We have to understand that most of our governmental leaders are phony and in this respect I have dealt with Premier Roy Romanow(2), Deputy Premier Dwain Lingenfelter(3) and his wife Louise Simard(4), Minister of Economic Development Janice MacKinnon(5), and I have dealt at length with Minister of Health Pat Atkinson(6). Honourable Judy Junor(7) is a phony leader as well, and under the questioning of Gantefoer she would babble the related answers provided by the expert: Neil Gardner. I met Neil Gardner back in 1991 when he was Associate Deputy Minister of Health under the Conservative government. At that time I was implementing microcomputer health care payroll in Gravelbourg and I asked him if he wanted a report on microcomputer payroll(8). Gardner replied "I need it yesterday." Later, in 1993, I met with Gardner again and I proposed potential business opportunities in the field of healthcare payroll, accounting and employee scheduling. Gardner replied "wait two three months when the new health care infrastructure will be defined and there will be opportunities for everybody."

As we know, SHIN has been another mausoleum since it was designed, and today, at the legislature, Gardner and Junor have been defending this big flop by saying that SHIN is the infrastructure within which all future new technologies will be implemented, including telehealth(9). In accordance to these experiences, I can define Gardner's leadership in meeting the future challenges of information technologies in these few words "don't do anything today, and do tomorrow what you had to do yesterday."

We have shown in our past articles that health care is mismanaged in Saskatchewan and across Canada, and that our health economists and researchers have been a strong cause of this failing health care system(10). I also pointed out that every province has been implementing health care information networks and I deduced that most of such networks were possibly obsolete systems(11)(12). At the legislature, Judy Junor has been giving the run around to Gantefoer. Junor has stated that SHIN was established in 1997. Yes, it is true, it was established in 1997 as a crown corporation, but prior to 1997 and as early as 1994 Saskatchewan Health and the Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO) had been continuously confabulating and spending an enormous amount of money on the implementation of the health care Information Technology Architecture and the creation of SHIN.

In 1995, Saskatchewan Health stated that the implementation of Phase 1 of the Architecture will provide general efficiencies in the range between $43 million and $106 million annually(13). Also, in 1995, Saskatchewan Health had a detailed timeline of the Health System Architecture Projects, yet such timeline and projects were not maintained(14) and in this respect the Provincial Auditor warned the government that a high percentage of large IT development projects are cancelled, late or over budget(15). In addition, Junor has stated that " we assisted the districts in Y2K preparation so that what they bought was compatible with the whole provincial infrastructure of information technology," and this is the deceptive way this minister is covering up the diversion of money from SHIN to Y2K preparation(16). The mountain of lies is getting bigger and more fragile as more people begin to question the integrity of this government and the integrity of the health care system.

Endnotes

Quote by Donella Meadows "challenging a paradigm is not a part-time job. It is not sufficient to make your point once and then blame the world for not getting it. The world has a vested interest in, a commitment to, not getting it. The point has to be made patiently and repeatedly, day after day after day" ftp://sysdyn.mit.edu/ftp/sdep/Roadmaps/RM1/D-4143-1.pdf http://iisd1.iisd.ca/pcdf/meadows/default.htm

General reference: Articles by Mario deSantis published by North Central Internet News

1. COMMITTEE OF FINANCE, General Revenue Fund, Health, Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, Vote 32, April 12, 2000 http://www.legassembly.sk.ca/hansard/24L1S/000412H.htm

2. Premier Romanow: A Jackass Makes Phony Peace With The Saskatchewan Nurses, by Mario deSantis, August 31, 1999 http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/desam/paper-Jackass-Aug31-99.htm

3. Honourable Dwain Lingenfelter has been caught lying, by Mario deSantis, January 29, 2000

4. A dangerous turn in the history of SAHO: from Hewitt Helmsing to Louise Simard, by Mario deSantis, April 11, 2000

5. Honourable Janice MacKinnon and the NDP Government: Spin-doctoring the Truth, by Mario deSantis, February 21, 2000

6. Minister of Health Pat Atkinson and Health Indicators: "There are lies, damned lies, and statistics" By Mario deSantis, March 24, 2000

7. Technological changes in Saskatchewan health care: an abysmal disaster, by Mario deSantis, May 27, 1999

8. An extract of the paper A MICROCOMPUTER APPROACH TO HOSPITAL PAYROLL, by Mario deSantis, October 24, 1990 http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/desam/paper-MacLeod-Oct24-90.htm

9. A question for Minister of Health Pat Atkinson: How much money is costing Telehealth? By Mario deSantis, March 15, 2000

10. A Partial Diagnosis of Health Care Corruption: The Quality Circle of the Big Brains Includes Our Renown Health Economists, by Mario deSantis, March 9, 2000

11. Healthcare crisis is a crisis of participatory democracy, by Mario deSantis, January 30, 2000

12. Also, refer to: RESPONSE TO DELOITTE AND TOUCHE INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY REVIEW, Manitoba government news releases, February 4, 2000, http://www.gov.mb.ca/chc/press/top/2000-02/feb0401.html

13. Managing Information Technology, Information Technology Architecture Overview, April, 1995, Saskatchewan Health, page 8.3

14. Brief overview of the meeting of July 15, 1996 between Brian Rourke, Chairperson of SAHO, Arliss Wright, President and CEO of SAHO, and Mario deSantis of DigiCare http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/desam/Paper-BriefMeetingSAHO-Jl15-96.htm

15. Report of the Provincial Auditor, Saskatchewan, 1997 Report, chapter 3 page 62.

16. Saskatchewan Health Information Network-SHIN: Ignoring its mandate and diverting money for the Y2K Nightmare, by Mario deSantis, November 3, 1999