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Slipping through our fingers

Isn’t it time we the people of Canada take back our rights and demand more from our government?

Stephen Harper has thus far taken no responsibility for the ejection of an Ontario student from a recent political event.  Oh what a surprise!  Politicians always manage to dodge the bullet and deflect the blame through miscommunication excuses and supposed ignorance.  It is hard to swallow, yet many Canadians do... by not voting.

Canadian apathy has been a sore spot for the caring public for years.  How did we get from here to there?  When did people start just letting their rights slip away?  Who are these people and why are they this way?

I often think that it is not until it is a direct hit on some people that they start caring.  Maybe if it was their ill mother who had to sit in Tim Hortons waiting for a spot to open up at Royal Columbian Hospital they would wake up to our disintegrating medical system.  Even some people who use the medical system frequently, don’t vote.  There are people who are continually bumped from their surgeries.  One doctor here in the Okanagan was booked to do 10 shoulder surgeries a couple of weeks ago and got eight of them cancelled because of cutbacks - not acceptable.  Does it have to be your surgery that is cancelled before you vote?

Stitches from a surf board head pummel in Hawaii cost one family almost $700.  I was at the hospital a few weeks ago after some nasty stealth-like spider bit my arm and I had an allergic reaction.  My cost was zero out of pocket dollars that evening and under $50 for medication the next day.  A dear family friend of ours almost lost his life to a drunk driver a couple of years ago in Vegas  and left the U.S with a medical bill of over half a million dollars.

Canada has something good here, yet many don’t care.  I know that I would not have been able to afford the care my daughter has had if I lived in the U.S..  There is no doubt in my mind that she is the vibrant healthy girl she is because we are Canadian.  I had the luxury that many families in the U.S. don’t have of taking their child to doctor after doctor until the problem was identified and a treatment found.  This is one of our greatest political achievements.

Canadians are giving away their rights at an alarming rate.  Don’t agree with our prime minister?  Doesn’t matter...he will pass bills without following the rules.  He will crush bills that are not corporate friendly at the expense of the hard working Canadian’s health and well being.

When we stop paying attention to the world around us near and far or allowing our political system to be abused a perpetrator will continue to victimize.  Like a callous thief who frauds small volunteer groups or large corporations, like Nortel, who are allowed to steal and lie unchecked, give them some rein and they will run with it.  Pull the rein in tight where they can be watched and the game changes.

Isn’t it time we the people of Canada take back our rights and demand more from our government?  If we don’t demand more, we simply won’t get it and like anything, once it is gone, it’s not so easy to get back.  Stand up and be heard or watch your rights slip through your fingers.