In Ottawa, a spokesman for Health Canada said the federal government welcomed the WHO analysis as exactly the kind of "report card" that Allan Rock, the federal Health Minister, has been advocating for years(2). Health Minister Pat Atkinson said that the WHO survey may also prove the point that quality health care is not just about more money(3).

Again, I am smiling with sadness realizing again and again about the lack of common sense of our leadership. The first responsibility is to clean up our home, yet we delegate this responsibility to outside agencies, that is we have to look at our neighbours' homes to see if our home is clean enough! This demented mentality of our leadership reminds me of the precarious situation of our provincial universities and to the final realization that the University of Saskatchewan is lagging behind just because it was ranked 14 out of 15 Canadian universities by a survey conducted by Macleans's magazine(4).

Again, this demented mentality has been the major cause of our health care problem, here in Saskatchewan, when for example the provincial health districts are ranked by Saskatchewan Health in accordance to their utilization of their resources(5), when this ranking is the motivating factor for stimulating competition and streamline health care services across the province, when this ranking occurs in the absence of sound accounting practices and market competition, and when this ranking occurs at the time the health districts break the law by posting operating deficits!

We have been talking for sometime about the value of statistics, and how this government is delegating its responsibilities to researchers. In Canada, we have been playing the black and white research game between public and health care(6)(7), now, in Saskatchewan, we have Mr. Ken Fyke's year long and two million dollar review of medicare(8). Statistics don't tell us all the stories of our problems and challenges. In the absence of our own responsibility, there will never be a statistical study which is going to provide a fix to our health care crisis. Our health care crisis is not one man's problem, and it is not going to be solved by giving two million dollars to fatten the expenditures of Mr. Ken Fyke. Dr. David Cassidy's studies on no-fault insurance cost over a million dollars and it has proven that he is a cheater, that our University of Saskatchewan is an accomplice cheater, that the Saskatchewan Government Insurance (SGI) is a cheater, that our government is a cheater(9)!

I tell you what some people have been saying about WHO's ranking of the health systems(10), that France and Italy have the best health systems for the simple reasons that their populations have better eating habits(11) and they drink the best wines in the world(12)! I am sure that this remark makes you laugh, and certainly you must laugh as you must laugh at all statistics provided to us without any relevant story(13). We must not be worried about Canada's report card by WHO. What we must worry is about what is happening at home. In the last two weeks, we have received the news that pathologists(14) and pediatricians(15) are leaving the province in bulks, that the Health department is missing the deadline for approving the districts' budgets(16), that some health districts are penalized just for doing a better job than others(17), that hospital beds are being closed because of staffing shortages(18).

Honourable Roy Romanow and Honourable Pat Atkinson, you don't have to look at Canada's report card by the WHO to have a wake up call. You had ten years to wake up and instead you chose to be cozy and covered up in the bedrooms of the province for all of these years(19). Now, I kindly tell you that your research games and your continuing lying are spilling out all over the world and that it is time for you and your friends to move aside and take some fresh clean air, for your health care and of course, for our own health care as well as for the Canadian and Saskatchewan health care.

References & Endnotes
We must break down Premier Roy Romanow's myth that the system is more worth than individual rights. The law and order mentality of our justice system for protecting the individual rights of Saskatchewan people can be summarized by Serge Kujawa's statement made back in 1991 "It doesn't matter if Milgaard is innocent... The whole judicial system is at issue-it's worth more than one person." Serge Kujawa is a former prosecutor and colleague of Premier Roy Romanow.

General reference: Articles by Mario deSantis published by Ensign

1. Canada's health system ranks 30th, by Marc Kennedy, The StarPhoenix, June 21, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

2. Canada No. 30 on health: study. Behind Cyprus, Morocco: Report described as 'part science and part prognostication', Mark Kennedy, Ottawa Citizen, June 21, 2000 http://www.nationalpost.com/printer.asp?f=000621/323527

3. Cash not cure-all for health care, Atkinson says, by Murray Mandryk, The StarPhoenix, June 22, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

4. U of S ranks 14 out of 15: Why not being the best of yourself! By Mario deSantis, November 12, 1999 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/desantis82/UofS-Nov12-99.html

5. The need for a management accounting system to address the current problems of accountability and performance in Saskatchewan Health Reform, by Mario deSantis, June 1995. A relevant excerpt of the paper "the utilization rates of resources and the related ranking of the districts do not provide valuable information to assist DHBs [District Health Boards] in redirecting their resources"

6. 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 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis135/DeclineHealth.html

7. Private sector has a role in health care, Madelaine Drohan, Globe and Mail, June 21 2000 http://www.globeandmail.com/gam/ROBColumns/20000621/RMADD.html

8. The Commission on Medicare: Another expert, another vision, and another number, by Mario deSantis, June 14, 2000 http://www.ftlcomm.com/ensign/desantisArticles/2000/desantis181/healthcarecommission.html

9. Refer to the detailed documentation of the No-Fault Insurance review by The Coalition Against No-Fault, Box 24007, 240 Albert Steet, Regina, Saskatchewan S4R 8R8, (306)546-4424, coalition@dlcwest.com http://www.angelfire.com/nf/coalitionagainstnf/

10. WHO is losing ground to the plague of statistics, Brad Evenson, National Post, June 21, 2000 http://www.nationalpost.com/printer.asp?f=000621/323580

11. The health of nations, Economist, June 24-30 2000. Observation by Julian Le Grand of the London School of Economics.

12. This observation that France and Italy have the best health systems was made by my son Eric as I talked to him about the WHO's ranking of health systems (Saskatoon: June 25, 2000)

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

14. Pathology in critical condition: doctor. Resignations further burden system, West says, by Jason Warick, The StarPhoenix, June 10, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

15. Prognosis grim for pediatrics. Long shifts driving more specialists out of province, by Jason Warick, The StarPhoenix, June 19, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

16. Health dept. misses deadline on district deficit plan, by Murray Mandryk, The StarPhoenix, June 22, 2000, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan

17. Prince Albert health district half a million in the red, CBC Saskatchewan http://sask.cbc.ca/ Web Posted | Jun 22 2000 7:50 PM EDT

18. Climax health centre closed on weekends, CBC Saskatchewan http://sask.cbc.ca/ Web Posted | Jun 23 2000 6:47 PM EDT

19. 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