerates and self-promoting quacks.
>>>>
>>>> Shutting down the network was a "very difficult decision," said  
>>>> Alain
>>>> Desroches of the Public Health Agency. "The agency will continue  
>>>> to look
>>>> for effective and innovative ways to provide Canadians with high
>>>> quality, credible information through other means."
>>>>
>>>> In fact, Health Minister Tony Clement launched a new website,
>>>> www.healthycanadians.gc.ca, in October, to provide users with
>>>> information about all of the government's programs * its children's
>>>> fitness tax credit, its revised Canada Food Guide, its toy  
>>>> safety tips,
>>>> its latest product recalls and its healthy pregnancy guide *  
>>>> designed
>>>> to promote an active, well-balanced lifestyle.
>>>>
>>>> There's certainly nothing wrong with centralizing all of Ottawa's
>>>> health information in one place.
>>>>
>>>> What's missing from the new database is any reference to the links
>>>> between health and the environment, disease and poverty, or  
>>>> violence and
>>>> gun control. Nor does it touch sensitive topics such as abortion,
>>>> genetically modified foods or sexual abuse. It completely overlooks
>>>> mental illness.
>>>>
>>>> In contrast, the Canadian Health Network is all-encompassing. It  
>>>> looks
>>>> at controversial questions from all sides. It is constantly  
>>>> updated as
>>>> new knowledge becomes available.
>>>>
>>>> Losing the program won't be the end of the world. Canadians will  
>>>> find
>>>> other useful websites such as MedlinePlus.gov run by the National
>>>> Institutes of Health in the United States or AboutKids-Health.ca  
>>>> run by
>>>> Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. The members of the network  
>>>> will
>>>> find other ways to reach out to the public.
>>>>
>>>> But the idea of a comprehensive, national database, built and
>>>> maintained by the best people in their fields will wither.
>>>>
>>>> The belief that Canadians can work together, with the government
>>>> providing a common forum, will wane.
>>>>
>>>> A promising experiment will die.
>>>>
>>>> And the government will look for another non-essential program  
>>>> to cut.
>>>>
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