"Sheila Fraser's scathing report on Canada's ability to deal effectively with a national emergency such as H1N1 has landed relatively quietly. It's almost as if most people already knew their senior levels of government had failed them, so Fraser's report comes as not much of a surprise." (Howard Elliott, Hamilton Spectator, November 5, 2009)
Generally speaking, when Sheila Fraser submits a report it doesn't land quietly, in absolute terms or even relative to, oh I don't know, Spinal Tap turning it to 11. Even though people knew something was wrong with the sponsorship program, when Fraser released her report it was a bombshell of monolithic proportions. So for her to issue a report on the shortcomings of Ottawa's preparedness and have it generate nary more than a shrug of the shoulders is truly revealing of just how little Canada thinks of its government's response to the H1N1 pandemic. It is true that Canadians are renowned for their politically apathetic ways, but the silence speaks volumes.
1 comment:
As bad as the report was it should be pointed out we have seen far worse. By comparison it is not really that bad. There was some praise for the gov't progress on ehealth.That is some fresh air when you look at the scandal in Ontario(fired minister).
Canada has never had a proper emergency response and I doubt it ever will. Our hospitals are backed up under normal operations. This has been allowed to happen because of a generation of band aid fixes. There is no quick fix.
That is just one issue of many. Our huge landmass overwhelms our paltry transportation equiptment.
We have had response issues with 911, SARS,even Toronto snowstorms.
Canadians are probably concerned but when political hacks suggest that electing Liberals would fix the problem they roll there eyes and order double double and get on with their day.
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