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Politics : PRESIDENT GEORGE W. BUSH -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: ManyMoose who wrote (280853)	7/26/2002 11:23:16 PM
From: DMaA	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 769667

Stark evidence that the ultimate result of socialism is slavery: July 25, 2002 06:26 PM ET QUEBEC CITY (Reuters) - A desperate Quebec government prepared on Thursday night to pass legislation to force angry doctors back from holidays to ease the chronic staff shortages in emergency rooms. The public has been outraged since an elderly man from the central town of Shawinigan died from a heart attack after being diverted to a hospital about 30 minutes away from home because the local emergency room was closed due to a lack of staff. Ironically, Shawinigan is located in the electoral district of Canadian Prime Minister Jean Chretien. The Parti Quebecois government is hoping on Thursday night to pass legislation that will alienate the powerful doctor federations in the Canadian province of 7.3 million people. Furious doctors demonstrated against the proposed law in Quebec City on Thursday and said it would only increase tensions with the government. They have threatened to challenge the law in the courts and resign en masse. Four doctors working in the Shawinigan area resigned on Thursday in protest. "The government has created a climate of confrontation," said Yves Dugre, president of the Quebec Federation of Specialized Doctors. He said he feared the law could also spark an exodus of doctors from the French-speaking province. Emergency sittings of the legislature were called on Tuesday after provincial Health Minister Francois Legault and the doctors failed to resolve the crisis. Because of budget and administrative problems as well as a shortage of doctors, some urban hospitals are closing emergency rooms at night and on the weekend. The legislation will require regional health boards to provide a list of doctors who can be conscripted to work when needed. Doctors refusing to work could face fines of up to C$5,000 ($3,200) a day. "We want to build a public health sector based on the needs of the people rather than on the job conditions of people working in the sector," Legault told reporters. The legislation would apply only until Dec. 31, the government said. The opposition Quebec Liberal Party charged the law was useless and counter-productive. "It is a poisoned and dangerous Band-Aid that will settle nothing," Liberal health critic Jean-Marc Fournier told a news conference. reuters.com