Bear with for a moment while I tell you story about a recent Regina complaint that you will either find mildly amusing or downright irritating.
It offers us a lesson on why a government's hasty decisions and a lack of long-term vision inevitably have consequences in the end.News that the Saskatchewan Party government is getting serious about a helicopter air ambulance service similar to Alberta's Shock Trauma Air Rescue Service (STARS) has some Regina residents griping. At issue is the noise and potential safety concerns.
The problem is that both Regina hospitals are located in or near dense city residential neighbourhoods. Those living closest to the General Hospital are particularly concerned because the General has the bigger trauma unit and is the most likely recipient of the landing helicopters.
While some might view noise concerns as a petty concern _ especially when weighed against the critical service the helicopters will provide _ one gets why it would be a concern. Even if emergency helicopter flights are only a couple times a week, that's still a lot of noise disruption for anyone's home. Adding to concern is the safety concerns that, God forbid, something should happen to a landing helicopter.
Many would view this as excessive worrying, but it's worth noting that the Regina's new Harbour Landing subdivision south of the airport is prohibited from having a school because it is considered too close to the landing and takeoff flight paths.
Moreover, there are also mounting concerns about the logistics and costs of a helicopter pad on an aging and reconstructed facility and renovated facility like the General Hospital. Regina residents are already grumbling at the pricetag. And even if the landing pad is on the ground, it will take up parking space that's already sometimes non-existence in the General Hospital area.
Now, rural residents may have little sympathize for Regina residents' concerns. Again, the critical service the helicopters will provide to half a province simply must outweigh the comparatively minor annoyances and petty grievances.
Besides, a lot of rural residents who watched their hospitals "convert" into wellness centres 18 years ago, will have even less sympathy for those who complain about hospital services virtually at their doorsteps.
But it's about here where the issues of hasty decisions and a lack of long-term vision come into play.
Accompanying the closure of those 52 rural in 1993 came the closer of the Plains Health Centre in Regina. The Plains _ since renovated a great expense into the new the home of the SIAST campus _ was located on the outskirts of the city. This not only made for ease of access for those coming in from out of town _ it would also have made for ease of access for a landing helicopter.
Had the then NDP government chosen to instead keep open the much newer Plains (it was built in 1975 compared with the last the General that was built near the turn of last cen tury) it would have avoided the massive renovations and massive cost overruns at the General. It also would have avoided any debate related to the helicopter.
But the NDP government that closed the Plains in 1993 clearly lost the long-term vision that the NDP government had when it built the Plains 18 years early.
Now, some will fairly argue that the real failure to pre-plan occurred when the previous Grant Devine Progressive Conservative administration ran up the debt and forced the then Roy Romanow government into making such difficult choices. This is true and it should be a reminder to today's Saskatchewan Party government that's also on a bit of a spending spree of late. We should never lose sight of the consequences of overspending.
But this argument only underscores why governments need to think ahead.
The consequences of their hasty choices are inevitably felt in the years ahead.
Murray Mandryk has been covering provincial politics for over 15 years.
