Opinion: Many facing an uncertain future
By Medicine Hat News Opinon on December 27, 2019.
gslade@medicinehatnews.com@MHNGillianSlade Christmas is over for another year and so are the Boxing Day sales. Some of us are breathing a sigh of relief while others are feeling a little down. The excitement and anticipation is over and there are credit card bills that will soon start arriving in the mail. We are on the cusp of a new year with new hopes, aspirations and also challenges. Politically, across the country and here in Alberta, the economic forecast is not exciting and there are still many people unemployed or under employed. When the person who is unemployed is a parent it affects the entire family. For a period of time after the loss of a job there are unemployment benefits but that does not come close to filling the gap. It takes a big adjustment and even that runs out in the end. The number of people in our community who are experiencing homelessness is double what it was a year ago and Medicine Hat Community Housing Society says we are seeing “the tip of the iceberg.” We are told by politicians that there are a range of initiatives to turn things around when it comes to the oil industry and initiatives for alternative forms of energy are creating some jobs but not enough. There are people working for Alberta Health Services (AHS) who are wondering if they will have a job in 2020. Those in our community who have loved ones with an addiction are also looking for government to announce a program that will provide help. According to a media report Tyler Shandro, Alberta health minister, expects to reveal the report from Ernst and Young about its review of AHS and possible efficiencies. Apparently expanding roles for nurse practitioners are on the cards but that is something that has been talked about for many years. Another review report that is due in December is about addictions and supervised consumption sites. There is no date yet on when it will be revealed to the public. The government allocated $100 million for mental health and addictions plus $40 million for a response to address the opioid issue. During the Second World War the British people faced a very uncertain future too. King George VI included in his Christmas message to the people of the British Empire some advice from a poem by Minnie Haskins. “I said to the man who stood at the gate of the year, ‘Give me a light that I may tread safely into the unknown,’ and he replied ‘Go into the darkness and put your hand into the hand of God, that shall be to you better than a light and safer than a known way.'” That poem is popularly called “The Gate of the Year” but Haskins actually called it “God Knows.” It is very interesting to note that Haskins was not blindly looking for something to ease fear. She studied and taught at the London School of Economics and would no doubt have had an informed idea of the economic outlook for the war years. When the Second World War was over, the people had suffered and were still to go through many years of rebuilding and food rationing but they’d triumphed over Hitler and gave us the world we enjoy today. (Gillian Slade is a News reporter. To comment on this and other editorials, go to https://www.medicinehatnews.com/opinions, email her at gslade@medicinehatnews.com or call her at 403-528-8635.) 19-18
