Rating: NNNNN
| The good news: The province is committing $848 million to cover health care workers, hospitals and emergency services affected by SARS.The bad news: Too little too late the deficit facing hospitals even before SARS hit was already $400 million. Hospitals have lost another $100 million in revenue since. At least 600 additional nurses are needed to deal with overall staffing shortfalls in the health care system.And 31 people have died.The good news: The province says it will provide $25 million to help reduce wait times for cancer and cardiac surgeries delayed because of SARS.The bad news: Cardiac and cancer patients are still waiting an average of more than six weeks for surgery after meeting with a specialist. The good news: The province is giving the city’s public health unit $6 million to help cover overtime and other medical costs associated with SARS.The bad news: The unit says it needs $20 million right away, including money for the hiring of 46 new full-time staff.The good news: The province is committing $128 million to a SARS tourism recovery plan, which includes a retail sales tax holiday between May and September on all accommodation and admission to places of amusement.The bad news: There’s no direct cash help for the 12,000 hotel and hospitality workers who’ve been laid off and don’t have enough hours worked to collect unemployment.The good news: The province has set aside $190 million to pay lost wages for health care workers hit by SARS.The bad news: Hundreds of private agency nurses hired to fill gaps are being paid $70 an hour, three times more than the $21 to $31 an hour earned by hospital staff nurses.The good news: The province is spending $5.2 million on the Concert For Toronto June 21.The bad news: The concert’s a one-off, while events that attract big tourist numbers and have many spinoffs – Gay Pride and Caribana – are only getting their regular $100,000 and $350,000 stipends from the province, respectively.The good news: As of Wednesday (June 4), the World Health Organization had not issued another travel advisory following the discovery of yet another SARS cluster.The bad news: The Conference Board of Canada says SARS has already cost Toronto’s economy more than $1 billion. |
