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Day 190 - Health and Foreign Aid
Jul. 8th, 2012 10:12 pmBut what do these two things have in common, you say? Perhaps nothing. It's only that I started thinking about it today as the Weekend News Report had a looping set of news, one of which was Canada giving 227 million dollars to Afghanistan. Now the money is for good things. Like educating women.
Not enough funding! Can't repair the hospitals! Can't hire nurses! We don't have the funding. This is an ongoing lament in the health care industry. And health care seems to be one of the first places hit by cut backs when whomever happens to be in power decides we need to cut spending. And governments will often say, sorry there's no money in the budget for whatever.
I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.
It's grand that we want to help other countries but I couldn't help thinking... It'd be nice if Canada spent that money on its own citizens. If there's no money to feed, clothe and house our own people, how come we can find money to feed, clothe and house someone else's.
In case you're thinking this is a view that has been brought on by the current events in my life, let me assure you that it is not. I've ALWAYS found it to be extremely weird to donate millions of dollars to other citizens while ignoring our own. In my head, a country lives and breathes as a result of its people. It seems mind boggling to me that a country's first priority would not be to its own.
Not enough funding! Can't repair the hospitals! Can't hire nurses! We don't have the funding. This is an ongoing lament in the health care industry. And health care seems to be one of the first places hit by cut backs when whomever happens to be in power decides we need to cut spending. And governments will often say, sorry there's no money in the budget for whatever.
I'm sure you can see where I'm going with this.
It's grand that we want to help other countries but I couldn't help thinking... It'd be nice if Canada spent that money on its own citizens. If there's no money to feed, clothe and house our own people, how come we can find money to feed, clothe and house someone else's.
In case you're thinking this is a view that has been brought on by the current events in my life, let me assure you that it is not. I've ALWAYS found it to be extremely weird to donate millions of dollars to other citizens while ignoring our own. In my head, a country lives and breathes as a result of its people. It seems mind boggling to me that a country's first priority would not be to its own.
