Ottawa Sun
Published: Saturday, January 29, 2005 If you've got the answers, I've got the questions Have you enjoyed my issue diatribes and opinion rants on these pages since 2001? How much did you really miss me during the 2004 election period? Did you know that taxes, politics, health care, sports, and life in general all weigh heavily on my mind? Are you ready for the first in an occasional series of quantum question queries? Yes? No? How come 12 people at the Baseline ward budget meeting was considered a poor turnout but 50 people at the Orleans meeting --drawn from four municipal wards -- was considered a success? Why did citizens have to appear at pre-budget hearings this week to petition city hall to fix their long-standing and festering basement sewage backup problems? When did correcting sewage problems become a "ah maybe we'll get to it when we're not busy social engineering" option for the city? Why did most delegations appearing at city hall this week view local taxpayers as their own private piggy bank? Why didn't more councillors ask these groups what innovative things they were/are doing to raise their own funds? Have these groups considered looking for the HOT 89.9 $50,000 fugitive? Where do the money trees grow to fulfill all these grant and funding requests? Are they stashed away in some secret corner of the Greenbelt? Or are they hidden deep within the Marlborough forest? Why don't these trees grow in Orleans close to my house? Can I buy a money tree at the local nursery? Do I get Air Miles with a money tree purchase? Why did Paul Martin and Stephen Harper raise the spectre of a same-sex marriage election last week? Is this the most pressing issue facing the nation? Didn't we have this divisive debate seven months ago or was that snatch-Conservative-defeat-from-the-jaws-of-victory election simply a bad dream? What do poorly equipped Canadian forces personnel serving on four continents think of this? Do millions of Canadians who can't find a family doctor want Parliament paralyzed with the same-sex marriage debate? Has anyone asked hundreds of thousands of patients on waiting lists for surgery, diagnostic imaging, or new medicines what they think about the Harper-Martin spat? Why do provincial governments of all partisan stripes continue to view health care through the prism of bankruptcy accountants? Why can't one -- just one -- premier or health minister see our health system -- public and private -- as the best driver of 21st century wealth creating innovation and then implement a policy framework to support this innovation? Why do hospital bosses trumpet "new" bar-code scanners to track medicines when this technology has been deployed at the grocery store for two decades? Why do sports journalists still report on/pontificate about the NHL lockout? Don't they realize that fans and casual observers alike wrote off the season before the first snowfall in November? Do NHL players and owners truly believe that the average working stiff has any sympathy whatsoever for this millionaires vs. billionaires struggle? When exactly did players and owners lose touch with reality in this dimension or any of the other 10 dimensions theorized by astrophysicists? And how do I explain to my almost seven-year-old son that the Senators aren't playing because the paltry average annual salary in the NHL only pays the mortgage six times over? Why do folks in the elevator pretend not to see you when you're trying to catch it? Why is the middle lane on the 417 East always the slowest? What does Tim Horton's put in their coffee to make us queue like Russians in a 1970s bread line? How come clothes companies can make Teflon suits to repel food stains but auto makers can't produce cars to resist winter grime? Why can't I ask more questions? Do you have the answers I seek? |