Letters to the editor, July 12: ‘I was a rural family doctor for 30 years … when things ran smoothly, there were enough beds and emergency rooms did not close'

Globe and Mail

5 hours ago

Re 'Canadian ERs closed their doors for at least 1.14 million hours since 2019, records show' (July 5): I was a rural family doctor for 30 years. The question that no one seems to ask about the deterioration in services is how they were provided in the past with shorter waiting times and fewer staff, at a relatively lesser cost.
Dinosaurs like myself remember those days when things ran smoothly, there were enough beds and emergency rooms did not close. We might like to look at why that is, beginning with the vast number of administrators we now employ.
Having retired, I feel I can say that, but my colleagues who still work probably dare not.
Christopher Moss Cumberland County, N.S.
British Columbia's failure to provide timely emergency room closure information, as requested by The Globe and Mail, demonstrates to me just how appallingly bad the provincial Health Ministry is, along with the ER services it provides.
How do I know? I have experienced it firsthand. B.C. health authorities, which are organized regionally, seem bloated with management yet are consistently short-staffed in ERs.
This is not new; it has been this way for years. Despite all the blather from ministers of health, in this government and the one before it, little has changed.
Roger Emsley Delta, B.C.
Re 'Cut housing prices? It will be all we can do just to slow their increase' (Opinion, July 5): Columnist Andrew Coyne dismisses the idea that governments could intervene to increase housing supply, citing one study that claims it would cost $200- to $300-billion to finance construction of units for the 10 per cent of Canadians in core housing need.
I assume that this study was done by the private sector to guard its own turf. But the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation could act as its own developer to build prefabricated housing on land the government already owns, thereby avoiding the costs of land purchases and developer profit. These units could be rented at affordable rates to those in need without affecting prices in the private market, since those in core housing need were not in that market anyway.
Critics would say that governments cannot possibly run developments, but that should be considered a canard. Governments run all sorts of enterprises well, we just take them for granted.
James Duthie Nanaimo, B.C.
Re 'How Trump could make Canada better' (July 5): In all the talk about Canada's supposedly unfair supply management system, there is one word I haven't heard mentioned: quality.
It may be true that certain people have it out for Canadian dairy because American product isn't allowed to swamp our grocery shelves, but there is far more to this than economics. When we sit back with friends to enjoy a summer apéro, it is always accompanied by a Quebec Sauvagine, Oka or Cendrillon cheese.
Would these unique gems survive without a system that provides farmers the opportunity to produce high-quality product and not tasteless gloop churned out in 40-gallon drums? The American dairy industry has been in shambles for years. The free market has made it cheaper to buy a gallon of milk than a bottle of Perrier.
Canadian dairy is cultural heritage; please protect it from the cheesy bacterial culture of the 'grand fromage' south of the border.
Kevin Tibbles Les Éboulements, Que.
Re 'When did society lose its love for children in public spaces?' (Opinion, July 5): There was a time when kids ruled the streets. No longer.
I grew up on a dead-end street with 11 houses and 33 kids. Kids were everywhere.
Our grass was kid-ridden for years. My father always said that when we're finished growing the kids, we'll grow the grass.
I see more dogs than kids on neighbourhood streets these days. Give play back to the kids.
Of course to figure out what play actually is, they may have to google it.
Douglas Cornish Ottawa
Some years ago in France, I noted that most restaurants catered to families, and that children were almost universally well behaved. It seems that French parents teach their children how to behave in public spaces.
We older folk love children and delight in their company and vitality in public spaces. If, from time to time, we have to point out the niceties of social interaction to young people, it is because their millennial parents have not done so. Out of love, we are generously filling in this gap.
So the next time an adult asks, 'Didn't your parents teach you how to walk on a sidewalk?' – because those parents probably didn't – accept that as a helpful welcome to join the wonderful world we live in on a mutually appreciative basis.
Nobody wants to live in a childless society.
Richard Belliveau Ottawa
After our daughter was born, we moved into a medium-rise building. I was struck by two things: how many other babies there were, while the rest of the residents were much older.
I began hosting 'baby' holiday parties in our apartment then, in warmer months, outside in the courtyard. Us parents grew close. But that's not what surprised me.
I was struck by how many residents stopped to say how wonderful it was to see so many babies together. But when the baby crawling turned into toddler roaming, then preschooler running, I became worried.
But instead, our concierge was delighted. He said no one had used the space like this before, and we were the talk of the building.
One day he called me over: There was a complaint. I braced. Were we too loud? Did someone hate the kids?
Nope. A new mom was wondering why she wasn't invited.
Tracy Giesz-Ramsay Vancouver
Re 'Dictionary of Canadianisms offers more homegrown slang, from give'r to gong show' (July 5): A Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles, First Edition was originally published in 1967 by a crack team of lexicographers led by editor-in-chief Walter Avis, a professor and dean at the Royal Military College of Canada in Kingston.
This landmark Canadian dictionary demonstrated 'that a substantial vocabulary relating to both today and yesterday has been developed by Canadians.' The Canadian dictionary series that evolved from this critical work was a bold idea for a country that had only recently begun to consider itself a nation in its own right.
Today we have new threats to our sovereignty. We should bolster our efforts to build a more independent sovereign nation. Mapping our cultural development through Canadian English is part of this important effort.
Great support and interest should be focused on the efforts of Stefan Dollinger and our lexicographers to bring us Canadian dictionaries for these challenging times.
Elbows up, indeed.
Pete Avis Kingston
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