Thoughts on BC Politics and More

Conservative MLAs say the NDP government has lost control of the healthcare crisis in British Columbia, as local governments from Merritt to Nanaimo are now escalating mental health and addictions issues to Ottawa out of sheer desperation. IMAGE CREDIT : Neuroscience Institute “When mayors start writing to federal MPs instead of the Health Minister, it just proves the provincial government’s inability to deal with the crisis,” said  Claire Rattée , MLA for Skeena and Critic for Mental Health and Addictions. “Addictions, poverty, and mental illness are colliding across this province. The system is underfunded, unaffordable, and dangerously inaccessible,” Rattée continued.  “Experts say mental health should make up 12% of the health budget, BC isn’t even close. And now Merritt’s mayor is appealing to Ottawa because the province won’t act. This is all happening amidst a larger healthcare crisis in BC. We don’t just have gaps, we have total breakdowns.” In Merritt, ...

Following daily pressure from the Conservative Caucus of BC, the government announced that they are allocating funding for new policing technology and increased patrols to address crime in BC’s downtown centres. However, the NDP government will only be providing up to $5 million across the entire province – an insufficient amount to address the open drug use, theft, robbery, property damage, public indecency, and wielding of weapons now seen on the streets in nearly every city and town in B.C. “ The only short-term bed-based detox centre in Williams Lake has been defunded and is about to close down, while the NDP has added exactly zero net new treatment beds in this city” ~~ Lorne Doerkson “This is a drop of water in the ocean when we look at our needs province-wide. Williams Lake alone needs $5 million,” said Elenore Sturko, MLA for Surrey-Cloverdale and Critic for Solicitor General and Public Safety. “While any investment in policing is positive, this is far too small ...

Psychiatrists divided on extending MAID to those suffering solely from mental illnesses Canadians suffering from debilitating mental illness cannot yet legally qualify for medical assistance in dying, unlike almost all others with severe illnesses — a restriction some advocates feel is rooted in misunderstanding. Eligibility for MAID was set to expand in March to include people with mental illness. But on Thursday, Health Minister Mark Holland introduced legislation that will delay the expansion of assisted dying to include those suffering solely from mental illness to 2027 ... CLICK HERE for the full story

Below is the text of my keynote remarks at this week’s World Suicide Prevention Day event held at St. Andrew’s on the Square (Tuesday, Sept. 10, 2019). About 100 people attended the event to honour loved ones lost to suicide. By MEL ROTHENBURGER ... used with permission THIS PAST MARCH, the headline on one of my Saturday columns for CFJC was “We’ve got to talk about suicide.” The column began, “ A year ago on Thursday, my daughter Edyn killed herself. She was 38. A year before that, in the same month, her son, my grandson Mykel, killed himself. He was 16 .” I went on to discuss the issue of the stigma of suicide from the perspective of someone who has experienced it through the loss of loved ones. I’m far from an expert on suicide but I’ve become much more of an expert than I ever wanted to be. What I’ll say tonight comes mainly from that personal experience — backed up with a little reading — and it might not jibe with the views and ...

“However beautiful the strategy, you should occasionally look at the results.” — Winston Churchill Once upon a time in French Indochina, administrators in Saigon decided to do something about a rat problem that was developing in the city. Their solution was to put a bounty on rats, to be claimed by anyone who could produce a rat tail (since the shelf life of entire dead rats was presumably quite short). Strangely, a few months after the bounty was introduced, the number of rats in Saigon actually increased, although it was remarked that many of the rats were now without tails. Upon investigation it turned out that enterprising Vietnamese had heard about the bounty and turned their talents to creating rat farms on the outskirts of the city, where rats were bred, de-tailed, and set free. What had been conceived as a measure to reduce the number of rats, actually had the opposite effect. So, it is with harm reduction and half-measures at opioid treatment . ...

Along the beach -- night time in Penticton Every community suffers from these things.   Problems resulting from homelessness ... overuse, excessive use, and addiction to drugs and ... spray-painted scrawling doodles, that most do not find artistic, and which have to be cleaned up ... panhandlers and street-people. Last Summer, the City of Penticton decided it was time to take action because, as Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) Peter Weeber stated: “ A very small amount of people are causing a tremendous amount of problems in our community .” In a July 2018 media release , the city pulled no punches making it clear that enough was enough: “ Penticton is a beautiful and safe community. Penticton is our home. If you are here to enjoy all Penticton has to offer, “Welcome.” If you are here to break the law, drink and use drugs in a public place, occupy and damage city and private property, your life is about to get complicated .” ...