Bumper stickers

Some bumper stickers make me laugh. Others make me roll my eyes. Some are controversial, others are offensive. I saw one the other day that made me think.

It said Health care before Olympics.

I never really put much thought into that, odd because I am in Health care, but this really does make sense to me. As you may or may not know, Canada is hosting the 2010 winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler British Columbia.

There were a list of contenders, which was narrowed down to three. Canada "won" the priveledge to host them, then the mad dash began. There is the issue of building at least three new venues from the ground up. They need a new arena to host curling, a main staging area, and other various other buildings to host the athletes and the 25000 volunteers they need. That's right - 25000.
Ten times the amount of athletes they expect in B.C.

This doesn't even include the cost of the Olympics proposal, and the cost of naming the three cute, but expensive official mascots of the 2010 games.

If the Government was thinking, they would have stepped in and stopped the Olympics from coming here. How could they justify the millions of dollars being spent when we have emergency rooms closing, nursing and doctor shortages across Canada, and a tremendous lack of operating room time from coast to coast?

I'm obviously in favor of the whole Health care issue, but I could easily argue for Education, training and development for young Canadians, roads and highways, upgrading sewer and water systems, providing clean water to Northern communities, funding small buisnesses, and so on.
What I'm trying to say is, this money could have gone to people who actually need it.
What does hosting the Olympics really do anyway? It's basically the Olympic big wigs using the different countries as playing cards, just trying to "keep up with the Jones' " by playing host. In all honesty, we're a country that can't afford to host this party.

But it'll look good on T.V.!

That's my soapbox for the day.