Holy Crap!

The Edmonton Spun printed my letter in context and then fired off a retort that was pre-emptively sissy slapped. Thank you letters editor.

RE: DEC. 27 editorial. Though initially I was lost for words by the exceptionally flawed reasoning of your editorial board, I still thought that I would take the gamble that your basic sense of logic might still overpower your partisanship: The great success in the pilot project was in centring resources on the patient and planning schedules and processes around the patient, rather than strengthening the organization. This could not have been achieved in a private system. You have confused private with arm's-length. For example: CN is private; Via Rail is arms-length. A private organization has one sole responsibility by law - to its shareholders. Government's role has been the focus of perpetual debate and a myriad of ideas. This program personified the idea of the individualist-servant nature of government - that government is not supposed to be about process, but rather achieving individual results. A company trying to make money can never embrace this model, as it would be bilking its shareholders out of their hard-earned investments.

Sean Tisdall

(You put too much faith in government.)

I 'put too much faith in government,' because, by definition, its the only organisation with a mandate to serve the public interest. But any literate reader already knew that from the aforementioned letter. Sometimes, if you complain shrilly (is that even a word?) enough, you do get your way; unless you're a separatist.