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THE HERALD Wednesday April 10 1M1 Page 11 Opinion Georgetown hospital building healthy relationship Judging from the ongoing publicity campaign by Georgetown and District Memorial Hospital in recognition of its 30th anniversary this year its obvious the hospital is at tempting to build a healthy rela tionship between itself and the community For any relationship to be sound there must first be mutual respect An understanding the hospital has finally realized This assertion might appear to be overly harsh since its made by someone who has never worked at the hospital and only been in volved in the Halton Hills com munity for the past two years Granted I didnt know much about the hospital and its rela tionship with the community before the spring of but I do have an idea of the relationship since then and how it has To put it bluntly until last fall the hospital came across as paranoid Hospital ad ministrators refused to discuss public anthing controversial or that could be construed that way For example early last year I approached the hospital on two separate to write ar ticles one on the future of health care in Hills and the other on the life of a nurse Both times I was requested to submit the ar tides to the hospital for review before they went to press Its no wonder few news items about the hospital were ever initiated by the local press Most coverage centred around photos of cheque donations I realize the- hospital cannot be as open as other public institu since it deals with the health problems of individuals but neither of the subjects I wanted to wnte a story on involved an in health problems The theme running through the story I wrote on health care in the future was the hospital is trying to provide as much are in the home as possible In the second story the message was nursing is a demanding profession that sometimes goes unappreciated Similar types of stones ap peared in the Toronto and other media at the same time I wrote Bens Banter by Ben Dummett my stones I wasnt saying anything new other than pro viding a local angle I can t speak for other people but I have difficulty respecting an institution that t present both sides of a story Since last December there is a new openness at the hospital The man responsible for this open is John Oliver who was an as the hospitals new Ex ecutive Director last December Early into his tenure I inter viewed him about the hospital and potential funding it was to receive from Region He answered all my questions honestly and openly The issue of reading my article before it went to press never arose A more current example con the article appearing in to days paper about the contract the Georgetown Hospital nurses recently signed I telephone Mr Oliver last Thursday to discuss the agree ment but he was unavailable at the time I left a message with his secretary for him to call me and as usual she asked what it was regarding Since I told the secretary it was about the con tract an issue looked upon by many as controversial I didnt expect my call to be returned soon However Mr Oliver returned my call that same day and openly discussed the terms of the contract He even went as far as to say the hospital may not be able to maintain into the future the budgetary surplus expected at the end of this fiscal year This statement may not appear risque to the general public since all institutions are going through tough times However it was this kind of information that was not readily available at the hospital before Mr Oliver arrived on the scene This openness is also being practiced by the hospitals board of directors or least its chair man Graeme Goebelle At a recent hospital board of directors meeting one of the items on the public portion of the agenda was moved to the in camera portion for no apparent reason An in camera session means members of the public and the press cant be in attendance Frustrated with this action I ask ed why only to be told someone wanted it that way But Mr Goebelle took it upon himself to call me the next day and provide an explanation The action initially took me by surprise but after thinking about it for a while in context with re cent other dealings with the hospital I realized it was another example of a new and healthy hospital practice- true openness The coming months will be crucial for Chretien By STEWART Ottawa Bureau Thomson News Service OTTAWA To say merely that the next couple of months will be crucial for Liberal Leader Jean Chretien would be colossal understatement He wont simply be watched Hell be dissected After being out of commission since Feb 26 when a benign tumor was removed from his lung the 57yearold party leader is returning to Parliament witn all sorts of questions swirling over his head In many ways this return is more difficult than last years when as the newly crown ed Liberal chief he came back to a Parliament he had left five years earlier Had the last nine months been easier and more successful for the socalled Shawinigan street fighter there wouldnt be these disconcerting questions nagging him today But this period hasnt been an unqualified success for Mr Chretien as he struggled to regain his footing in Parliament while trying to give new drive and direction to a drifting party Matters were not helped by an apparent policy flipflop on Canada involvement in the Gulf War And there have been other problems not the least of which is the leaders difficulty in to establishing the folksy down speaking style that had made htm so popular as a cabinet minister Mr Chretien was still struggl ing with his style when he was flattened by that tumor GOOD SHOW But not only does he now have to continue re establishing himself in this respect the leader has a new and more difficult act to follow While he was in hospital and then recuperating in Florida the party was headed by Sheila Copps who had built a large following when she ran against Mr Chretien for the leadership last June Under her the Liberal parliamentary caucus came up with a sharp ensp performance She has been leading off the daily Commons question period in a more surefooted manner than Mr Chretien had and her gritty style seemed to inspire the troops around her In other words a difficult per formance for a full time leader to follow This of course is coupled with the inevitable questions about Mr Chretiens health Whenever a politician undergoes surgery and particularly if a tumor is in volved everybody is left wonder ing whether they ve been given anaccurate diagnosis And even though there is no reason to doubt Mr Chretiens own self assessment of his good health he will nonetheless be under the watchful eye of every amateur doctor which includes just about everyone in the coun try Not only his health will be wat ched but his performance along with the performance of his member caucus Then there are the opinion polls After trailing the New Democrats for months the Liberals suddenly shot into the lead last month while Mr Chre tien was away Could his absence be a factor NO SNIPING It should be said here that caucus seems solidly behind Mr Chretien and there have been no serious rumblings of discontent Some MPs still question his wisdom in choosing to he low last summer after becoming leader but thats minor And so is the criticism about his speaking style and the fact that he often seems to have more with English now than he did 10 years ago Youre bound to lose your edge when you re off he political platform for five years says one colleague He s beginning to hit his stride again now If any Liberal MP began snip ing at the leader there would be an angry Sheila to deal with As the partys deputy leader shes a staunch Chretien supporter wholl have no truck or trade with leader killers Anyone who talks about pushing people aside hasn leaned the lessons of what we went through between and 1988 she says This was the period when John Turner spent half the tune pulling knives from his back One problem Mr Chretien might have to deal with however is the often strained relationship between some of his MPs and advisors in his own of fice These advisers particular ly principle secretary Eddie Goldenberg are often blamed for the leaders slow start and the apparent change in his style If hell just be himself says an MP he be fine Over the next few months hell be carefully scrutinized not only to see whether he s fine but to see whether the party is as fine as it appeared under his deputy Mr Chretien has his work cut out Business leaders like trilateral trade treaty idea OTTAWA There already some agreement on a proposed freetrade deal among Canada Mexicoand the United States Business bosses all three countnes like the idea of a trilateral trade treaty labor leaders dont The reasons are clear Businesses see expanded sales reduced costs and higher profits Canadian and American unions expect jobs will be lost to low paid Mexican workers and Mex ican labor chiefs fear exploitation of their members These potentially deal wrecking concerns might be soothed but so far theres little Indication the governments in volved are willing to embrace the solution Its unfortunate that with all the recent about set ting up a North American trade area which would be an even larger economic entity than the European Community short shrift has been given to a social charter that could raise the deplorable living and working standards of Mexican employees The European charter adopted just over a year ago affirms rights of workers in all member countries to fair pay paid leave social benefits union member ship job training health and safe working conditions and other protections Such rights it appears are not to be the lot of Mexicans who reputedly earn as little as 60 cents an hour m maquiladora sweatshops REJECTS IDEA Trade Minister John Crosbie announcing Canadas participa tion in the trade talks last week poured cold water on the idea of a charter We don intend to dictate to Mexico the social cultural or labor policies they should adopt Crosbie said although nothing had been said about dictating Funny When low wage Greeks Portuguese and Spaniards were told of a Euro pean charter there was no sign of them rushing to the barncades to defend their God given right to less pay or poorer working condi tions than those bullying Ger mans French and British Believe it or not a social charter would be welcomed by many Mexican labor leaders In deed Jorge Castenada one of the cntics of the trade policy of Mex can President Carlos Salinas de Gortari has welcomed Canadas role in the talks Canada would help the effort for a social charter he suggested Judging by remarks Ottawa Bureau by Vic Parsons thinks more of Cans than we deserve and he will be sadly disappointed So too will Canadian labor leaders like James president of the Canadian Federation of Labor who has promoted the idea as a benefit to workers all three countnes A social or labor charter could make the idea of North American free trade more palatable to workers who fear loss of jobs This is not a concern to be casual ly brushed off FEAR LOST JOBS Last summer Investment Canada issued a report rioting that Canadian workers worry about losing jobs to a potential partner portrayed as having substandard labor conditions This fear is a challenge for pro ponents of a deal the federal agency said because its easy to point out where jobs are likely to be lost for example in auto parts and textile Unfortunately it is very dif ficult for economists and industry experts to state with any degree of confidence where job op portunities will This iden tical dilemma has arisen with the Canada S pact Many politicians and labor leaders in the S are worried too The Federation of Labor which bases its arguments against a deal on the same fears as Canadian labor hopes to rally enough senators to kill the trade initiative this spr ing before it gets off the ground Theres a vanety of reasons given for Canadas venture into Mexican free trade It would be humanitarian one argument goes to help Mexican workers and consumers True if they are not exploited by low wages Higher incomes and social benefits would help raise their living standards Mexicos 85 million people represent an expanding market for madeinCanada goods a se cond proposition runs Indeed they are wealthy enough to buy our products They must have the money to be good consumers A social charter would go a long way to underpin both these reasons Write us a letter The Herald wants to hear from you If you have an opi nion you want to express or a comment to make send us a letter or drop by the office Our address is Guelph Street Georgetown Ontario 3Z6 All letters must be signed Please include your ad dress and telephone number for verification The Herald reserves the right to edit letters due to space limitations