The Olympic Debate

I, as I am sure many, or tired of hearing 'proud' Canadians bitch and moan about Vancouver 2010. ENOUGH ALREADY.

An acquaintance of mine had a few things to say in response to some of these people, and while I'd like to take credit for his insightful words, I cannot truthfully admit that I in any way can get my thoughts down into words as eloquently and thought provoking as he can...

Posted by Nitro:

Here's a shot to that woman who wrote that socialist tirade: {in response to some random lady on facebook spouting off her negative feelings about the Olympics in her hometown}

OK, Canada has 2.5 doctors for every 1000 people, and Cuba has 5.9 doctors for every 1000 people. ( I checked her data, and as of 2002, Canada had 2.1 doctors per 1000 people) **** said it best - being a doctor is a very expensive endeavor in North America. Cuba is a communist country - are you following me here? In Cuba, if you want to be a factory worker, your training is free - you go to school, you become a factory worker. If you want to be an accountant, your training is free, you go to school, you become a factory worker. If you want to be a lawyer, your training is free. See the pattern?So, let's take a closer inspection at the data -

http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/hea_phy_per_1000_peo-physicians-per-1-000-people Hmmmm, we're #58 out of 201 countries.

**** makes a good point - doctors are running south of the border - I wonder why that is? Now, I have to do some research here, but I would think that Medical School costs in Canada are either the same price, if not cheaper than the US. In Canada, we have health insurance paid for by the Government. In the US, they have health insurance paid for by the people (or companies) into a company that is interested in one thing - making money. It is far more profitable to be a doctor in the US than it is in Canada. This does not mean that doctors in Canada are living on Kraft Dinner in their parents basements.

How many doctors per 1000 people does the US have, then? 2.3 - good for #58. Does this indicate that there is a shortage of doctors in Canada? Yes. Does this indicate that there is a shortage of doctors in North America? Yes. Can we throw a metric assload of money into doctor salaries to make it beneficial financially to work in Canada as opposed to the US? Yes! Will it make a difference? Fuck no.

OK, so lets get this straight - you're in support of throwing that money earmarked for the Olympics at what, doctors? That will do a whole lot of good. Doctors who are in this world to help people, help people. These are doctors that you see participating in programs such as Doctors without Borders, doctors who live in remote communities, etc. There are doctors that are in this world to make a lot of money. The only thing increased pay to doctors is going to achieve is to hold on to a couple more of those doctors.

Build more hospitals! Great - where are you going to get the doctors and nurses to staff them?!? OK, maybe we can get some more nurses... Did you know that in BC, you can get your nursing school reimbursed 100%? If you work for 3 years in a remote community, the province of British Columbia will reimburse you for the entire cost of nursing school - your student loan will be wiped clean (if you had one). Shit! Free school! We don't need to spend more money there... And I am sure there are programs in place to reduce your tuition for a doctor if working in a remote community.

So, you want money diverted to health care - what will it be used for? The only thing I can think of will be some additional equipment, but that's not going to fix all the problems.

I just about fell off my chair when I read that note about the homeless problem in Vancouver - it is written in such a way that you would think that Vancouver is the only place in the world that has slums! Ever been to the slums in LA? I feel relatively safe driving down through the Downtown East Side at night. I just about called for a police escort through "Skid row" in LA. I stayed in a hotel in San Fransisco that was on the fringes of the bad part of town there. I would wake up, hit the road, and watch store owners hosing piss and shit off the sidewalk in front of their stores. Ever been to Winnipeg? Ever been to the poor part of town? That's really scary... I've seen skid rows in Great Britain, I've seen Skid rows in Germany. This is not a problem that's confined to Vancouver.Throwing money into that area really has to be handled with a great deal of care - as Russ said, a lot of people there did it to themselves. We love to blame the closing of Riverview for the problem, but a couple more factors are at play here - the world is moving away from throwing people in a mental institution to live out their lives dosed on a whole shitload of drugs, all the while living in their own psychoses. Those who are a danger to themselves or others were not thrown out into the street, they were transferred to other facilities, a lot smaller than Riverview. Those who would have difficulty functioning in the world were released with support programs in place. There were a lot of people in Port Moody/Coquitlam/Port Coquitlam who were visibly mentally impaired/disabled, and they did not live in Riverview. I got to see these people on the bus, in the malls, in my neighborhood, working at stores (when possible) - they were more independent, they were happy, they lived a better life than in a 5' by 8' cell, pumped full of drugs. These support programs were in place when Riverview closed, and there are those who chose not to take advantage of them. Those are the mental patients on the downtown east side.

THE PEOPLE LIVING ON THE DOWNTOWN EAST SIDE ARE ON THE DOWNTOWN EAST SIDE BECAUSE THEY CHOOSE TO BE!

I do agree with things like the cost of living and the minimum wage arguments, but government spending is not going to fix that. What do you expect them to do - subsidize wages? There are 6 million people in the province, I'm not sure how many people out of that are working at minimum wage, but I do know this - $1billion dollars sure won't last long. Housing is expensive? Oh hell yeah, but what are they going to do - buy every house that goes on the market and sell it back to people at a cut rate so that it is more affordable? Do you know what you get when you have government built mass-housing developments? They're called "The Projects" take a look at the projects in Chicago, for example - they were a hotbed of drugs, gangs, crime, etc, etc, etc. The Projects got so bad in that city that they were comparable to war zones, and the police had no control over them. Vancouver is an expensive city to live in, there's no way to argue that. But we live in the second biggest country in the world, for fuck sakes. Did you know that you can buy a 2BR, 1000 sq.ft. house in Winnipeg for under $50,000? If you don't like the housing prices in Vancouver, fucking move. Nobody is saying "I'm sorry, but you can't actually live in any other city". People who live here choose to live here, they choose to spend the money to live here, they choose to stay here. They have absolutely no right, in my opinion, to bitch, whine, moan, and complain about how much it costs to live in Vancouver.

Think back to 24 years ago. Vancouver won an opportunity to show itself off to the world. Expo '86. In 1978, when Vancouver was awarded Expo '86, they estimated it would have an operating loss of $8 million. In 1985, a report was published showing that it would have an operating loss of $300 million. There were definitely those in 1986 who opposed Expo '86, but take a look at the history of this city - Expo '86 is highly regarded as a glowing achievement in the city's history. It was responsible for a lot of infrastructure, it was responsible for a lot of immigration, investment, and interest in Vancouver, British Columbia, and Canada as a whole. It introduced a lot of buildings and infrastructure that we use to this day - we have Expo 86 to thank for Skytrain, Science World, Canada Place (an Icon of Vancouver now), Plaza of Nations, and BC Place (another Icon...). The Olympics have cost overruns, too, it cost an assload of money, it could have been diverted to other things. Everybody is right there. Immediately, we know that we got the Canada Line, the Sea to Sky Highway upgrades, a new housing development, which will be sold as low-income housing, the speed skating oval...

There are a lot of people in Vancouver who complain about the Olympics, and I do take a little bit of issue with that. Support for the Olympics is higher in the rest of Canada than it is in South West BC. How does that make us look in the eyes of Canada, if not the world? We were given a gift, the IOC gave Vancouver the opportunity to stand up and prove to the world that we are, in fact, a world city. The world is here, the world has turned it's attention to this little coastal town in Tropical Canada, the world is saying "Show me what you got". What do you want to show them? An ungrateful little city that just wants to be sequestered, and fly under the radar? No, we want to show them a vibrant, beautiful city full of happy, friendly people. It wasn't that long ago that the headlines in the newspaper read "Vancouver - No Fun City". Do you realize the damage that would have been done to Vancouver's world reputation if we had turned around and rejected the offer for the Olympics? Do you realize that damage that you (people who are VERY vocally opposed to the Olympics) are doing to our world image?

Do you love your city? Do you love your province? Do you love your country? This is not just Vancouver's event, this is for all of Canada. Canada is happy it is happening, most of Vancouver is happy that the world is here, the world is happy to be here. I'm not saying you should suddenly become a supporter, but please, we have been listening to your objections for so long now. Shut up, accept that this is happening. If 20 years from now, historians look back and say that Vancouver 2010 was responsible for the downfall of this city, I will gladly listen to you say for 1 week straight "I told you so!".

I said it before, I will say it again - supporter or no, come downtown, even for a day. See what it's like, join the party, enjoy a free concert, watch a free event broadcast on the massive video screens. Yeah, it will be crowded, yeah, it will be a madhouse, but it is sure to be fun. Show the world that you welcome them here, that you are glad to see them, and recommend that they come back! I look back on Expo 86, and remember the roller coaster, the robots, the monorail/skytrain. I look back to a time when it was crowded, when I stood in line for long times, and I realize that it bolstered by pride in Vancouver and Canada. 20 years from now, do you want to remember bitching, moaning, and whining, or do you want to remember celebrating in the streets as Canada wins another gold medal on home soil?