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Tories should have asked the turtle

Today, Wednesday, Dec. 8 is my 60th birthday. For those of you who have not yet bought gifts, please just send cash, cheques or money orders. The reason I mention my birthday is because I share a December birthday with Donna Brazile.

Today, Wednesday, Dec. 8 is my 60th birthday. For those of you who have not yet bought gifts, please just send cash, cheques or money orders. The reason I mention my birthday is because I share a December birthday with Donna Brazile. For those of you who don’t remember Brazile she is an American professor, author and political strategist. She was also the first African-American to lead a national political campaign when she served as the campaign chairman for Al Gore’s unsuccessful presidential bid in 2000.

I read a recent article written by Brazile in which she shared with readers the most important lessons in life she had learned from others. One lesson in particular stuck with me, one she entitled “Ask the Turtle.” Years ago, a now-famous female environmentalist was completing her college education and was participating in one of a number of field trips. On one particular trip she discovered a large sea turtle snuggled down into the sand near a busy highway. Fearing the turtle would attempt to cross the road and die in the attempt, she gathered a few friends and after much work, managed to haul this same turtle back to the edge of the ocean. Just as her team was finishing their work, her college professor arrived on the site and was horrified to see what they had done. When he quizzed the lady in question, she explained the busy highway and her fear of the animal’s safety if it crossed the road. The professor went on to inform the team that this was a female turtle and the turtle had likely spent a month crawling from the ocean to the nesting point she had chosen near the highway. Instead of helping the animal, they had, in a few short minutes, wiped out a full month of hard work. The lesson the environmentalist took from this event and the lesson Donna mentioned in her article was ‘ask the turtle.’ Before deciding what is best for the animal, and lending a hand, it’s wise to ask the turtle whether this idea is really helpful or not.

While helping out is a commendable attitude, it’s important we ask the intended target of our help whether or not it really is helpful. The old saying “the road to hell is paved with good intentions” expresses a similar reality. Governments, by their nature and by the usual arrogance that infests the halls of power, are often guilty of deciding what’s best for the populace and then enforcing these visions without bothering to find out if the citizens agree. The health care fiasco in Alberta is a classic example of this attitude.

Take Dr. Raj Sherman, the medical doctor and provincial MLA who had the courage to “tell it like it is.” While Sherman’s comments might have been shocking to his fellow Tory MLAs, it’s highly unlikely that any Alberta resident was surprised with his analysis, as it’s these same citizens who suffer through all of these problems in our health care system on a daily basis.

There’s an old business saying that only the customer can define quality, and it’s an important lesson to remember. While the boss might think quality is great and the employee thinks the same, it doesn’t matter. The only opinion that counts is the buyer’s opinion. Too many elected officials and unelected health care officials have been running around talking about the great quality of health care in Alberta but no one has bothered to ask the customer.

Next time, people, ask the turtle.

Brian McLeod always assumes the quality of his column is terrible. As a result, he’s never disappointed with the feedback.

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