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I have been an adamant critic of the Saskatchewan health care environment and their outsourced business with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) to develop and maintain the Saskatchewan Health Information Network (SHIN). The development of SHIN has been a concerted effort of the Saskatchewan Government, the non-profit Saskatchewan Association of Health Organizations (SAHO), and SAIC.

I never got tired of comparing SHIN to another hole in the ground as Romanow's government continued to shrink Saskatchewan to greatness. Friday I learn that SAIC was involved with the build up of Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD), and as a consequence I am having a sad laugh as I compare SHIN's hole in the ground with SAIC's build up of Iraq's WMD. It is not incidental that the following footnote is reported in many of SAIC's announcements:

"Statements in this announcement other than historical data and information constitute forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause our actual results, performance, achievements or industry results to be very different from the results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements."

I am a bit cynical, and I am more cynical as I think about the ongoing debate about public and private administration of health care. Now listen to these stories:

We had a Romanow's government which was supposed to be a New Democratic government, and this government hired SAIC to develop and manage the Saskatchewan Health Information Network.
We had Romanow to head a royal commission on health care and preach the gospel of public health care and yet he spent a quarter of the commission's $14.2 million total cost for advertising through 42 different communication companies.

The GREED of the Free Market is not necessarily a matter of public and private services. Further, Friday I read Walter Robinson's nth+1 story "Summertime reality TV (Episode 2): Who wants to be a budget cutter?" about smaller governments and lower taxes and I feel a sense of alleviation as this story is accompanied by an entertaining music based on the TV show "Who wants to be a millionaire."

We need more music and less preaching, more intelligence and less rhetoric.

References

Pertinent articles published in Ensign

deSantis, Mario and James deSantis A Historical Perspective of The Saskatchewan Health Information Network, March 1998 http://www3.sk.sympatico.ca/desam/paper-SHIN.htm

deSantis, Mario The Saskatchewan Health Information Network is a Hole in the Ground: Collusion of Romanow's Saskatchewan, SAHO and SAIC May 24, 2002 Ensign

Seal, Cheryl Did David Kay Engineer WMD Evidence for Bush I -and Now Bush 2? July 17, 2003 Baltimore IMC, http://baltimore.indymedia.org/newswire/display/4430/index.php

SAIC Allan J. Clarke Joins SAIC Canada Allan J. Clarke has joined Science Applications International Corporation Canada (SAIC Canada) as program manager for the Saskatchewan Health Information Network (SHIN) project, where he will be responsible for the management and continuing development of the SHIN project. News Release. January 20, 2000 http://www.saic.com/news/jan00/news01-20a-00.html

Saskatchewan Party Caucus Saskatchewan Party Calls Romanow's Media Relations Bill Outrageous News Release. June 23, 2003 http://www.skcaucus.com/news/2003/June_2003/062303.htm

Robinson, Walter Summertime reality TV (Episode 2): Who wants to be a budget cutter? July 17, 2003 Canadian Taxpayers Federation http://www.ftlcomm.com:16080/ensign/editorials/LTE/robinson_CTF/robinsonlist/robinson060/s2_taxCutter.html