CPC Uses Health Canada and Environment Ministry to Silence Dr

[Catchme]

Frustrated by government unwillingness to conduct a proper health study, Dr. O'Connor announced in December that he plans to leave Fort McMurray this summer and move to Nova Scotia. Then he caused an even bigger sensation by writing in an emotional letter to Halifax's Chronicle Herald newspaper that life in Fort McMurray is "intolerable." He also warned Atlantic Canada workers not to expect to come west and find a family doctor or affordable housing when they get here. "The quality of life," he said, "is extremely low."

Within weeks, three employees of Health Canada, one from Alberta Health and another from Environment Canada had filed a complaint against Dr. O'Connor with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. According to one source, the bureaucrats have accused him of "irresponsible actions" and "raising undue alarm among the public." His concerns about contamination, they said, have left the people of Fort Chipewyan "fearful of the places they live in and their traditional foods."

Asked why government employees would take such a drastic step, a Health Canada spokesperson stated via an e-mail simply that health professionals of all sorts are obliged to report on "professional practice issues."

However, the timing of the complaint has led Dr. Sauvé and other local doctors and nurses to conclude that the federal and provincial governments wanted to silence an outspoken critic of the area's industrial growth. The college normally reviews complaints made by patients, Dr. Sauvé explains, and shouldn't be used as "a state tool for censoring doctors."

http://www.rbcinvest.theglobeandmail.com/s...ironment/1/1/5/

Nice totalitarian action heh?! The CPC now the very apparent goons of Oil need to be gone.

[Cameron]

I don't read into the CPC pulling strings. It's a Health Canada and Alberta Heath issue. There is nothing concrete in the article that says it was strings being pulled form the top.

However, the timing of the complaint has led Dr. Sauvé and other local doctors and nurses to conclude that the federal and provincial governments wanted to silence an outspoken critic of the area's industrial growth.

It was concluded by them. Nothing of certainty. I can conclude that I was sick last night because I may have had a few to many...but that's not certain...there is no actual proof.

[geoffrey]

Another naysayer that wants Eastern Canada socialist lifestyle with Western Canada wealth.

Well, go ahead, enjoy your Nova Scotia home doctor.

Of course Alberta has some growing pains, you can't build hospitals overnight. But this sort of rhetoric is hardly constructive. Affordable housing is fine in Fort McMurray when these people make ridiculous sums of money for basically unskilled labour.

If you expect Halifax prices, ya, your out of luck. But good luck finding a job in Halifax that pays 75% of what these guys make.

It's a different way of life in Fort McMurray, mostly for younger people that are trying to get ahead... and ahead these people will get. This doctor obviously just doesn't get that.

Have you ever been to Fort McMurray Catchme, do you know the people that love what that city has given them?? Or are you joining the Eastern Canadian bandwagon of 'Alberta does everything wrong'? I suggest you take a trip, see that the city really is crap for health care, crap for police, ect. ect.. You'll also see the people there don't care, they are there for a quick buck, and then they'll move on.

[B. Max]

I think the real problem the good doctor has with FT. Mac is that there is not enough socialism there for him. Let him go back to NS to the ten dollar an hour jobs where he can feel more equal at his twenty five dollar an hour job.

[Catchme]

health canada and Environment canada should be listening to the Dr, and other health care professionals gthere, and looking at what they are saying, NOT standing up for oOil.

Unbelieveble that you think these ministries should be covering up, instead of exposing.

[margrace]

Catch me if you expected anything else from these self centred people it would surprise me. When there is money to be made and it is going to someone or somewhere else there are capitalist entities who expect everything to go their way. Cutting welfare to older workers who cannot afford to leave everything and go to their province, bewailing the fact that they have to help support the elders who probably sacrificed much to raise them only proves who and what they are.

They could take a page from the book of a man who just died in our area. When asked, at a Palliative Care meeting why he, at 77 was volunteering in such a heart rending organization he replied I am just giving back a little of what Canada gave to me.

Another man Micheal Degroote of Hamilton replied the same when asked why he gave 105 Million to research and care in McMaster Univercity Hospital in Hamilton. This man started out as a cleaner at that hospital.

[geoffrey]

health canada and Environment canada should be listening to the Dr, and other health care professionals gthere, and looking at what they are saying, NOT standing up for oOil.

Unbelieveble that you think these ministries should be covering up, instead of exposing.

How are they standing up for oil? How the hell is it the oil sand's responsibility to provide health care?? They provide most of the new high paying jobs in Canada, they pay a massive chunk of the corporate taxes paid and they are outstanding corporate citizens in the cities they are located. And then you expect them to build hospitals??!

Maybe this highlights the pure ignorance of the Canadians with their collective heads shoved so far up Tommy Douglas' ass that they can't see that it's our system that doesn't work. If private provision of publically insured medical care were allowed, then you'd see companies rushing to fill the void in Fort Mac... after all, it's a huge very rich market. Instead, they'll wait years.

To blame oil companies in Fort McMurray for the situation is outrageous. As long as Canada keeps it's outdated and failed health care system, you'll have the issues you have in Fort McMurray. It actually is illegal for say Suncor to build a hospital in Fort McMurray... so really, the blame lays with Canada's failed system, bottom line.

So there you go, again, your hate of all things oil and Alberta is showing. If you don't like it, don't move there. Or better yet, get Ottawa out of health care like they should be so that we can move private provision into places like Fort McMurray because we sure as hell can't trust the government to do so.

[margrace]

So does your tirad make you feel better, spoken truly by a person who has never wanted for anything. I visited Elliot Lake once when the big uranium boom was on, it was horrifying the amount of stupid needless crime that was going on. Money does not make for a safer happier place I found.

[Wilber]

So does your tirad make you feel better, spoken truly by a person who has never wanted for anything. I visited Elliot Lake once when the big uranium boom was on, it was horrifying the amount of stupid needless crime that was going on. Money does not make for a safer happier place I found.

But you have no trouble with taking the money that the economies of those towns provide in order to build your socialist paradise elsewhere.

[FTA Lawyer]

I have a family member (core sample technician) who described her recent time in Ft. Mac. as a literal hell on earth. I have a good friend (welder) who describes his jaunts up there as doing bits of prison time. I was last in the city of Ft. Mac. in 1993, and I have no desire to ever return...especially since I now have children.

The quality of life is brutal...which is why the massive salaries...even young invincible male houligans need a reason to subject themselves to horrible conditions. Many oil companies operating up there are establishing settlements in towns in Northern B.C. and flying their workers in and out of Ft. Mac. to avoid having them be subjected to the intolerable living conditions (and because you cannot find a place to live...regardless of cost).

Alberta Justice has been trying to hire more Crown Prosecutors for the city for months and months...but can't find anyone willing to sign up, in spite of large relocation bonuses and salary premiums.

Notwithstanding the above, I acknowledge that living in an oil boom-town is not for everyone, but for many who are there, it is a way to save hundreds of thousands of dollars in a short period of time and move to a better quality of life later on. I will never work there, but I certainly don't slight anyone who chooses to.

Further, I don't see anything wrong with a doctor trying to give fair warning to people on the other side of the country that recruiting propaganda may not be telling the whole story about Ft. Mac. BUT I also don't see anything wrong with the government officials trying to keep constriants on alleged unfair criticism. In my view, if the doctor acted irresponsibly in his comments, then the college should be involved. Similarly, if the doctor was well-founded in his criticisms, then the college should be involved from the perspective of supporting its members who are still battling away in the centre of Alberta's oil-boom.

FTA

[noahbody]

Frustrated by government unwillingness to conduct a proper health study, Dr. O'Connor announced in December that he plans to leave Fort McMurray this summer and move to Nova Scotia. Then he caused an even bigger sensation by writing in an emotional letter to Halifax's Chronicle Herald newspaper that life in Fort McMurray is "intolerable." He also warned Atlantic Canada workers not to expect to come west and find a family doctor or affordable housing when they get here. "The quality of life," he said, "is extremely low."

Within weeks, three employees of Health Canada, one from Alberta Health and another from Environment Canada had filed a complaint against Dr. O'Connor with the College of Physicians and Surgeons. According to one source, the bureaucrats have accused him of "irresponsible actions" and "raising undue alarm among the public." His concerns about contamination, they said, have left the people of Fort Chipewyan "fearful of the places they live in and their traditional foods."

Asked why government employees would take such a drastic step, a Health Canada spokesperson stated via an e-mail simply that health professionals of all sorts are obliged to report on "professional practice issues."

However, the timing of the complaint has led Dr. Sauvé and other local doctors and nurses to conclude that the federal and provincial governments wanted to silence an outspoken critic of the area's industrial growth. The college normally reviews complaints made by patients, Dr. Sauvé explains, and shouldn't be used as "a state tool for censoring doctors."

http://www.rbcinvest.theglobeandmail.com/s...ironment/1/1/5/

Nice totalitarian action heh?! The CPC now the very apparent goons of Oil need to be gone.

[noahbody]

Nice totalitarian action heh?! The CPC now the very apparent goons of Oil need to be gone.

The study the doctor characterized as flawed was done under the Liberal government. We can only conclude they had a hidden agenda to support the oil industry.

[stignasty]

I have a family member (core sample technician) who described her recent time in Ft. Mac. as a literal hell on earth. I have a good friend (welder) who describes his jaunts up there as doing bits of prison time. I was last in the city of Ft. Mac. in 1993, and I have no desire to ever return...especially since I now have children.

I was up there a couple of years ago and it surprised me how much the city has changed. That being said, I'm not planning a return trip anytime soon.

In my view, if the doctor acted irresponsibly in his comments, then the college should be involved. Similarly, if the doctor was well-founded in his criticisms, then the college should be involved from the perspective of supporting its members who are still battling away in the centre of Alberta's oil-boom.

Yeah, the article quoted said there were "professional practice issues." His statement that people shouldn't expect to find a family doctor is probably enough for a rebuke. I think this is far from a totalitarian action.

[Topaz]

One fact that's true is Alberta is making the most pollution in Canada, if not N. America. Another fact is oil does cause cancer. Pollution makes people sick. People are breathing the air out there and only time will tell if these people will get cancer or other grave sickness. I know first hand that no amount of money is worth your health. So, we'll just have to wait and see what happens to all those people who rushed out there to make their fortunate and if it was woth it!

[guyser]

How are they standing up for oil? How the hell is it the oil sand's responsibility to provide health care?? They provide most of the new high paying jobs in Canada, they pay a massive chunk of the corporate taxes paid and they are outstanding corporate citizens in the cities they are located. And then you expect them to build hospitals??!

To blame oil companies in Fort McMurray for the situation is outrageous. As long as Canada keeps it's outdated and failed health care system, you'll have the issues you have in Fort McMurray. It actually is illegal for say Suncor to build a hospital in Fort McMurray... so really, the blame lays with Canada's failed system, bottom line.

Careful there goeffrey. Many many developers/builders are required to build infrastructure for the benefit of the new people they are moving in. Things like schools, pools, playgrounds and yes hospitals.

So there you go, again, your hate of all things oil and Alberta is showing. If you don't like it, don't move there. Or better yet, get Ottawa out of health care like they should be so that we can move private provision into places like Fort McMurray because we sure as hell can't trust the government to do so.

If it meant better people and better lives all around, why wouldnt big oil decide to build, or at the very least, assist in the building of health services, perhaps not hospitals per se, but other related things.

Besides, Ottawa oversees hospitals better than private anyhow.

[geoffrey]

Careful there goeffrey. Many many developers/builders are required to build infrastructure for the benefit of the new people they are moving in. Things like schools, pools, playgrounds and yes hospitals.

Find me an example in Canada (well, playgrounds sure... but hospitals no).

If it meant better people and better lives all around, why wouldnt big oil decide to build, or at the very least, assist in the building of health services, perhaps not hospitals per se, but other related things.

Because it's mostly illegal or too much red tape.

Besides, Ottawa oversees hospitals better than private anyhow.

Not in comparison to every other country in the world, but ya, Tommy Doulgas did believe that 50 years ago now. They also believed that sending men to the moon was a good way to spend money and that homosexuals were a variety of mentally retarded. So ya, if we changed those views, perhaps it's time for Canada to join the rest of the world (other than North Korea, China and Cuba) and allow people to build the hospitals that we demand and aren't getting?