The last skewing comes from Honourable Judy Junor, Associate Minister of Health. The first time Judy Junor opened her mouth was when she defended her government's back to work legislation against the nurses. Judy Junor is a former president of the Saskatchewan Union of Nurses (SUN) and in this occasion the nurses recognized her true colour and labelled her Judas Junior(5), Honourable Pat Atkinson being the Minister of Health. Today, Honourable Judy Junor has come to know from a new study that the province's 1997 infant mortality rate is the highest of any other province at 8.9 per 1,000 live births and has stated "Infant deaths in our province are unacceptably high... The good news is number of infant deaths decreased by 34% from an average of 175 deaths per year between 1982-86 to 115 from 1992-96... However the rate of decline slowed and this is a cause of concern." I don't want to digress on Judy Junor's skewed statistics and related wording crap, it suffices to say that in accordance to a previous study by Richard Plain, Professor at the University of Alberta, our provincial infant mortality rate has increased from 7.3 deaths per 1,000 live births in 1992 to 8.5 in 1996(6).

We want to teach a lesson to Judy Junor, and we want her to learn this lesson as well, as a consequence we remind Honourable Judy Junor that the truth is not found in absolute numbers or things, rather the truth reveals itself in the form of patterns and relationships(7). Therefore, we must not emphasize the average of 175 deaths in 1982-86 versus the average of 115 deaths from 1992-96. What we must care is the fact that the infant mortality rate has been increasing steadily between 1992 and 1997, that is the most important health indicator is immediately telling us, without reservations, what we have been saying for a long time: this government has skewed health care as well as everything else it has touched!

References & 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 Ensign

1. Government Mistrust in Saskatchewan: The Continuous Saga, by Mario deSantis and reviewed by James deSantis, June 4, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis177/Mistrust.html

2. Honourable Janice MacKinnon and her rolling economy in Phonyland, by Mario deSantis, May 8, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis167/onaroll.html

3. Governmental coalition in Saskatchewan: A private contractual deal at the expense of the electorate? By Mario deSantis, October 4, 1999 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/desantis71/GovContract-Oct04-99.html

4. Governments must stop serving themselves and their friends, by Mario deSantis, February 13, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis116/governmenttrust.html

5. ROMANOW'S LEGACY: MORTGAGING THE FUTURE OF SASKATCHEWAN, by Mario deSantis, April 25, 1999, 7:00 AM http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/desantis50/Apr25-99.html

6. Do we need further specialized researches in Saskatchewan health care? By Mario deSantis, May 20, 1999 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/desantis54/resarchquestion.html

7. The misuse of Statistics as a scientific tool, by Mario deSantis, January 18, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis99/StatsSurvey.html