Aug. 2: Eight murders. Accountability? Plus other letters to the editor

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Letters to the Editor should be exclusive to The Globe and Mail. Include your name, address and daytime phone number. Try to keep letters to fewer than 150 words. Letters may be edited for length and clarity. To submit a letter by e-mail, click here: letters@globeandmail.com

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Eight murders. Accountability?

Re Inquiry Says No Individual To Blame For Failure To Stop Wettlaufer’s Killings (Aug. 1): As a researcher on long-term care, I was delighted to see the emphasis on systemic issues in the Gillese report on the murders of eight Ontario nursing-home patients.

However, we have lots of research establishing what minimum staffing levels we need. We do not need the recommended year-long study. What we need is the political will and financing to implement the research. Putting glass doors on the medicine room will do no good if there are no other staff to look through the glass.

Few would object to more training to keep up with resident needs or to an improved selection process, but they mean little if there is a shortage of people willing to work within the current pay and conditions, as is the case now.

Moreover, we need to pay more attention to food and clothing, as well as to the ownership of homes and the amounts of public money that go to profit rather than care.

Pat Armstrong, principal investigator, Re-imagining Long-Term Residential Care. An International Study of Promising Practices; Toronto

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I find it hard to believe that the role the Ontario Nurses Association played in this case was outside the scope of Commissioner Eileen Gillese’s report. While the trial was going on, it was clear to me that several of the supervisors in more than one nursing home wanted and tried to get rid of Eliz-abeth Wettlaufer. It was also clear to me that the supervisors probably gave up in frustration, given the support offered to this nurse by the ONA, which grieved her suspensions and eventual firing. The ONA’s role should be front and centre in this report.

Howard Bargman, MD, Toronto

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I could not agree more with André Picard’s column, The System Failed To Prevent Eight Murders. The Inquiry Failed By Not Holding Anyone Accountable (Aug. 1). I was amazed the inquiry ended up blaming the system. We now have hard evidence that when it comes to oversight for any large multi-faceted system, the “buck” doesn’t stop anywhere any more.

Marianne Orr, Brampton, Ont.

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André Picard says the inquiry found it was “nobody’s damn fault.” The long-term care system is made up of people and organizations – it is not, as Mr. Picard says, anonymous and amorphous. The commissioner identifies the major stakeholders by name and holds each to account, individually and collectively. She identifies individual shortcomings and makes specific recommendations requiring changes by the named stakeholders.

Importantly, she identifies the changes that need to be made collectively, which is the true meaning of systemic vulnerabilities. Not amorphous and responsibility free – clearly identified problems with clearly identified solutions with responsibility clearly placed on identified stakeholders in the long-term care system.

Elizabeth Hewitt, senior commission counsel, Public Inquiry into the Safety and Security of Residents in the Long-Term Care Homes System; London, Ont.

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“Assigning blame to individuals or organizations is counterproductive,” writes commissioner Eileen Gillese. Seriously? That is exactly what she should have done. Without that, how do we move forward? Not with trite recommendations to study staffing levels. To borrow a word from André Picard, “damn” disappointing.

Hannah Campbell, Winnipeg

DPA advantages

Re Canada Shatters Myths Of White-Collar Crime (July 30): David Montero praises Canada’s prosecution service for its “resolve” in refusing to offer deferred prosecution agreements (DPAs).

While the OECD does highlight that DPAs potentially contribute to rebalancing negotiating power from the government toward corporations, more nuance is necessary to unpack the advantages of DPAs in certain situations:

- Unlike the United States, the Canadian statute requires that offered DPAs are judicially approved. This check mitigates the rebalance of power between prosecutors and corporations;

- The OECD recognizes that all 44 parties to the Anti-Bribery Convention successfully use DPAs;DPAs incentivize corporations to self-report bribery and “come in from the cold.” Prosecutors receive divulged information, which otherwise might never have been discovered;

- DPAs protect innocent employees – those who were neither party to nor complicit in the bribery – from being harmed by the company’s debarment.

Kenneth Jull, witness before the Justice Committee on remediation agreements; Gardiner Roberts LLP, Toronto

Med-school diversity

Re Medical Schools Make A Push For Diversity (Folio, July 30): The criticism of quota systems is that they stigmatize the favoured group, or are skewed to equality of outcome (a questionable goal), rather than equality of opportunity (a legitimate one). So my gut reaction to the University of Manitoba’s medical school admissions policy was skepticism.

But on reflection, I support it.

Disadvantaged applicants do not have equality of opportunity: From the beginning, their academic careers have never operated on a level playing field. Also, they bring life experience to the profession that is of great value.

I was white, male, upper middle class, urban, and Canadian-born. In retrospect, the accident of birth had its finger on the scale when I applied to medical school.

Brian P.H. Green, Meds ’81 (Queen’s University); Thunder Bay, Ont.

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Do the powers-that-be not realize that selecting medical trainees on the bases of socio-economic criteria is foolish – not to say inequitable? Just as you don’t want to sideline a young Wayne Gretzky or Gordie Howe vying for the big leagues, you must not victimize those who have the chops for med school. Merit alone must rule.

Wayne Eyre, Saskatoon

Cheap debt is still debt

Re When Ottawa Can’t Afford Not To Borrow (editorial, July 31): You say money has never been cheaper, and government should be borrowing to fund various projects. I suggest it would be more responsible to pay down the debt.

At some point we will need to borrow: Emergencies happen and economies do not grow indefinitely. We should put ourselves in a position that allows us to borrow cheaply when it is necessary.

It’s easy for democratic governments to borrow and hard for them to balance the budget. We should resist the temptation to borrow just because it’s easy.

Jeff Breukelman, Richmond Hill, Ont.

Hmm …

Re Infrastructure Bank Executive Resigns After 10 Months On The Job (July 31): I know nothing about the Canada Infrastructure Bank and its frustrated executive, but as a former civil servant, I do know this: Working for government is like being chained to the oars of a Roman galley for 30 years and discovering, on release, that you’ve been in dry dock the whole time.

Wayne Yetman, Toronto

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