I do like writing stories on this website for you, dear
reader, but more importantly for myself. It is a way that I can put down how I
feel about something after thinking about it for some time.
Of course, I hope that many of you agree with what I am
saying and, perhaps, I may even be able to change the opinion of some of you
who were opposed initially to what I was suggesting. However, that is not really the main reason
why I am posting comments with my opinion. I just want to let you know what I
believe.
There are all kinds of issues that I write about. Some may
well be important ones for us but some are just matters that have an impact on
me and other members of my family. They are events that impacted us and which I
believe require some public attention. I write about them also because I
believe that they may well have an effect on some of my other readers. I want you to, at least, understand how we
reacted and why.
Here are some new items that have interested me over the
past little while and my comments on them which I trust will interest you as
well.
FORGET ABOUT BUILDING THAT NEW HOSPITAL HERE
I have not written very much on this subject. I do have to
admit that I thought it was absurd about what was being proposed. Nevermind its
poor, proposed location, the size of the new hospital just seemed too small to
me. It seemed like it would be really the only hospital in this entire area. It
just seemed so bizarre to me because its size did not seem to me big enough.
Just think about. It really wasn't all that much bigger than
the 2 hospitals that we already have in the area and yet our population was
growing. Did that make sense to you? I have to admit that I did not understand
what was going on frankly with respect to what was being proposed as our new
hospital arrangements.
I could write a lot about the subject but frankly I did not
see the point in doing so. I never understood at all what was being proposed
because it did not make very much sense to me. To be direct, it was coming to
the point where I never believed that the Provincial Government would approve
anything that was going to be done in the Windsor
Anyway, just to make the point in all of this, here is a
good example of why what is being proposed for the area makes no sense at all
to me. It makes even less sense when one considers that the population should
grow rather dramatically when this new hospital is supposed to be able to
provide its services:
"Ontario is
considering a plan to urgently transform a mothballed hospital site in Toronto into a temporary
source of beds as a result of overcrowded hospital wards, the province's health
minister confirmed Wednesday.
Eric Hoskins said the government is working on a plan to
staff one of the former locations of Humber
River Regional
Hospital to relieve
pressure on acute-care wards across the Greater Toronto Area. The plan could
start in the coming weeks.
The Health Ministry is also considering a similar path with
facilities elsewhere in Ontario.
"We're having a number of conversations with other
hospitals across the province that have come forward," Hoskins said.
"They have ideas and suggestions and proposals of their own."
This comes as the umbrella group representing the province's
hospitals predicts a capacity crisis across Ontario unless urgent action is taken before
the winter flu season…
"We're dealing with numbers in the many thousands, and
so 150 beds I don't think is going to solve this crisis. This crisis has been
building for a long time. You're going to have to have ongoing, sustained
investment in the healthcare system and the hospitals if you're actually going
to deal with this." (Mike Crawley CBC News, September 27, 2017)
It really appears as if the number of people who will be
staying at the hospitals is increasing year round because there aren't enough
beds in the area even now:
"This summer, wait times for patients admitted through
emergency departments hit the highest monthly level recorded since the province
started measuring this nine years ago, according to the Ontario Hospital
Association.
That is prompting fears of significantly longer wait times
and overcrowding when flu season hits."
I have real trouble believing what is now being proposed
about a new hospital for our future. It would seem to me to be a huge waste of
money that would accomplish little. I don't understand why this is being done
at all because it just does not make sense to me.
CREDIT CARD SCAMS
Here is one that I had not seen before and was described on
Facebook. Be careful if it happens with you:
"The caller said that the delivery would arrive at my
home in roughly an hour. Sure enough, about an hour later, a uniformed delivery
man turned up with a beautiful basket of flowers and a bottle of wine…
He then went on to explain that because the gift contained
alcohol, there was a $3.50 "delivery/ verification charge," providing
proof that he had actually delivered the package to an adult (of legal drinking
age), and not just left it on the doorstep where it could be stolen or taken by
anyone, especially a minor.
This sounded logical and I offered to pay him cash. He then
said that the delivery company required payment to be by credit or debit card only,
so that everything is properly accounted for, and this would help in keeping a
legal record of the transaction…
My husband, who by this time was standing beside me, pulled
out his credit card, and 'John,' the "delivery man," asked him to
swipe the card on a small mobile card machine with a small screen and keypad.
Frank, my husband, was asked to enter his PIN number and a receipt was printed
out. He was given a copy of the transaction…
To our horrible surprise, between Thursday and the following
Monday, $4,000 had been charged/withdrawn from our credit/debit account at
various ATM machines.
Apparently the "mobile credit card machine," which
the deliveryman carried now had all the info necessary to create a
"dummy" card with all our card details including the PIN
number."
One has to admit that the fraudsters were quite smart with
their system and were able to work it out to the horrible disadvantage of the
actual credit card owners. Be careful if something like this happens to you,
dear reader! Just don't do it. If you can, you may want to consider calling the
police if you can keep the person in your home until they arrive.
WHY DO THE NEWS STORIES KEEP CHANGING
Oh dear, the media stories keep changing so quickly. You
know the one that I mean these days don't you: permission granted to the
Ambassador Bridge Company to build a 2nd bridge.
Oh sure, I understood that there were some provisions which
required approval before everything was final but none of them seemed to be big
issues to me. Or even to the media people who were reporting what was happening
initially. Sure, it was a big surprise that the Ambassador Bridge Company was
given permission finally to move forward but it also seemed to be final even if
some of their opponents were not very happy.
Take a look at this article by John Gallagher of the Detroit
Free Press on September 7, 2017:
"This week the government of Canada did something I
never thought I'd see — it gave the Moroun family a permit to build a new
bridge linking Detroit and Windsor.
Canadians have feuded with Ambassador Bridge owner Manuel
(Matty) Moroun for so many years over so many issues that a lot of observers,
including me, presumed Canada would never give Moroun what he has sought —
permission to build a new span…
Canada
turned a page this week in its long relationship with the Ambassador Bridge
owners. Will the Moroun name one day evoke more smiles than frowns? As Detroit’s civic motto
says, we hope for better days." (
The Canadian Government explained why it granted this
permission. In reality, who knew when the Ambassador's competitive bridge would
be dealt with in since it was at least 2 years behind its latest closing date:
"The federal cabinet minister overseeing construction
of the Gordie Howe
International Bridge
would not commit Thursday to a completion date, saying it would be
“irresponsible” and put taxpayers at risk by rushing the long-awaited border
crossing in Windsor.
“It would be premature to speculate on a future date,” said Amarjeet Sohi, Canada’s infrastructure minister…
The minister said the original completion date for the
bridge project selected under the former government under Prime Minister
Stephen Harper was “irresponsible” given that very few of the required
properties on the Detroit side were in hand.
Today, roughly 70 per cent of the lands needed in the
industrial community of Delray have been acquired.
“Moving forward without those properties in possession would
have been against the taxpayer interest,” Sohi said…
The minister indicated that despite the bridge project being
nearly two years behind its original schedule.."
Actually, the Government bridge is much further behind the
date when it was expected before. Given what is happening now, I doubt if the
Morouns will be smiling. The story seems to have been changed a bit once again:
"The permit may be in place, but a new Ambassador Bridge could be a long way off.
The bridge’s owners must meet dozens of rigorous conditions
from both sides of the border before their six-lane international bridge
between the U.S. and Canada can be
constructed." (Shawn D. Lewis, Detroit News, October 4, 2017)
And then 2 Canadian Governments Ministers sent this Letter to the Editor of the Windsor Star:
"While the Canada Transit Company’s application was
granted, this in no way impedes our government’s work on the Gordie Howe
International Bridge — work that is well underway.
Under the oversight of the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority,
preparatory work is underway at both the Canadian and U.S.
port-of-entry sites. We are looking forward to the completion of the
procurement process and the start of construction on the bridge next year.
Our government is fully committed to the Gordie Howe
International Bridge
project and has every intention of seeing it through. Prime Minister Justin
Trudeau and President Donald Trump explicitly mentioned this project’s
importance in their statement after their first meeting.
Working alongside our partners in Washington
and Michigan,
we will deliver on this critically important project.
Marc Garneau, minister of transport, and Amarjeet Sohi,
minister of infrastructure and communities, Ottawa" (Windsor Star, October 6, 2017)
Sigh, if that really is tried to start the Government bridge
project, expect more massive lawsuits by the Ambassador Bridge Company in both Canada and the United States
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