OVERTHEEDGE
‘Pebruary 13-27, 2002

Ralph Klein giving a speech

Psoto COURTESY OF Ros VAN ADRICHEM

Former Albertan Premier
Speaks for NMP Trust

SimiRan LEHAL

News Eprror

The 4" Annual Dr. Bob Ewert Lecture was held this
year in support of the Nursing division of UNBC’s
Northern Medical Programs Trust. Hundreds of local
medical community members converged on the $100
per plate dinner, which featured former Conservative
premier Ralph Klein with a keynote discussion on Can-
ada’s health care system.

Ralph Klein, infamous for his brand of straight pol-
ities, was the Mayor of Calgary , for. nine years and
the premier of Alberta for fourteen. His reign saw the
hosting of the 1988 Olympics, the elimination of the

province’s $3.4 billion annual deficit in 3 years, and the
reduction of school afid hospital management boards.
His administration privatized liquor stores and reduced
welfare rates by half, practising a sense of tough love

which brought Calgary and Alberta into vibrancy.

However, he fully admits his major fault: failing to re-
form the healthcare system, which is currently a “state
run monopoly, complete with rationing.” His challenges
for health reformation went unheard under Chreétien’s
watch, the place where “tax dollars went to die.” Klein
condemned Chrétien’s support of the status quo, citing
the twenty-year-old Canada Health Act (CHA) as “the
single greatest impediment to healthcare.”

Klein agrees with the CHA on three aspects of health:
healthcare should be universal, portable, and accessible.
That is, healthcare should be uniform for all, regardless
of residence or age. Yet, he opposes the public admin-
istration of health care and the comprehensiveness of

government health services. He argues for a public-pri-
vate partnership in order to limit the government’s role
and to create more competition among providers — with
the effect that the patient is treated as a customer. At
one point, Klein compared healthcare to buying gas or
groceries: he argued that the government cannot do it
all. His tough love approach to politics was heightened
when he mentioned that just as people buy their own
food or gas, so too should they oy their own health-
care.

However, Klein refutes tus vision as the: adoption of
an American two-tiered health system. Rather, he urges
non-profits rather than for-profits to administer health-

+ care services. Policy making decisions-should be grant-
ed. to, health authorities. rather than to law makers. He

argues that. Canadians need to view health as not a“cost
consuming pac-man” but as a source of green capital

‘for the fature::

His ideas caused applause among Prince George’s
medical community, but are yet untested among the
community at large.

“King Ralph” himself, the man who doesn’t take guff
from anyone, applauded UNBC’s efforts at promoting
a diverse medical program centred on the north, and
congratulated this year’s first-ever crop of 24 graduat-
ing medical students. Although he ran out of time in
the political sphere, he hopes the current graduates will
continue his crusade for reformation, as he made it quite
clear that the current healthcare system is not sustain-
able.

is the
solution
to all

your mat

troubles

FaAKON SULLIVAN

PuoTo/
PRODUCTION
CoorpINATOR

Consider this scen-
ario: you need help
understanding the
terms differentiate
and integrate and you
need to know them
for the math midterm
tomorrow. You find
that reading the book
doesn’t help at all and
you need someone im-
mediately to explain
the process to you. Be-
fore the Mathematical
Academic Center for
Excellence (MACE)

their homework needs
help doing so.

There are, on aver-
age, over five hun-
dred student visits to
MACE per month with
most of them requiring
assistance with their
first year mathematics
courses. Not every-
one is here solely for
mathematics courses.

Others are here to seek .

help with their com-
puter science, physics,
chemistry and statis-
tics courses as well
and each tutor is able
to assist in at least one
of those math-heavy
disciplines. You can

room is being used
often by students. This
still wasn’t enough
to completely satisfy
the administration. To
collect more evidence
to prove the case of
MACE’s _ usefulness
to the university, fund-
ing has been approved
to establish a team to
produce an evaluation
on MACE’s productiv-
ity.

After interviewing a
couple of the tutors at
MACE and the Math/
Stats Advisor of the
Learning Skills Cen-
ter, Vivian Fayowski,
one piece of informa-

As a joint project formed between the Mathematics department and
the Learning Skills Center, this center is the place to go for all your

opened, you would
find yourself in quite
the lurch, but now it’s
easy to help better
your position. Going
to MACE and getting
help from a qualified

on-call math tutor is

the solution:

‘As a joint projest a
formed between the:

Mathematics depart-

ment and the Leariing ©

Skills Center, this cen-
ter is the place to go for
all your mathematical
needs. Whiteboards,
which are often filled
with equations and for-
mulas, line the walls
and a bookshelf filled
with math books sits
in a corner. More often
than not there is also
someone with a green
tie hovering around
seeing if the groups
of people working on

mathematical needs.

also find professors in
MACE helping stu-
dents as well.

Keeping a _ large
foom like this as a
study space isn’t easy
however. As soon as

_ was skepticism among

‘the administration that
MACE. was going to
work ‘as “the center

“was not ‘really ‘well
‘known at the time and

it is located in the new
Teaching and Learning
Building, a location
that is a little out of the
way for students. With
space at the university
getting tight, MACE
still has the possibility
of being turned into a
classroom. To defend
the case of keeping it
open, a sign-in sheet
has been implement-
ed to prove that the

tion really stood out.
They all said that this
center is creating a
new community with-
in the university, one
that develops ‘close-
ness between students
and creates. 'a positive
working environmient.

‘This seems only nat-

ural considering the
open working environ-
ment that MACE. pro-
vides for students.

To put it simply, if
you’re ever caught in
the scenario described
above, feel free to
stop by MACE and
ask anyone for help.
The people there will
be more then happy to
assist you. Just don’t
forget to use the sign-
in sheet.