Canada, it’s you not me
September 24, 2021
Dear Canada
We have to talk. It’s just not working. It’s you, not me. No, really, it’s you.
This whole idea of having a healthcare system that’s partially controlled by provinces and territories, and partially controlled by the federal government just isn’t working for me.
If I had a time machine, I wouldn’t go to see the dinosaurs, I wouldn’t go to see how the pyramids were built, I would go to London in 1867 and talk to Lord Carnarvon, and tell him not to give provinces responsibility for hospitals unless they agree to keep bureaucracy to a minimum by having the same standards and red tape across the country. Now, he’d be shocked. He would never have seen a woman in a power wheelchair, so he would agree. And with that one simple sentence slipped into Confederation without anyone noticing, the mess we are in now would never have come to pass.
You see, Canada, you may have noticed that we are in a pandemic. We have this federal body – Health Canada – that says what vaccines are approved for the whole country. Yep – the whhoooooole country. All of the vaccines arrive in Canada – yes CANADA the country, and we divide them up and send them out. But then what do we do? We allow each province and territory to decide how they’re going to give them to people, and how they’re going to keep records. Then, gradually, each province and territory is going to say “prove you’ve been vaccinated.” And every system is going to be different. Every “Vaccine Passport” only accepts information from the province you are in, so live in a different province – but still in Canada – and you have to prove your status. A QR code in Manitoba that proves you’re vaccinated is not the same as a QR code in BC that proves you’re vaccinated. Why not?!? They’re the same bloody thing!!!
I think I’ve worked out why the flag is red and white. Obviously the white is snow, because, you know, “The Great White North” and all that. But the red – that’s easy. It’s red tape. Lashings and lashings and lashings of red tape.
So, enough. Don’t get me started on the care system. Or education.
Hugs, but not close ones