Justin Trudeau - the ghost of Daddy past

Ontario politicians treat voters like idiots

Remember this letter where a citizen asked their MPP what they would do regarding the killing of access to information rights in Ontario?

"I would like to know what you will do, if re-elected, to restore access to information rights in Ontario. In what way will you work to return the ability of the ordinary taxpayer to have full access to all data concerning all medical services paid for by the taxpayer? This was recently stripped from us in a covert and undemocratic manner by the current Liberal government, all the while saying the right words about an "open & transparent government".

They received a reply which said:

"Thank you for sharing your concerns regarding the release of abortion statistics in Ontario. As you know, a limited number of amendments to the Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act came into force in January 2013. These amendments were developed to assist hospitals maintain quality of care and protect the safety of both staff and patients, and they were reviewed by the Standing Committee on Social Policy and debated and passed in the Legislature.   

The Ontario Liberals are committed to an open and transparent government, and our progress on this front has allowed Ontario's residents access to an ever-growing amount of data. To date we have made 212 data sets available to the general public, and we continue to add more. You can browse through what's available here: https://www.ontario.ca/government/open-data-ontario."

To which the letter writer responded:

"...just a couple of notes regarding your response. 

Perhaps your staffer didn't read my email where I said I hate being treated like an idiot. 

Your answer treats me like an idiot. Hmmmm, most idiots would notice that you didn't answer my question. When I ask you "what time is it?" and you respond "the sky is blue", you didn't answer my question. Perhaps you thought I wouldn't notice. See [first paragraph].   

Signed,
Not Getting MY vote"

It's pretty sad how politicians disrespect and demean the very people who put them into power in the first place. Pathetic really.

I'm actually embarrassed for them. Oh wait, it passed.

Is Stephen Harper afraid of Joyce Arthur?

Remember the old Charlie Brown cartoons, where the grownups used to say "Wah wah wah Wah wah wah wah wah wah Wah wah wah wah wah wah"? And how the Peanut characters didn't have a clue what the grownups were saying? And how they just didn't care what they were saying either? Probably because it wasn't important?



Well last week I read Joyce Arthur's recent posting on rabble.ca. I think it was about Wah wah wah. Here's the link. But don't bother reading it. It's just more of the same Wah wah wah.

But what I really want to know is this. Why does Stephen Harper even listen to Arthur? Doesn't he hear the Wah wah wah? Is he deaf? Or is it something else?

My response to Deb Matthews

January 10, 2014

Dear Ms. Matthews,

Thank you for your December 19 response to my October 15 and 16 letters in which I asked you six questions regarding the abortion exclusion clause your government made to the Ontario Freedom of Information and Privacy Act (FIPPA).

You say that the Premier Kathleen Wynne referred my email to her, to you--regarding her Open and Transparent Government Initiative. I had asked Ms. Wynne if she would lift the secrecy of the availability of abortion statistics under this initiative. However, I could not find your answer to this question in your letter. I will go back to Ms. Wynne and ask her the question again.

In your letter you state that:

"Regarding the Canadian Institute for Health Information’s (CIHI) published abortion statistics, I understand that CIHI specifically indicates that when reporting abortion figures, counts of abortions by province are an underestimate count and that it is currently the best way to produce pan-Canadian comparable data. For information on CIHI’s compilation of statistical data you may wish to contact CIHI directly."

I have contacted CIHI on numerous occasions already about this. Because of the way CIHI produces those statistics (i.e. they base their statistics on hospital discharge records and not medical billing records), they were unable to produce more accurate statistics. Therefore contacting CIHI again (as you suggest), will still not yield accurate statistics. So again I ask you, can you please provide me with a way to obtain accurate abortion statistics?

You say that "These amendments were debated and passed in the Legislature." My question was to provide the links to when the abortion exclusion clause was debated. Not to other amendments.

So I once again reviewed all 20 links on the Bill, from the link you provided me, including the transcripts of the public hearings on the bill on November 22 and 23. There were no instances in any of these documents, where the abortion exclusion was discussed, debated, or mentioned.

Therefore I must assume that the abortion exclusion clause was not debated in the legislature. Please correct me if I am wrong about this assumption.

I asked you what rationale the government had for excluding abortion services from FIPPA. I couldn't find your response to this question in your letter. Perhaps you missed my question? If so, would you be so kind as to answer it for me now?

I asked you why abortion was the only taxpayer funded medical service singled out for exclusion from FIPPA. I couldn't find your response to this question in your letter to me. Perhaps you missed my question? If so, would you be so kind as to answer it for me now?

I asked you how excluding abortion services from FIPPA "enhances openness and transparency in the public sector"? Perhaps you missed my question? If so, would you be as so kind to answer it for me now?

I look forward to hearing back from you soon.

Sincerely,
Patricia Maloney

A day in the life of a pro-life blogger