Last week, the central point of my argument was that it really doesn't matter who is in power in Victoria - Social Credit, NDP, B.C. Liberal - the population and economy will grow about the same amount over a given decade.
Governments have little in the way of influence over the GDP.
This was Shel Jacobsen's message all those years ago when he argued that "stocks go up, stocks go down, but you need to invest for the long term."
Not what some people might want to hear but the Ministry of Finance doesn't lie.
So when it comes to selecting a government, what should be the criteria that we use? If not the economy, what else?
I would suggest that in considering our political parties, there are four criteria that need to be considered. In order of the importance that I place on them, they are: 1) Health 2) Education 3) The Environment and 4) Social Programs.
With regard to "Health", I mean all aspects of the health care system which impact our lives. From physicians in rural communities to cancer care clinics to looking after the elderly, health is a big concern.
How are we doing?
Well, the distributed model for medical education seems to be having an effect on the number of physicians in the regions. Certainly it would appear that we are not losing any more doctors from Prince George.
That doesn't mean that some physicians haven't retired or closed up their practices causing inconvenience, to say the least! But the total number in town seems to have stabilized.
Still, it is still going to be a long haul to get to the point where we can start growing the number of physicians in town and get to the doctor-to-patient ratio they have in Greater Vancouver or Victoria. And it is doubtful that we will ever have a full complement of specialists.
The Cancer Clinic - which has been heavily used since opening - is a good example, though, of a step in the right direction. Ironically, when the previous government expanded PGRH, there were cries that it was a "waste of money and unnecessary" from the very same people that are now applauding the enhanced facilities - both in the main hospital and in the cancer clinic. Oh, well.
The big concern in health, though, would be long term and senior care. We are an aging population with the percentage of people requiring some form of care increasing annually. This is a slow tsunami that will threaten the health care system over the next 30 years.
In this regard, I would suggest that the present government hasn't done the work necessary to ensure that our health care system will be ready. We have lost beds and facilities. We are not generating enough physicians with a specialization in geriatrics. And the government seems to be hoping that the whole problem will just go away on its own.
On the whole, over the past ten years, the health care system has taken some tentative steps forward but it has also stumbled right back. We really aren't ahead of the game. Indeed, many people would probably say that we are further behind.
With regard to education, the past 10 years have been less than stellar. I don't mean just in terms of the governments intransigence in dealing with teachers. Rather, our kids are not getting the education that they both need and deserve.
The reason behind this is a perverse desire to measure progress and ensure that everyone is equal. Whether it is the Foundational Skills Assessment or the provincial exams, the government seems to have forgotten that the most important component of the education system is the interaction between the teacher and the student.
Great teachers can inspire if they are given the freedom to do so. And students will excel as long as we recognize that they are not all the same. After all, a student that is a gifted artist might not score well in other areas but does that really matter?
With regard to the environment, Gordon Campbell brought in a carbon tax in an attempt to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. It has been a colossal failure. It hasn't altered fossil fuel consumption one bit and the money raised is going to pad the bottom line of corporations and companies.
Environmentally, the past ten years have seen this province slip further and further behind all in the name of temporary and transitory jobs.
And with regard to social programs, well, the past ten years has seen B.C. fall from grace. We have the highest child poverty rates in the country at the same time that the government is committed to ensuring that we have the "lowest personal tax rates" in the country. Something is wrong there.
On the whole, it is not a stellar record that the B.C. Liberals boast.
