For some reason I woke up at 3am this morning with the song “Romper, stomper, bompar boo” floating in my mind. Why that should have been there is beyond me. I was a few generations ahead of the TV show “Romper Room” but the tune was stuck in my head. I knew I wasn’t getting back to sleep so rather than lie there pretending I COULD go back to sleep while slapping myself around for being such a fool, I got up to do some writing. There’s a lot of material to write about so why not make the most of a good thing. Somebody has to speak out and the way I see it there is no one left for me to alienate so here goes. Let’s see who else I can piss off.
I’ve mentioned this before but it is well worth reiterating every now and then. I am not a journalist, a political pundit or even a professional writer. However I am a concerned citizen with something to say which is why I blog. As a polio survivor I had to learn to adapt quickly to almost every aspect of life. I have a life time of people expressing surprise and amazement over the day to day issues faced by my segment of the community, the disabled. Then I watch as they go back to their “comfort bubble” to completely forget our interaction. This is why things never get done. Very few people push and I’m just a “special interest guy”. Even the City turns its back on accessibility because nobody but “special needs groups” speaks up about it..
Unlike Kenney and his gang of backroom dealers, I am not trying to pat myself on the back here but the most successful disabled make being adaptive look natural and unplanned. It’s actually a form of “muscle memory” and requires a natural flow of “critical thinking”. I still do that and it shouldn’t take a genius to recognize how the UCP are ripping this province apart. They know how to use optics and now, conveniently, they have a healthcare crisis to hide behind.
While Kenney and his minions are going out of their way, at tax-payers expense, to destroy this province by hiding behind the veneer of a “healthcare crisis”, the “real” issues are being totally ignored. Those who protect us, “the healthcare professionals”, are being decimated and caught up by that little ideological leprechaun’s ego and the even worse ideological idiots who make up his cabinet. When we have a Health Minister, Shandro, who appears to be more interested in the financial returns of his wife’s “private health care” insurance business, we no longer have democracy, we have autocracy.
I came into this world and face down the polio epidemic, I’m a survivor but I refuse to “quietly into the night”. Now, due to some dude who needs a stool to stand on behind his diaz so he can reach the mic to scare monger, I am challenging his campaign of misinformation. His use of feigned concerns of “life support” for a dying industry is much more apparent than his concerns over keeping the citizens of Alberta “off life support”.
I will not run the risk of losing all dignity like those poor unfortunates in the Dorval Residence Herron. That was a horrific criminal (in my mind) act and still Kenney (and he’s not the only Premier) push for privatization of senior care while removing oversight. He has already shown his disdain for oversight by removing the need for the energy sector to submit the environmental reports that use to be standard. I don’t disagree with his “red tape reduction” strategy but it has to be fair, equitable and it shouldn’t threaten public safety, particularly when a pandemic crisis is active. All tools, including air and environmental quality information is important.
We are just getting past the potential threat of returning snowbirds. It will be at least a month before we fully see the results of that. Kenney has already used his authority to remove a powerful tool from the infection control community. The coronavirus lives in the interior chamber of the nasal system making the swab difficult, uncomfortable but needed.
The next big threat (and I can almost guarantee Kenney hasn’t given this any thought as his “suspension” of environmental conditions shows) is the “spring allergy” season. A lot of sneezing, what pollutants are where, where are the environmental issues, etc is needed to identify and track potential “hot-spots”. As long as Kenney has suspended reporting those working on mitigation and trying to plan for what may be coming have just lost an important tool.
Good information is needed, not Kenney’s “misinformation” and rhetoric. As I said earlier I came into this world faced and beat the polio epidemic. I am not going to sit back while some fat little idiot more interested in the Koch brothers support than he is in the protection of ALL Albertans by putting profit before pandemic take me out of this world. People need to look past the optics and get to know the substance, how the ripple effect will affect everybody regardless of what silo you are in.
“I’m feeling more frustrated than a one armed man in a wall paper hanging contest. We are being told constantly that we “all have to do our part” and I am 100% behind that. In fact there is a certain amount of pride in how well most Albertans are pulling up their socks and make sacrifices but, again, Kenney uses this tragedy to hide behind and advance his agenda for the oil patch as well as environmental protection.
This is a time when we need as much environmental information as we can get. This is one of the tools used by infection control specialist to track “hot-spots” so not only is Kenney giving disproportionate amount of financial support to an industry on life support, he’s ignoring the support for programs meant to keep people “off” of life support systems.
Meanwhile our frontline #HealthcareWarriors are under attack by the Kenney government as a result of Bill 21. Health Minister Shandro’s used this bill to rip up the existing agreement with the Alberta Medical Association and it all took effect April 1. What kind of reasonably thinking compassion person intimidates and threats the very people working so hard to protect Albertans from COVID19. Our doctors and healthcare staff risk their life’s every day to protect Albertans from this pandemic crisis.
Not only themselves but their immediate families and loved ones. Is this the type of government you voted for? A government more concerned with the bottom line of “one” sector of the economy while threatening those who have dedicated themselves to protect us. Show our doctors that you DO care and sign the Change.org petition asking for the rights of Alberta doctors to be protected. They need some encouragement to know Albertans are standing behind them. Sign and share today…
This is how fascism grows, when a military uprising can’t happen those despots incrementally dismantle the existing tools of protection. Baby steps leads to marathons…”
A Poster Child's Perspective 