49 Replies to “Y2Kyoto: State Of Anorexia Envirosa”

  1. The unions who went out of their way to support McGuinty and Wynne can get stuffed. I hope they lose their homes.

  5. Although the hospitals could have adopted another approach that might have saved those jobs: pay reductions from the CEO down to the cleaning staff. For example, a CEO at $400,000 takes a 15 percent cut (there’s $60,000), a doctor at $250,000 likewise (another $37,500). Why, that’s $97,500 right there to put towards salaries instead of laying off people!
    Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha…. I crack myself up.
    As if!

  6. Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha… that was truly funny.
    Looks like the carbon tax is kicking in quite nicely.

  7. Pay cuts would barely scratch the surface of the electricity costs. A typical hospital uses about 18 GWh annually. At $160,000/GWh, that’s an annual electricity bill of nearly $3 million. Before 2011, this would have been about $1.2 million annually.
    What’s worse, northern Ontario, indeed much of Ontario, has a permanent, ongoing shortage of medical staff. Introduce a pay cut, and how many will leave? Do you really want an under-paid, intern holding the scalpel when you’re on the operating table?

  8. Unionized workers take a pay cut. That sentence doesn’t even make sense. Are those real words or have I just not seen them in that order before?

  9. From a Saskatchewan perspective, pay cuts, miniscule as they might be, do not go over well with health care staff. The unions become apoplectic for obvious reasons. The staff are, for the most part,ensconced in the system with tons of seniority. When faced with job losses in the system if pay cuts are not instituted, these veterans, safely tucked away behind this wall of seniority, couldn’t give a rat’s ass about the fate of their “brothers” and “sisters” who could possibly be affected by layoffs.
    In the real world of private companies, when times are tough, workers suck it up, take a voluntary pay cut, save the company and keep their jobs. In the world of the public employee … not so much.

  11. A close reading of the column reveals that another cost increase of significance is the rise in long term disability claims and insurance. This is a chronic and worsening issue for almost all public service workforces. The average continues to rise and reducing staffing levels will only make that worse. And LTD claims are far higher for older groups.

  12. “a doctor at $250,000 likewise (another $37,500)”
    Where have you been? Doctors have been getting cut the last ten years. 30% cut to services for diabetics a couple years ago. Result? Not a good time to be diabetic in Ontario.
    As Kate is fond of saying, nobody -has- to be a doctor. The best and brightest will find ways to get ahead, but you might get stuck with a glorified floor washer to diagnose and treat your illness. How would that be?

  14. Most diabetics have type 2 diabetes. The most common factors in type 2 are obesity, lack of exercise and poor diet.
    Rather than pay doctors more money to treat a preventable disease, it makes more sense to lose weight, exercise and eat properly.
    This is one of the downfalls of the Canadian “free” system. We have no say in how the money is allocated. We can only resist against the total amount being spent.

  15. Healthcare problems are a product of government control and mismanagement. Skyrocketing electricity costs are a product of government control and mismanagement. Quick, send in the usual experts again -liberal arts experts like economists and political scientists. After all, they’ve done such an awesome job so far. Basically they are paid by governments to keep giving the same answer: more government control, which inevitably leads to more mismanagement. Then the government again consults with political science and economist graduates. Rinse and repeat until the system completely fails…then blame capitalism (progressives) or unions (conservatives).
    Here’s a novel idea: consult hard science experts with practical experience in energy systems. They might explain the folly of replacing reliable, affordable, dispatchable power with unreliable, expensive, intermittent power. But then what would happen to the lucrative business of crony capitalism and kickbacks? No international VIPs would be patting them on the head and giving them “atta boys” for saving the world from malevolent CO2 molecules by spending billions of dollars for bano measurable temperature benefits.

  16. I remember those ads form the nurses too. Al unions supported the Lying Liberals. It never looked better on them as they complain about how worried they are to be losing jobs and how much they are worried about patient care and having to work so much harder. They need to take a page from the Teacher’s unios, they get everything they wnat and then some…gotta find out their secret.
    Ontario has never been so messed up from op to bottom, as they say in Newfoundland, “the arse is outta ‘er”

  17. Maybe this is the new method for left wing gubmints to cut gubmint unionized staff.
    “SAVING THE EARTH”
    Then the enviroloons can call the unionists deniers! Asteroid anybody?

  18. That is what Ontario deserves. Only when Liberal government starts resulting in thousands of deaths per week, would it be enough to make people think a little before they vote.
    Stupidity has consequences; if you shelter people from the consequences of their own bad decisions, you will fill the world with fools. Which is pretty much where we find ourselves for the past 30 years

  19. Our health care system has been a joke for year now. cgh says that there is a shortage of medical staff, there is an over abundance of support staff who are over paid, under worked, and union protected. This was so 45 years ago when my X worked at the local hospital, it was so when I was in the hospital 15 years ago, and it is so today. And the same problem exists in Ont. Hydro.
    Get rid of self serving public unions, and the problem “will balance it’s self” :-))))

  20. Free health care??????? for most employees don’t see how much is being paid out for them for their benefits deal they have with their employers
    Dental coverage $ 1912.48
    Extended health coverage(drugs)$ 3937.18
    OHIP $ 1607.55
    AD&D $ 38.46
    LTD $ 2120.09
    Group Life Insurance $ 532.25
    That is over $10k paid out in 2015 for my Health coverage or around $850 a month. paid by my employer. but somebody pays for it. it is not free.

  21. From my experience, two points.
    1)there has been a huge growth in administration, regulatory and supervisory jobs in the last 25 years in public utilities (and I suspect in health care). In particular the increasing ratio of administration : front line workers & (in and out-of-scope) supervisory : front line workers defies reason. The astonishing increase of office staff is not only expensive but negatively impacts productivity due to the proliferation of paperwork, surveys, meetings etc. imposed on front line workers.
    2)In the 90s the Crown I worked at made a conscious decision to reduce FTEs(full time equivalent employees) at the field level. As yesterdays man details, fewer FTEs means a significant reduction in employee benefit costs. Management also acknowledged that a reduction of FTEs in the the field would result in more overtime hours due to under-staffing but more overtime was cheaper than more employees. This arrangement seemed to have been forgotten *and* the benefits of fewer FTEs was never extended to administration and supervisory classifications.
    Looking at where the bloat has occurred in government and government run/controlled businesses is important.

  22. Yes, Ontarians asked for this. Worse, now the only alternative is Patrick Brown, whom I consider not worth voting for. Hudak was not perfect, but he was decent. Same in Alberta. They missed the opportunity to vote for Wild Rose when they were a decent option, and now they got the very worst alternative. Governments have a best before date and for Ontario Liberals it passed the last time around.

  23. Just wait until the 2016 report shows up for the ttc… you can expect another big jump in both utilities, fuel and motive power distribution costs.
    Expenditures by object for the year ended December 31 comprise the following:
    $000s
    2015
    2014
    Wages, salaries and benefits
    1,303,060
    1,223,395
    Materials, services and supplies
    221,270
    220,439
    Vehicle fuel
    92,732
    98,182
    Accident claims
    57,293
    36,571
    Electric traction power
    47,924
    42,993
    Wheel-Trans contract services
    46,464
    38,106
    Utilities
    23,055
    20,939

  24. Stupidity has consequences; if you shelter people from the consequences of their own bad decisions, you will fill the world with fools.
    …and the world will be run by fools.
    That’s the situation in Ontario for sure, and probably most of Canada.

  25. You nailed it NME….PUBLIC SRVICE UNIONS…the root of all the Marxist EVIL in Western Civilization….That I would like to see them DE-Certified….

  26. ….Correction….Yes, certainly I would LIKE to see that happen…that I would LIVE to see that happen…one can only hope…

  27. The power of Unions are exaggerated.. Anyone may be fired for cause, the Management MAY re-organize and eliminate unnecessary group functions. The Union employee does have a right to fair compensation if fired…that is all…
    Any Union dysfunction is in reality a failure of Management. The first rule is to eliminate (regular) over-Time assignments to Union members… Any staff shortage must be filled by (salary) Management & they will learn how to staff effectively & efficiently. Union failure is an Administration dysfunction..

  28. Don’t blame ME … if Obama sold his crap-sandwich Obamakkare based on the belief that Canada has FREE, FREE, FREE government, single-payer, Healthcare ! Everyone is covered … EVERYONE ! And it is ALL FREE !! It was said over and over and over … how Canada has FREE healthcare. Just walk-into a government clinic and get a FREE sex-change operation. With, almost, the quality of Cuba’s most-admired FREE medical care.
    And WHY is anyone complaining about HIGH energy costs ? THAT isn’t happening either !! It’s obviously a LIE by some HATEFUL conservatard in Canada. Canada has “invested” in FREE, CLEAN, GREEN, RENEWABLE Energy !! Only America is a backward, luddite, OIL-eating, 19th Century Industrial State. CANADA has e-v-o-l-v-e-d … past OIL, past carbon-based fuels … into a BRIGHT future of FREE, RENEWABLE, HEALTHY, NATURAL, ENERGY !!! Yeayyyyy !! FREE, FREE, FREE !!! Socialism is all about FREE !!! Nothing costs anything. Nobody pays … the collective simply s-h-a-r-e-s with one-another is a spirit of LOVE and COOPERATION. Nature is GIVING Canadians all the energy they need … for NOTHING. No cost. Don’t you listen to Greenpeace ?
    So STOP all this talk about “costs” … what a horrible outmoded Capitalist construct. Canadians all live in a “Trekkie” future society. There is no NEED, no PREJUDICES, no COST, no MONEY, None of the trappings of oppressive bankers and Billionaires. In CANADA … everyone is equal, and everything is FREE !!!
    Hurry … all you so-called ILLegals in America … quickly FLEE to Canada … where you will be given everything you will every need … for FREE !!! Hurry … because President Trump is taking America back to the days of SLAVERY ! Hurry ! Quick ! Canada embraces YOU ! and LOVES you !

  31. You are talking about the workplace context. In a broader social context, public sector unions hold the public hostage and skew elections. Look how the teacher’s union managed to make secret deals with Wynne. On top of everything else, unions are getting their sick leave bonuses, cushy pensions, etc on the backs of people paid much less. There was a time when unions were critical to ensuring a decent workplace environment. Now they are just exploitative of the public purse.

  32. The Republicans are doing a bad job of selling Health Care because People are conflating “Insurance” with Health care.
    In the USA 2 1/2 % of Americans qualify for Medicaid (Free to the poor) This 10 Million are complicating the Health Care of the 390 Million that may (over 40), or may not buy Health Insurance. How you pay for your Health-care does not need to be from an Insurance Company.. The buying over State lines or enforcing the Commerce laws (Selective Pricing) will create a competitive market.. PERIOD.. If “S” Corporations don’t pay into Medicare for their Partners it will not be there @ 65.. Suck it up.. There are more corrupt Insurance Companies in America than there are Chicago gang members… Beware
    How do folks in Phoenix now avoid the High cost of the uninsured (illegal Aliens) and Medicaid… They don’t Buy Insurance in Arizona.. They buy in Nebraska or North Dakota for >50% less from the same Insurance Companies. It is good in Arizona…They just don’t get screwed
    Same thing Happens with Car Insurance.. Folks don’t register or buy car Insurance in Phoenix, they Buy in Prescott, AZ..>50% savings
    The more the Crony Capitalists try to screw the middle class… the greater the push back
    JMHO

  33. wrong how about the civil servant in Ottawa who spent a whole year watching for 6 hours a day, yes he was fired but the union got his job back

  34. If there was any Justice in this province, the majority of the players in this government and the previous government would be in jail. My previous posting left out the word porn that he was watching

  35. Here you see why socialist health care is bad. If the government (in the name of “society”) has to sustain the burden of costs due to poor individual choices, such as diet and exercise, then it logicaly follows that the government must adopt the right to tell you how to live, and enforce it, to reduce those costs. In the name of society and fairness and health.

  36. EVERYONE start WRITING LETTERS or EMAILS to Winnie and Turdo about the costs since Turdo was the one whom has told the provinces to get on board and do the right thing, set up carbon tax. Just before the Federal carbon tax is announced this March to start in 2018! Maybe if I was a hospital with high hydro bills send them to Winnie or Turdo, maybe they have enough cash in their accounts. Just a though!!

  37. Get over it fellows (and obviously it’s the usual juvenile rant on here) –
    forget unions, forget salary cuts – the issue is Ontario sells hydro at a cheaper rate to, who all: Michigan,Quebec that I can think of immediately.
    Why, then, do they have to charge hospitals more than outsiders pay?
    That’s the question. Not the hogwash you’re dredging up.

  38. Hmm. Which department was he in? I also have heard about a guy who worked for the City for Toronto. He used a lunch break to commit a robbery. They could not fire him for committing the robbery, but they did get him on lateness coming back from lunch.

  39. Slap Shot, there is some merit to your comment, BUT, the unions hold a lot of power to dictate protocols. As to management incompetence (impotence), you will not get an argument from me on that. But I’v been in lots of union shops when working as service tech., and often as not, unions shops had a very high rate of employee eff ups. Both in Canada and the USA.
    At one place I worked, they hired a millwright who came from Ontario Hydro, the poor dear asked if it ever got slow at our company, my friend and I looked at each other, and then my friend responded to the fool that it was slow and we couldn’t figure out why he was hired. He didn’t last too long, because he had to actually work.
    As to “power” of the unions, they often get fired employees reinstated, and that tends have an effect of management not firing as readily. And then there is a case a company I worked for firing a minority, and the lawyer bills were pretty big, the settlement was costly, and only effective because of advice I gave on the matter.
    And then there are stikes, some companies were I did work, 10- 20 lines operating at $200 – $400 per hour production losses, and the potential lose of customers due to missed delivery dates. When many companies run on JIT inventory, you can’t afford to late deliver and expect to not loose customers. So you can schedule “strikes” by waiting to confront unions, but that often has the effect of putting the legal onus on the company for addressing an issue when the problem has passed, and courts frown on that sort of thing. So there are many hurtles for management, and often they are to lazy and/or stupid to effectively address issues dealing with unions.

  41. My daughter is in charge of 40 economic planners in Ottawa . It took five years to fire a lazy good for nothing employee. Union backed him after countless complaints. Wasted time for everyone. What the hell it is just taxpayer money. .

  42. At one point in January, IESO was exporting power to the grid at -$276 per megawatt. There have been hourly prices even less than that at some points. Biggest problem with the Green Energy Act and it’s contracts is that Ontario is forced to buy power from the “renewable” providers first, before even baseload (ie Hydro and Nuclear), at a rate that can be up to 8 to 10 times what baseload costs. So when they are buying at $0.40 per kilowatt, but the hourly price is $0.00 or less per kilowatt, because of the amount of surplus power, that money has to come from somewhere.
    Government is the only product that constantly increases in cost, no matter what steps are taken.

  43. Absolutely. Does your mill rate ever go down? Growth is supposed to spread the tax base. All it does is create a larger bureaucracy.

  44. Dead on. The thing is it’s not the dead weight they cut – it’s always going to be the staff that is actually doing the things that a hospital is supposed to do.
    gellen – every decision has ramifications. It’s not only about the absurd power prices, but also who loses because of them. How many front line workers vs admin jobs were lost? Did the services to people in need just get better or worse?
    BTW: An administration person has never helped save a life at a hospital.

  45. I choose not take sides in this debate.
    On the one hand, one sees an incompetent government’s policies have cost medical staff and the lives they might save.
    On the other hand, I also see unions and other voters who repeatedly elect the cream of the corrupt.
    Ladies and gentlemen, I suggest that one curl up with the beverage of one’s choice and watch this train wreck.

  46. From what I’ve heard, and it might not have been recent, we were selling hydro to Quebec. Maybe we’re buying it back now.
    When I searched to see, I found a newspaper article dated 2012, and I don’t know if they continued to do so after that date.
    Tor. Star: In 2012, the Council for Clean and Reliable Electricity published a paper stating that Ontario consumers subsidized out-of-province electricity buyers to the tune of $1.2 billion over the previous three years.
    The five neighbouring jurisdictions — Michigan. New York, Minnesota, Manitoba and Quebec.

  47. Gellen, Ontario has never sold electricity to Quebec on a firm contract basis in the last 40 years. Ever since James Bay Phase 1 was completed in the 1970s, Quebec has been a large net exporter, mostly to New England and New York.
    All utilities routinely exchange power between each other on a spot basis, US and Canada alike, but NOT Quebec. It cannot do spot market sales to any other jurisdiction, because it’s out of phase with the rest of North America. Deliveries from or to Quebec can only be done on a firm contract basis.
    The out-of-province subsidy issue goes like this. Ontario is required by its own contracts to buy power from private producers (wind generators) whenever the electricity is produced at 14 cents/kWh. However, that power may be delivered at 3 in the morning when power rates are down around two cents in the US and no one needs it. So, Ontario sells the power to a US utility for 2 cents and charges Ontario ratepayers the missing 12 cents. This invisible 12 cents is buried in ratepayer monthly electricity bills in something called the Global Adjustment Fee. It’s not disclosed but simply buried within the overall power rate you are charged. It is this Global Adjustment Fee which has accounted for nearly all of the Ontario electricity price increase over the past six years.

  48. You have to take sides. It’s your health on the receiving end of this. North Bay closed 60 hospital beds in 2015. Guelph General closed 30 the same year.
    Your health insurance providing you with private or semi-private accommodation isn’t worth a bucket warm spit if the hospital is full up. You’re camped in the hallway.

  49. My father was camped in a hallway in a hospital and nothing has changed since.
    The system has to collapse. It has become too broken to save. No matter what happens, the same incompetent people are in charge looking after the same incompetent people who put them there in the first place.
    Something has to give.

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