GT: Federal Election

[Parallex]

Originally Posted by Table 5

When's the last time a PM came out and said that a certain region or group (Say Quebecois) will get a specific amount of seats? I don't recall that happening.

Considering that we've been doing that since confederation no one has bothered to ask.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Saw this pic ranking healthcare of western nations on reddit and not sure where else to put it



That blows me away. I knew our healthcare system wasn't perfect, but to only be ahead of the US in western rankings? How is it possible that the UK serves almost double the amount of people, for less money, and they receive a vastly better quality of care?

[Coach]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Saw this pic ranking healthcare of western nations on reddit and not sure where else to put it



That blows me away. I knew our healthcare system wasn't perfect, but to only be ahead of the US in western rankings? How is it possible that the UK serves almost double the amount of people, for less money, and they receive a vastly better quality of care?

I think that having a densely populated, yet small area, likely has a pretty significant affect on the quality, speed, and accessibility of care.

Canada has a sparse population, and it's difficult to get quality people to work in places that don't have much for population.

But I agree, it needs to be better. More funding doesn't help unless you're streamlining processes at the same time.

[Hemi-Cuda]

Originally Posted by MattyC

I think that having a densely populated, yet small area, likely has a pretty significant affect on the quality, speed, and accessibility of care.

Canada has a sparse population, and it's difficult to get quality people to work in places that don't have much for population.

But I agree, it needs to be better. More funding doesn't help unless you're streamlining processes at the same time.

That doesn't explain why Australia also spends less and receives better care though. But expanding on your thought it makes sense, for most of us I bet our level of care is in line with every other first world universal system. But the quality of care in remote areas (especially on reservations) drags every ranking down

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

That doesn't explain why Australia also spends less and receives better care though. But expanding on your thought it makes sense, for most of us I bet our level of care is in line with every other first world universal system. But the quality of care in remote areas (especially on reservations) drags every ranking down

Getting good doctor's to move to or immigrate to remote areas in Canada is difficult.

Australia has remote areas, but at least they have a comfortable climate that doesn't keep people away.

[Blaster86]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

but at least they have a comfortable climate that doesn't keep people away.

I don't think 40 degree weather is comfortable in ANYWAY whatsoever.

[crazy_eoj]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Saw this pic ranking healthcare of western nations on reddit and not sure where else to put it



That blows me away. I knew our healthcare system wasn't perfect, but to only be ahead of the US in western rankings? How is it possible that the UK serves almost double the amount of people, for less money, and they receive a vastly better quality of care?

Private integration, the only major difference between Canada and the rest is that Canada is a pure public system. US is now a hybrid but was purely private.

All others have a much larger degree of private delivery of health care.

Don't tell the NDP.

[FlamesAddiction]

Originally Posted by Blaster86

I don't think 40 degree weather is comfortable in ANYWAY whatsoever.

It beats living in the arctic (or sub arctic). I would bet that it is a lot easier to convince a doctor from Sydney to relocate to the Outback than it would be to convince a doctor from Vancouver to relocate to Churchill.

[CliffFletcher]

Originally Posted by Parallex

Cabinet representation on the basis of regional representation has always been a THING but no one made a fuss about that or claim that it undercut their validity.

Are they really the same thing? I think we understand what regional interests are. In Alberta, it would mean the energy industry. In B.C. it might be international trade. In the Maritimes it might be aging demographics and forestry. In Quebec, it's obviously Quebecois culture.

So is the idea that female cabinet ministers will represent female interests? What are those interests? How will a female minister represent the interests of my wife?

And then the next obvious question is if female cabinet minister are meant to advocate for women (whatever that means), then are male cabinet ministers meant to advocate for men? Are Asian cabinet ministers meant to advocate for Asians (whatever that means), and cabinet ministers of European origin meant to advocate for citizens of European origin?

[getbak]

I think the difference with Australia is that the vast majority of their population lives near the coast. Even though it's a very large country, most of its population occupies a very small percentage of it. About 85% of Australians live within 50km of the coast. Over 90% live in an urban centre (compared to about 80% in Canada and the UK).


Most of Australia lives in the barely-visible orange and red areas on this map...



http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@....0Features12011


Over 60% of Australia's population lives in the five State Capitals (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Perth, Adelaide). In Canada, about 45% of the population lives in the 6 largest metro areas (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa-Gatineau, Calgary, Edmonton).

[flylock shox]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Saw this pic ranking healthcare of western nations on reddit and not sure where else to put it



That blows me away. I knew our healthcare system wasn't perfect, but to only be ahead of the US in western rankings? How is it possible that the UK serves almost double the amount of people, for less money, and they receive a vastly better quality of care?

Wow, crazy to see the UK at number 1. I wouldn't have guessed, given the train wreck their NHS seemed to be going through 15 years ago. Fake doctors, organs harvested without permission, unnecessary surgical deaths, a high rate of institution-caused mortality, one really bad serial killer, patients spending days in cots in hallways... whatever they've done to turn that around should serve as a real lesson to the rest of the world.

[Daradon]

I think far too much is being made of the expense of remote health care, I don't think that's the reason (or very much of the reason) the UK's system is working so much better. I mean we live in one of the biggest cities in the country, and it's not that great here either.

Thinking out loud now, I wonder if having the provinces handle their own puts more administration and management costs into the system than if we were to have one federal system. Does anyone know if the UK system is more streamlined in that way?

[northcrunk]

Of course. We spend all of our health care money on managers and middle managers who do nothing and add nothing but red tape. Fire most of them and get more nurses since they do all the work anyway.

[edslunch]

Originally Posted by killer_carlson

I thought Garneau would have been Foreign Affairs. Really surprised at that. He's the best of the Liberal bench and would have been excellent at Foreign Affairs.

Amarjit Sohi is the Edmonton MP who was appointed. Of the 2 choices from up here, he was the one with a demonstrated track record of being effective, at least at the civic level.

Paula Simons had a good summary of each of the MP chances in a recent article.

http://edmontonjournal.com/opinion/c...abinet-chances

Does transportation include pipelines? Could be a really important role in the next few years.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by FlamesAddiction

It beats living in the arctic (or sub arctic). I would bet that it is a lot easier to convince a doctor from Sydney to relocate to the Outback than it would be to convince a doctor from Vancouver to relocate to Churchill.

It's not hard to staff Churchill. It's hard to staff the #### holes a few hours away that aren't world renown (like my current town)

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

It's not hard to staff Churchill. It's hard to staff the #### holes a few hours away that aren't world renown (like my current town)

Why do you live there if it's such a #### hole?

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Why do you live there if it's such a #### hole?

I'm strange. I hate traffic, have no need for most city amenities, like fishing and the outdoors, like cheap housing, but most of all - as a professional you can make a lot of money in these places because they are very underserved areas (lawyer). Other lawyers don't last for more than a year or two here. They want to move to cities.

[Bend it like Bourgeois]

Originally Posted by Hemi-Cuda

Saw this pic ranking healthcare of western nations on reddit and not sure where else to put it



That blows me away. I knew our healthcare system wasn't perfect, but to only be ahead of the US in western rankings? How is it possible that the UK serves almost double the amount of people, for less money, and they receive a vastly better quality of care?

I'll wager if you ranked the systems by how much they work to preserve the status quo v how much they focus on effective & efficient care those rankings would look about the same.

Canada and the US suffer from different versions of the same disease. They (the us) don't worry how broad the coverage is as long as somebody can get the best care money can buy. We worry less about how good the care is as long as no one can buy it.

[corporatejay]

Originally Posted by Johnny199r

I'm strange. I hate traffic, have no need for most city amenities, like fishing and the outdoors, like cheap housing, but most of all - as a professional you can make a lot of money in these places because they are very underserved areas (lawyer). Other lawyers don't last for more than a year or two here. They want to move to cities.

Yeah, I thought you gave up law, that's why. But yes, basically we were told in law school if you wanted to get a job move to any small town and you can do very well, particularly in Manitoba and Northern Ontario.

[Johnny199r]

Originally Posted by corporatejay

Yeah, I thought you gave up law, that's why. But yes, basically we were told in law school if you wanted to get a job move to any small town and you can do very well, particularly in Manitoba and Northern Ontario.

Yeah I did give it up. I plan to work at a mine for a while. The pay is surprisingly high for mundane work.