Like the fable of the ant and the grasshopper, a lot of time has been wasted in this province on harmful system reorganizations, divisive culture war battles and other nonsense instead of preparing for winter. And now it’s here

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There are two major crises that have beset Edmonton in recent weeks — the big slog of snow to hit our city and the big clog of patients to hit our emergency health services.

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A friend of mine managed to get caught in both on the same day.

Digging out his driveway for the umpteenth time, he suddenly found himself in need of medical attention. While thankfully there was no cardiac event — a real risk while shovelling — he suffered a painful creak to his back that required a trip to the hospital. He got off lucky by having someone drive him to the emergency room instead of waiting for an ambulance, and then merely a six-hour wait once he got there.

As I have noted in past columns, the crisis we’re seeing with our ERs and ambulances is not sudden or unexpected. While several things may have exacerbated the crunch — Alberta’s rapid population growth most notably — this disaster has been an inevitability from years, if not decades, of government neglect.

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Like the fable of the ant and the grasshopper, a lot of time has been wasted in this........

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