Well she deserves every penny. Waiting lists are getting longer and longer and more people can't get a family doctor. Kudo's to you Northern Health boss.

"More people can't get a family doctor"

How is she supposed to control the willingness of doctors to move to Prince George so they can start a family practise? Would that not have more to do with our city leaders making PG an attractive place to set up shop?

I see, so now it's the responsibility of the mayor and counsel to get doctors to stay in PG. Then she is being overpaid.

It's really nobody's "responsibility". For the most part, doctors are business people. They will set up and operate their business where they want to live. If not enough of them want to live and practise here, there will be shortages. Simple really.

A ridiculous salary IMO!!

We will all be bankrupted soon anyways...

In Canada over 2.5 million people receive some sort of government pension. Typically government pensions are 2/3'rds of the employee's top annual salary for the rest of their life adjusted annually for inflation.

Northern Health CEO will thus make roughly $200,000 annually after she retires adjusted for inflation for the rest of her life. Future generations will be on the hook for these legacy costs... the dwindling private sector can never hope to catch up to the guarantee of a tax payer funded salary and pension... the private sector is going bankrupt just like GM and Air Canada did with their legacy costs. We can't simply just print more money either to make it all go away, because these guaranteed pensions are indexed to account for, and thus provide immunity to the monetary inflation tax.

Mark these words... it will be the pensions of these kinds of outrageous civil servant salaries that will kill health care, EI, CPP, and all the other services government provides once the entire tax revenue is used up for these legacy costs and interest payments. Increase taxes to try and make up for it and tax revenue will decline so that is not going to be the solution either.

IMO the most important thing government needs to do in the next five years is not to think about how they can engineer us out of this current recession, but rather how are they going to address this ticking time bomb on the foundation of our entire civil service? How can they fix this before its too late... or is it already to late... IMO it is we just haven't yet recognized it for what it is.

Time Will Tell

BTW to provide a similar pension as what the Northern Health CEO will be entitled to would require a person in the private sector to have saved over $4 million dollars in RRSP's... so where is the government investment of $4 million dollars to account for the legacy cost of this single pensioner? People don't realize it but when we look at a civil servants renumeration it is but only a fraction of their real cost to tax payers. For example a CEO that gets a $30,000 annual salary raise (10% seems to be the norm these days for them).. this isn't a new $30,000 expense for the tax payer, but rather more likely a $2 million dollar liability over the life of the employees employment, and then their retirement years until death of the employee and their spouse.

IMO we are bankrupt already we just haven't recognized it yet.

Dang! I shudda staid in skool! Then I could make that kind of money too.
metalman.

It bears repeating again, our Prime Minister earns about $300,000 a year? Why is Cathy worth as much to BC taxpayers as our Prime Minister?

http://www2.parl.gc.ca/Parlinfo/Lists/Salaries.aspx?Menu=HOC-Politic&Section=03d93c58-f843-49b3-9653-84275c23f3fb

Why is a soldier, a policeman, a fireman a prison guard, etc... who could die protecting us worth so much less to taxpayers?

These politicians and bureaucrats wine, dine and sign their way through life. You could replace all of them with a magic 8-ball.

It's our money, we deserve answers. People can talk all they want that we need to attract and retain qualified people, but the fact is that if they weren't here they would very likely be in a job paying much less, that just might require actual work.

Look at what they don't do for such high pay!

The real problem is the scum that are utilizing the health care system to their benefit ie IV drug users who are there due to self inflicted wounds/injuries and take up the beds and the time from nurses wanting more drugs. Maybe the system should have a haul over where if anyone that comes in with a self inflicted wound or an injury created in the act of criminal behaviour should be billed for there services. This would shorten their stay and in turn free up much needed beds so tax payers who need real care for serious conditions can receive it. If you want to see a joke just hang out front the hospital and watch what happens.

I think we ought to also be concerned with the layers, and layers of management that have been created in place of on the ground staff for programming and let's also talk about the exorbitant costs of the "consultants" they bring in to do the work of management.

One really has to wonder if someone forgot to build in accountability when health care was regionalized in BC. It was supposed to be about decentralizing services to ensure fairer distribution of resources within the regions wasn't it? You sure don't seem to see many resources being distributed outside of Prince George.

There is far too much emphasis on the chronic end of the spectrum of health and far too little attention being paid to prevention. But, that's what you get when a system is in crisis management mode.

And "numbers on" access to detox and addiction services has been severely curtailed in the region and this may explain why IV drug users are occupying hospital beds instead of entering recovery.

If all of the upper Management would leave tomorrow everything just carries on with no loss and a great Saving to us .

Eagleone,

You bring up one of the most astute points I have seen in a long, long time. Well stated.

Wow...Dr. Don Cozzetto made over $645,000 leaving UNBC. How was that missed in the news! I think that topped most if not all in the Government coffers! How was he the best person at that cost? Maybe those who hired him should not be on anymore interview panels...

I agree with you Eagleone. Canada is now 250 billion dollars in the hole. How is this ever going to get smaller?? The group of tax payers is shrinking and the government pigs lining up at the troff is increasing. Now we are running this year and next year on a negative money plan provincially and federally. How can this be allowed? When a person becomes to high in debt they are quickly cut off. 250 BILLION!!! OMG!

I though that Cozzetto's severence was somewhere in the $430,000.00 range. Where did the figure $645,000.00 come from.???

Queston two..Whee did Cozzetto go, seems he disapeared into the sunset. Maybe he's in Havana soaking up the sunshine, and planning his next job.