| Tories win friends in health sector
Recipients of Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's largesse are still feeling a little giddy. Most working in the health field aren't particularly interested in whether the Conservatives' 2007 federal budget was an attempt to bring on an election to them it looked like a very competent attempt to disarm and win over potential opponents. And a generous one at that. CH-CHING!
By far the biggest news in this budget is the $1.2 billion increase in the Canada Health Transfer to the provinces. This was actually a planned installment of the 10-year Plan to Strengthen Health Care, an agreement reached between Ottawa and the territories in 2004. This agreement called on provinces to reduce wait times, or at least "work towards" patient guarantees of minimum wait times in five key categories: cancer treatment, heart procedures, joint replacement, sight restoration and diagnostic imaging.
MPs pass bill for eye protection law
THE National Assembly has unanimously passed a bill to regulate eye services and save sight. Sellers of substandard glasses would be fined a maximum of 10m/- or five years imprisonment when the bill becomes law.
Tabling the bill in the House yesterday, the Minister for Health and Social Welfare, Prof David Mwakyusa, said the government would take stern measures against retail shops, supermarkets, itinerant traders and other business people who sell spectacles haphazardly.
He said the people would be enlightened on the perils of using substandard spectacles and that the government would cooperate with stakeholders such as Lions Club International, World Vision and Vision 2020 to save sight especially in villages where poor sight is often associated with aging.
Investment in health care continues to grow
Investments and improvements to the health-care system may seem insignificant when faced with individual illness, but Ontario has made great strides in reducing wait times including knee replacement. Overall wait times are down in each of the target areas of cancer surgery, cardiac procedures, cataract surgery, hip and knee replacement and MRI/CT exams. In the Hamilton Niagara Haldimand Brant Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), waits for knee replacement are down by 21.3 per cent, for angiography are down by 84 per cent and for cataract surgery are down by 21.7 per cent. Since 2004-05, we have invested more than $614 million to cut wait times. As a result, more than 738,000 additional procedures were performed across Ontario. In Hamilton, our government has invested an additional $18,239,000 in hip and knee replacements, which has allowed an additional 1,761 procedures.
Still great to be an OSU fan
Hi, everyone. I'm Chris' half-cousin, Donald Crowell. Chris couldn't write this column. He lit himself on fire after Ohio State lost its second championship game in four months to Florida. That's Chris for ya, ever the drama queen.
He has really left me unprepared to write this. I found the notes he was keeping as he watched the game, and I'm no expert, but I'm pretty sure more than half of it isn't allowed in the paper. Some of it would make George Carlin blush. Here are the few bits I can slide by the censors:
• I hate Lee Humphrey.
• We need Ohio High School Player of the Year and 2008 top recruit Jon Diebler like Florida forward Joakim Noah needs a punch to the groin.
• They call Buckeye guard Ivan Harris "The Microwave." That's nice.
Investing in Your Backyard: Cincinnati
Get a table at Skyline Chili -- it's time for a backyard investing feast in the City of Seven Hills! There are many good reasons for researching investment opportunities in a certain geographic area. Today, it's Cincinnati, Ohio (or USA -- more on that later), the city of flying pigs (a.k.a. Porkopolis) where anything could happen. Yes, even great business. If you happen to live in Blue Ash or Walnut Hills, you already have a few advantages when it comes to evaluating the local market -- access to local news sources and the word on the street, and a high probability of being a customer or employee of these companies. And if you're not a local resident, you might still want to know whether the weather matches the business climate -- a hot area could be chock-full of undiscovered treasures on their way to greatness.
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