No solutions

Re: Efficiency, not choice, Letters to the Editor, Dec. 29 – Jan. 4

Letter writer Margaret Killin-Demello complains stridently about “inadequate” health care. The infamous Burnaby Hospital triage of five patients at the local Timmy Ho’s last year is trotted out, again, as “proof” B.C. is a third world health care disaster. What troubles me about Margaret’s letter is she offers no solutions beyond “more” — and damn the costs. B.C. health care’s nearly $18 billion budget in the current fiscal already consumes fully 42 per cent of the entire $42-billion budget. So if we hiked personal income taxes to match Quebec’s — as much as a 45 per cent lift per capita — we could probably scratch Margaret K-D’s itch. Funny, though. She never mentions an eagerness to hike her contribution by even one soul, nevermind 45 per cent. Meanwhile in the Jan 5-11 edition, astrologist Georgia Nichols invites readers to “Clap your hands if you believe in fairies!” Surely Georgia had Margaret in mind with that column.

W. Baird Blackstone,Tsawwassen