Canada may have covered its citizens in poison, but at least they give them health care, too.
I saw Michael Moore’s documentary “Sicko” for the first time last year. I doubted the American government’s allegiance to its citizens around this time.
Yes, Michael Moore succeeded in dissuading me against the idea that health care could be operated by the private sector—sorry, Bill O’Reilly.
But what I found most poignant was the documentary’s focus on U.S. citizens that had volunteered at Ground Zero right after 9/11, helping to find victims and clear debris.
These particular volunteers suffered from debilitating respiratory illnesses caused from inhaling rubble and some developed post-traumatic-stress-disorder-induced bruxism (tooth grinding and jaw clenching), which caused one man to lose some of his teeth.
It was entirely disheartening watching these people cry in confusion about how their government wasn’t compensating them or providing health coverage to take care of illnesses they would have avoided had they not been doing their civic duty.
Nothing about that is fair.
I came across a headline today about the Canadian government using Agent Orange until 1980 to clear large plots of Crown Land in Northern Ontario.
Toronto website The Star reports:
“Records from the 1950s, 60s and 70s show forestry workers, often students and junior rangers, spent weeks at a time as human markers holding red, helium-filled balloons on fishing lines while low-flying planes sprayed toxic herbicides including an infamous chemical mixture known as Agent Orange on the brush and the boys below.”
Workers were “saturated in chemicals” leading to “skin disorders, liver problems, certain types of cancers and impaired immune, endocrine and reproductive functions.”
My first thought was: Wow, Canada sucks. My second thought was: Well, at least the workers have adequate health coverage and will most likely be compensated.
I was right the second time. The Canadian government has given out 3,137 $20,000 tax-free compensation payments to workers or those that lived near the Agent Orange affected zone and were diagnosed with an illness brought on by the chemical exposure.
If you’re an American citizen and reading this you should be pissed.
Canada doled out 20 grand to workers who were already gainfully employed and covered by their “social insurance” system, which all citizens qualify for and receive regardless of preexisting conditions, income or standard of living.
America gave nothing to the unpaid workers not covered by health insurance who volunteered at Ground Zero.
Why is it okay for Canada to take care of its citizens when it screws them during deforestation and the United States not to do the same for its citizens in a situation regarding patriotic humanitarianism?
This isn’t to say that certain sick people have precedence over other sick people, but it is to say that certain governments talk a big game about being patriotic and unified and then get upstaged by Canada.
