The South Bayview Bulldog

The debt-ridden Ontario Government is pushing forward with urgent plans to control the cost of OHIP. Friday morning the health minister, Dr. Hoskins, released eye-popping figures which show that 500 doctors on the province bill more than a $ million in fees each and that one, a ophthalmologist, took home $6.6 million. The names of all doctors are being kept confidential .The 500 doctors represent just two per cent of all practitioners but cost $677 million a year, or nearly 10 per cent of Ontario’s Fee-For-Service budget. And many of them charge much more than $1 million, the government’ reports.

DUELLING NEWS RELEASES

The information appears to be part of a war of media releases between the Ontario Medical Association and Queen’s Park. The OMA says the province’s efforts to limit certain types of doctors’ fees is hurting patient care. It’s not family doctors and their practices that Health Minister Eric Hoskins wants to see reduced, but the most costly specialists. Many patients will know that over the past few years specialists in particular have had to change the frequency with they perform certain procedures, especially preventive. Among these is cataract removal, which has become less expensive to perform because of technology. “Of the top five billers in the province, two are ophthalmologists, two are radiologists and one is an anesthesiologist,” a government fact-sheet states. “The top biller, an ophthalmologist, billed more than $6.6 million last year. The top diagnostic radiologist billed more than $5.1 million and the top anesthesiologist billed more than $3.8 million. The  average doctor’s gross payment is $368,000 a year.

Justin Trudeau went boxing in New York City yesterday and the Twitter responses range from “be still my foolish heart” to “how embarrassing.”  The prime minister was at a Brooklyn gym for a stripped-down snapshot session of change-room odour. Later, Mr Trudeau held a question-and-answer session at New York University where some queries packed a punch (good one). But the punch wasn’t a knockout wallop. One student asked how Trudeau could justify backing new oil pipelines after campaigning on climate change. He said that he was very clear before the election that he backed the Keystone XL project and didn’t actually campaign against the fossil-fuel industry. He called halting fossil fuel development simplistic. Better than boxing maybe. Mr. Trudeau is at the United Nations today signing a climate treaty.

CBC

Visitation and services for three prominent local men are scheduled at the Humphrey Funeral Home at 1403 Bayview Ave. Charles Stephen Knapp was a labour camp survivor during the Second World War and went on to leave a lasting legacy in Toronto with his design work in the sign industry. His obituary notes that he created both the Shoppers Drug Mart logo and the design of the many Crosswalk signs that mark the City’s streets. Geoffrey Ogram was a Phd  in Physics who pursued a career in energy research at Ontario Hydro and later became an executive at the utility. In later life, Mr. Ogram was afflicted with lung cancer although he was never a smoker. He spent his remaining years in a vigorous contribution to the advocacy work of Lung Cancer Canada. William Bruce Waugh is described as a man of keen intellect who served as a naval officer aboard the Royal Navy aircraft carrier Nabob. He retired from the Canada Life Assurance Company in 1985 as chief actuary.

Owners of some 100,000 Volkswagen vehicles who have seen the value of their cars plummet because of the emissions scandal will find out in June what the company intends to do about it. Yesterday VW agreed to pay U,S. owners as much as $,5000 or buy back the vehoicle.The judge in the case ordered the details to be kept quiet until June 21. In a release Thursday, Volkswagen Canada said owners do not need to take any action at this time and they will be provided with next steps once they are available. Volkswagen has admitted some diesel cars had software installed to cheat on emission tests after the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency publicly revealed the scheme last September. The carmaker has said about 500,000 cars had cheated emissions tests and about 100,000 of them were sold in Canada.

Police website

The judge in the Mike Duffy corruption and bribery trial has dismissed all 31 charges against the senator. The justice, Charles Vaillancourt, offered rather colourful criticism of the Prime Minister’s Office even though the PMO had nothing to do with charges being laid. Clearly, Stephen Harper did not want this matter in court. Vaillancourt seems to feel that the PMO’s effort to limit political damage with respect to expenses was wrong and outrageous. Still, the charges arose from the Crown Attorney’s office based on evidence collected by the RCMP. The charge of bribery in particular was seen immediately by most lawyers to be without foundation. Nonetheless the Crown pressed ahead with the accusation that money which was intended to pay back the government was somehow a personal benefit for an illicit purpose (a bribe) to Duffy. In the end, Justice Vaillancourt concluded that there was nothing to any of the charges. This, by the way, does not mean that Duffy might not have paid back the money, but rather that he was not guilty of a crime by not doing so. In the end, the furore has proven to be about essentially nothing. The political fodder was sensational but unrelated to anything criminal. CBC  Quelle Surprise says Margaret Wente

Prince, the superstar American singer-songwriter known for his musicianship, wide appeal and many award-winning hits, has died at age 57. Prince “died at his home this morning at Paisley Park,” according to his publicist, Yvette Noel-Schure.Deputies responded to a medical call about 9:43 a.m. local time, according to Carver County Sheriff Jim Olson. CBC, Global

458 St. Clair Ave East

The open house set for this Saturday (April 23, 2016) from 2 to 4 p.m. will tell how the Heaps Estrin team will do with the semi-detached home on St. Clair Ave East between Welland Ave and Hudson Drive. It is listed for $975,000. Of course it is Moore Park where values are flying. It has three bedrooms and two bathrooms too. There’s another open house on Sunday as well.

The U.S. Treasury Department has chosen Harriet Tubman to be the first woman on an American banknote. Tubman was born a slave but escaped and during the years before the Civil War spirited slaves out of the south by way of the historic Underground Railroad. This was a series of safe places where slaves could stop and hide during their flight to the north. Later, Tubman became a spy for the Union during the war of 1860-65. President Andrew Jackson, who she will replace on the front of the twenty, moves to the other side of the new bill. BBC