My Latest Letter to the Editor
Edmonton Journal


I am a very fit 40 year old who enjoys running, mountain biking, rock climbing, etc. This being said, I feel that, as far as health care costs go, we fit folk are not carrying our share of the load with our smoker brothers and sisters. Smokers pay high taxes for their vice and generally die earlier than others, thus contributing to the Healthcare system through taxes and freeing insurance companies (and all the other services required by the elderly) of further financial committments. Guys like me often require medical services that directly result from our activities, whether it’s surgery, physio, pain killers, massage, etc., which is covered by insurance companies and result in rate increases. Personally, I have had countless rounds of physio for different injuries, a pin put in my toe, two arthroscopic surgeries and surgery to mend a broken jaw. I’ll obviously require new knees and hips in the future. So me and my kind should be shunned, just like the smokers confined to the exteriors of buildings in social ejection. Sneer at me as I ride my bicycle, jeer as I go to the gym!

My proposal: tax running shoes, bicycles and all fitness apparel. And if we want to be really fair, let’s also tax fast foods, televisions, video games and Blu-rays. In fact, we should have a national registry for all of these things where we pay an 18% tax on the initial value of everything that we own that may contribute to mortality.

…of course, we could also get rid of the Stelmach government and begin to applying common sense to the way we live and simply enjoy ourselves, no matter our manner of doing so.