The most obvious symptom that a public health system is itself in critical condition is when the Emergency Department of a hospital is shut down!
The Emergency Department! Closed!
Just imagine how the chances of a tragic outcome increase if someone suffers a heart attack, a stroke or a terrible accident … and a closed Emergency Department requires a further journey of a half-hour or an hour or even more to the next closest hospital.
In BC, that terrible, frightening reality is now happening far too often … even in the Lower Mainland, not just smaller, remote communities.
And that’s on top of BC’s already notorious reputation for its lack of family doctors, long wait times to see a specialist and worse, waiting months or more to have surgery, if needed.
The BC government says it is making major efforts to improve ALL those situations. In fact, a few weeks ago, the Provincial Health Services Authority listed a job posting for a new Director of Business Planning … offering a salary range of $118,000 to $171,000 a year.
“This particular role will support BC Centre for Disease Control (BCCDC), the Genome Sciences Centre (GSC), and the Research programs within PHSA. The Director, Business Planning works as a strategic business partner with the program’s Chief Operating Officer and Chief Medical Officer and other senior executives within the program as well as PHSA executives to oversee plans and strategies to achieve organizational goals,” the job posting says.
“The Director, Business Planning is customer focused and interacts at the most senior levels of the health authority recognizing and balancing organization-wide and agency perspectives.” (You can read the full posting here: https://jobs.phsa.ca/job/director-business-planning.)
The job is administrative, developing annual and multi-year budgets, overseeing preparation of financial statements, identifying performance measures, and ensuring the agency meets its financial goals etc.
The qualifications needed for the successful applicant: “A level of education, training and experience equivalent to a professional accounting designation (CMA, CGA, or CA) or a Masters Degree in Business Administration or a related field of study plus a minimum of twelve (12) years of progressively senior management experience within a large complex multi-site organization.”
Seems quite normal. An experienced, qualified professional top level manager to improve the Provincial Health Services Authority delivery of services for British Columbians.
ALL British Columbians!
BUT this is BC … under the NDP: so there’s another bizarre job requirement:
“Demonstrated knowledge of the historic and ongoing impacts of settler colonialism on Indigenous Peoples in social and health contexts, including supported by significant knowledge of Indigenous-specific mandates, including clear understanding of and commitment to eradicate Indigenous-specific racism and discrimination and embed Indigenous Cultural Safety and Humility. Demonstrated knowledge of the historic and ongoing impacts of settler colonialism and systemic racism on Indigenous Peoples within social and health contexts, underpinned by significant expertise in Indigenous-specific mandates. This includes a clear understanding of and commitment to eradicating Indigenous-specific racism and discrimination. Additionally, it involves embedding Indigenous Cultural Safety and Humility, and an advanced expertise and unwavering dedication to engaging with diversity, centering equity, and advancing inclusion.”
What the hell has any of that got to do with hiring a competent financial administrative expert?
And there are more restrictions on who will be hired:
“Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of legislative obligations and provincial commitments within Business Planning contexts found in the foundational documents including Truth & Reconciliation Commission’s Calls to Action (2015), In Plain Sight (2020), BC’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act (2019), United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), Reclaiming Power and Place Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women & Girls Calls for Justice (2019), the Declaration Act Action Plan and Remembering Keegan: A First Nations Case Study, Anti-Racism Data Act, BC Human Rights Code – and how they intersect across the health care system.”
There’s DRIPA again!!! (So much for the NDP amending, reducing, eliminating the damage DRIPA has wrought on BC … or the further dangers it poses.)
Plus, if the NDP government wants to add historical cultural sensitivities/knowledge to job hirings … why not include requirements that any applicant also:
Demonstrate detailed knowledge of how BC and Canada treated early Chinese immigrants; seized properties and incarcerated Japanese Canadians during World War II; turned away Jewish Holocaust refugees, sending many to their deaths; refused to land hundreds of passengers from India aboard the Komagatu Maru in 1914; and, how BC and Canada for decades failed to recognize the trauma suffered by all the relations of those 2 million innocent civilians murdered in Cambodia in the 1970s or in the Armenian genocide by Turkish forces from 1915-17?
The bottom line, of course, is that … by adding political and ideological restrictions to the job posting …I suspect the NDP government will turn off the top qualified, but non-partisan, non-ideologically driven experts/candidates available.
And BC’s loss … once again … will be Ontario’s, Alberta’s and even the Maritimes’ gain.
No wonder health care in BC is in such a mess!!!
Harv Oberfeld
🇨🇦🇨🇦Support Canadian businesses/workers. BUY CANADIAN!🇨🇦🇨🇦
(Follow @harveyoberfeld.ca on “X” for FREE First Alerts to new postings on this Blog.)
Bizarre isn’t the word for this new, but nothing new job requirement. It’s total bulls crap. Bizarre sounds like something we didn’t know about Eby and his wingnuts. Kick the stinking bums out.
Harvey, Harvey, Harvey, doncha know, when you see weird criteria such as these, they already know who is getting the position, it’s just a matter of going through the motions, to make it somehow, look legit.
(Response: It sure looks that way! The special “requirements” are so unrelated to the normal qualifications for a business administrator job, maybe they should have required the applicant have certain initials too!!! 🙂 Ho)
As for the media covering all this. Note Global is cutting back. Every so often one the
Anchors is not there. And the coverage of traffic is no longer done via helicopter. Harv. You should apply to get your job back and head up the News Department….
(Response: No thanks. I’m far too inclined to call out political waste, pandering,incompetence, shakedowns and bribery for what they are. Mind you, I’d bet the ratings would go back up… way up! And so would the advertising revenues! Ho)
Decided to do some digging yesterday on the hypothetical premise that I was qualified to do the job to see how I would handle interview questions related related to colonialism, indigenous racism, UNDRIP legislation and law, and the various mentioned genocides. What I turned through various searches assisting me to prepare the interview is that not only do you have knowledge of these concerns but your modelling, analysis budgets, measuring of performance objectives, and agency goals has has recognize the needs of these special populations, the special responses to health needs, and how you are going to mitigate the past damage done to these populations. Consequently, I am sure when health dollars are as you say are needed elsewhere program costs are increased to account for these special population needs.
(Response: There used to be a time when the NDP believed in true equality of all peoples: that’s when I used to vote for them. When ANY group gets special hiring or spending priority, others by default get less. It’s so clear now that the current NDP leadership and their policies pander only to their preferred base and see the rest of us as just a source of money to fund the favored. Did you hear they spent $100,000 in July to house only one homeless guy in a Vancouver SRO Hotel that was otherwise empty!!! And he’s still there! To include in a job posting any race-based requirement is disgusting! Ho)
On top of all of what you say about the pandering, shakedowns, policies, that sees billions of dollars in special interest giveaways based on this obscene ideological race drven eqaulity imbalance that this government espouses, then how about that Horgan and Ebys 25 year agreement that was implemented behind the something like 95 percent of the vast majority of British Columbians backs that allows for FNs to get 7 % of Casino revenues that supposed to be EVERYONES revenues. That’s around one hundred million per year or well over 3 billion that it works out to be over 25 years. The next qeustion is, how are the casino, especially a couple of the big ones being purchased by FN communities. Does that not just begger a qeustion that should be added into all of this hot pandering topic, and I’m actually a quite surprised this isn’t and hasn’t been an a highly important addition to the conversation that is ongoing. It hasn’t as far as I can tell been mentioned here or much anywhere. The billions alone that must be a huge extra drain on the services for everyone added onto the already obscene losses for everyone because of the money going to such a small minority all because of this insane NDP ideology that really hurting the whole of BC and because of Ebys stupidity in all of this, it actually creates more qeustions abd more divisivness in our society that supposed to be coming together. These idiots are doing just that. So, where back to the Casino revenue qeustion. Where is it and why is it being avoided or maybe it’s just not important as part of it. I’m amazed.
(Response: Most politicians (municipal. provincial, federal) are terrified of even questioning First Nations’ push for more, more, more …more powers, more land controls, more money) … let alone oppose them! Just take a look at the MORE THAN TWO HUNDRED MILLION dollars paid out to search and prove FN kids died (Jagmeet Singh said “murdered”) at Residential schools and were buried in secret graves and yet, not a single body has ever been found, uncovered … let alone shown to have been murdered. But where is the accounting for where/how that TWO HUNDRED MILLION was spent? Is there any other group/organization/community in Canada that could get that kind of money … without detailing exactly where it was spent? I have no objection to hospitals, schools, governments being sensitive to FN history or culture … but when hiring a medical system administrator, REQUIRING special knowledge/commitment to ANY particular political/racial ideological stance should not be part of the job posting! Ho)
Yep,
Look at the cost and delays after Lytton burned.
A small village built on a modern highway wiped out and then the rebuilding delays, year after year after year.
First Nations Archeological “surveys” that cost each owner tens of thousands of dollars and several more years.
Lets see how long it takes to get the homes in Summerland and Peachland rebuilt vs the Reserve homes in the same area that were wiped out.
Question: Do First Nations have to do archeological surveys…on their own reserve land …..or is that just demanded of the colonizers?
NDP= Not Deserving Power.
Lunatics running the asylum comes to mind.
The way I see it in my opinion, a lot of this diversion of massive amounts of the peoples revenues to a particular small group could be found as illegal acts against Brotish Columbia and its population if it were to be deeply gleaned over. I truly and personally believe this government back to the Horgan government with Ebys help have and are carrying out illegal acts against British Coumbia and its people by siphoning off billions in taxes and revenues and without the proper legal transparent processes attached. All the the yellow bellied media is and even many independent media are to chicken turd to say it like it is. I think their to scared to even think it. Disgusting and shameful.
Hardly surprising.
Merritt has fires on 2 sides and their ER was closed, after how many helpings of NDP word salad?
Westside road fire in Vernon was caused by a side by side off road vehicle, an ORV ban comes in a week plus after that ignition, when many of us were calling for such and a backcountry ban during a 1 in 50 year drought???
Wokeism and political correctness (BS by any other description) has ran amok long enough, when can we hire folks based on qualification & past performance?
BC Wildfire is constantly pantsed by bureaucratic protocol & procedure! Loggers & Ranchers get told to stay away so the processes of BC Wildfire can save them????
Friends just saved 4 properties in the Clinton region, told to leave, they stayed & used many tools & much equipment to save their home & structures! All of them had fought fires in the past, all did not obtain s-100 or s-185 training from the govt..
The firefighting knowledge, regional knowledge (some college kid in Victoria only has maps & satellite photos to gain crucial knowledge about a place they’ve never seen or visited), land clearing equipment with seasoned operators, pumps, generators, hoses, nozzles, piss cans & pulaskis, all tossed aside because Victoria, the city dwelling bureaucrats and govt. union hacks can do better?
When Adams lake fire blew up from a college kid backfire choice with strong winds in the forecast, locals were the only reason some Magna Bay & Celista properties were not turned to ashes! The college kids even caused their own fire camp at Skylax to be burned before they even finished setting up!
We need a massive reset in government actions and interactions with rural residents, not any more condescending BS we see now! The bought & paid for media should be defunded, why are we subsidizing Blockbuster News?
Now I’ll get back to helping folks affected by the above listed govt. failures to protect them. If you have an Okanagan vacation booked, cancel & go elsewhere, see you once it’s safe for all. Do not launch your boats on any active water scooped lake either. Thanks
(Response: BC has such serious problems in so many different areas, especially health care, surely any reasonable government (of any political persuasion) would realize it’s time to set aside political ideology and social re-engineering and have an “all hands on deck” hiring campaign… attracting the best and highest number of skilled and experienced workers… without requiring a an Indigy“wokeness” test or pledge. Ho)
Prepare for much worse things to come from the NDP nuts. Give them the vote and you give them the mandate to screw over the people of B.C. Even though Findlay is just pathetically incapable and useless for an opposition leader that we need it doesnt mean she can’t be tossed along with some of the wingnuts with her that ruin a viable opposition we need desperately and possibly a future decent government that repeals, reverses and stops the draining handouts that I wouldveven call some as illegal backroom deals this pak of wild animals signed off on that is taking away so much from all BCers and services for all of us. These people of Ebys troupe are disgusting uncaring ideologically dangerous, disrespectful radically warped a..holes. So, so be it if we got a Conservative or a new strong spined party for all even if it wasn’t all perfect or best fit. Like I said I believe under Eby things will get so worse for the major majority if he or any NDP leader gets another mandate. Ebys torch will just be passed along to torch more services to British Columbians to favour the few.
(Response: Eby is very strong on dealing with the federal government or Trump (I agree with him on keeping their booze off our shelves until we resolve the lumber tariff issue) …and yet, he is so weak and fawning (or ideologically blinded) in dealing with militant First Nations leaders, policies and threats (blockades, financial shakedowns, DRIPA) I believe he has already done terrible damage to BC’s economy and investment climate… and, as this job posting shows, BC’s terribly sick health care system. Just think how many competent, experienced top-rank health administrators, reading that posting re FN woke crud, would choose to look/work elsewhere! Ho)
The NDP, you just got to love’em; blunderers in blunderland.
For the life of me, I just cannot understand how the party is both ossified and obtuse to the electorate.
Stupid is as stupid does; a cliche for a political party that has become a political cliche in ineptitude.
Sadly, the BC Conservative party, equally ossified and obtuse, continues to out stupid the NDP.
Where is that third party?
(Response: This job posting is a gift to the Conservatives/Opposition! It pushes so many buttons to draw reaction from the electorate. Where is the leader Kerry-Lynne Findlay??? Where is their health critic? And, again, where is the BC media? Ho)
I think count Binface still makes more sense than the NDP and/or the Conservatives.
Hell I have not seen my doctor before to the pandemic… only by appointment via the phone … the system is sick … needs someone who can really put it all back together … where are the leaders of the other political parties … sleeping ?.. think so
Sadly….You nailed it again Harv!!!
(Response: Just imagine what the old, venerated BCTV would have done with this story! And if the NDP government faced a REAL Opposition party too. Ho)
The hoops dept?
Fodder for Findlay to feast on.
(Response: The job posting came out in July; I’m surprised Findlay and the Conservatives (the BC media too) haven’t been all over it already! Ho)
Well, if the BC NDP are going to give all the land back to 1st Nations….let the 1st Nations put their own ad out for a Health Care Administrator.
Totally off topic.
I just started to watch the 6pm Sunday evening Global BC News Live.
It wasnt broadcast from BC.
It was a National News report from Toronto.
When did they start doing THAT?