WCR Letters to the Editor

Jonson puts on his own spin

He states, "The bill bans private hospitals from operating in Alberta in clear terms." Then he states, "It offers health authorities the option, under tight conditions, to have small and specialized private facilities provide some minor surgery provided there is a proven net benefit to the health system."

Sounds pretty benign, doesn't it? If there are only going to be minor surgeries. He does not explain why we would ever need extended overnight stays or why they are so determined to keep that clause in the bill.

Jonson said he is putting money back into the system and he is. This money may not even be keeping up with population growth.

It in no way replaces the money taken out of the system by the major cuts.

When the major cuts were made, we were again given a distorted view of health costs. If they had quoted the per capita costs barring inflation, there was no increase. The increased spending was because the Alberta population has been increasing.

Premier Ralph Klein implied recently that it would be cheaper to rent in the long run, rather than build facilities. If that were true, no one would buy their own homes.

In the beginning it would make his budget look good.

Fifteen to 20 years down the road when we have nothing to show for all the money laid out, will it look like a good deal then?

I think not.

Helen Lindsay
Red Deer

Abortion is slavery issue of today

Over 100,000 Canadians are murdered by abortion every year in their mother's wombs and polite society urges us to remain silent like the vast majority of German Catholic laity, priests and bishops in the 1930s and 1940s when Jews, gypsies, Poles and the mentally and physically-handicapped were led to their cruel deaths.

Well, I for one will continue to follow and obey our Holy Father, Pope John Paul, shining light for pro-lifers and people of good will everywhere, who continues to exhort us not to give up, to keep speaking up for the unborn and now the aged who are murdered by euthanasia.

Many governments in Canada on the local, provincial and federal levels fund and I daresay promote the culture of death by funding the Morgentalers with tax dollars, the schools with lurid sex education and the hospitals with abortions and sterilizations.

If Canadians do not bring this culture of death to a halt (and all Canadians of good will, whether Christian, Muslim, Jew, Mormon or atheist are duty-bound to do just that), maybe we will witness in our lifetime the breakup of Canada as punishment for our sins and yes, maybe a civil war that follows.

America had a civil war before she was 100 years old from 1861-65 in part because of slavery. Abortion is the slavery issue of our day, a very divisive issue, an issue pro-lifers won't let go away (not as long as there's breath in our bodies) and one that Mother Teresa once said might lead to nuclear war.

So, keep praying your rosaries to end abortion, little old ladies and men and children. God bless you, we hear you, God and Our Lady hear you and I promise to do my duty towards our unborn brothers and sisters.

Gerard Liston
Edmonton

Silence broken on sexual abuse

In the seven years he was in the Edmonton Archdiocese teaching, he also assisted in rural parishes where he continued to molest boys, to which he confessed. In Edmonton no charges were laid and he was gone from Edmonton in 1983.

With the Swales family speaking out publicly regarding the years of their sexual abuse perhaps those molested in the Edmonton area will be encouraged and strengthened to come forward, to put this evil of sexual abuse and molestation behind them once and for all, allowing the victims to move From Pain to Hope*.

The question is, how many more victims must there be before something is finally done to eradicate this evil leading to Breach to Trust and Breach of Faith*?

(*CCCB Publications, 1992).

J.P. Hecker
Edmonton

Papal visit bound to have far-reaching effects

There is no doubt that Pope John Paul's visit in the Holy Land is having far-reaching effects on both the religious and political world.

Pope John Paul has given new life and new meaning to Jesus Christ's authority on Peter's rock (Matthew 16:15-19) to bind and to loose.

When we realize that Pope John Paul's visit to his homeland Poland, started the movement that brought down the mighty Stalinist Soviet Russia, one can only wonder if the pope's visit to the Holy Land will bring about greater unity among the world's great religions that have their roots in the Holy Land?

Whatever the outcome, I believe Pope John Paul is preparing the way for Jesus Christ's Second Coming.

Isolino Gagliardi
Peterborough, Ont.

Jonson's private clinics are really hospitals

He states in part 1 - The first line of the bill bans private hospitals from operating in Alberta in clear and distinct terms. 2 - To have small and specialized private facilities provide some minor surgery.

Regardless of what you call them, a facility that requires an overnight stay is a hospital under the Canada Health Act. Minor surgery does not require an overnight stay.

Kenneth Curry
Sherwood Park

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