Is it really news that Jim Dinning has a life?

The first question that comes to mind, is where do we expect our political leaders to come from, prior to election?

Do we expect our political leaders to come from a cocoon, safe from the realities of the real world? Do we expect our politicians to then learn the world around them from the protected confines of their Legislature offices? We have tried that with Ralph Klein. It doesn’t work.

Laurie Blakeman Liberal health critic missed some critical pieces to her story. It would have had more impact and more meaning to anyone other than herself if she had boned up on the facts.

The fact is that AgeCare bought the Martin family's Beverly Centre here in Calgary.

AgeCare is putting their own money into the expansion of the facility in Midnapore to meet the demands of the growing population of elderly suffering from Alzheimer's as my father does.

This is a demand, that somewhere along the road the current Klein government did not expect, did not plan for, or could careless about.

Hopefully with Dinning’s experience, he will be able to move into the Premiers office with a little more understanding of the reality faced by not only private nursing home operators, but also the families that go with the people who are taken care of by the operators.

The debate over whether the nursing homes should be private, or not, is moot. There have always been private nursing homes, and they for the most part have provided above reproach care.

The questions better asked by the Liberal health critic should have been about the uneven playing field that Dr. Kabir Jivraj, the owner of the Age Care facilities, faces while trying to give the best care he can to my father.

The private nursing homes live by rules set by the Health Region, and provincial government. The private nursing homes funding is set by the regions based on a nefarious one month snap shot of the entire health care needs of the residents in a nursing home.

The health region pays no taxes, and pays no profit to an owner, whether it is to the pockets of the owner or as retained earnings to be reinvested in new or renewed. If Agecare runs a deficit just before an election it probably cannot expect to get bailed out like the Health Regions will.

The private nursing homes must employ nurses, both practical and registered, competing with the health region’s rates of pay. It does not have the deep pockets of the provincial government when the provincial government and nursing unions settle for wage and benefit increases that appear just before an election.

There are more important questions to be asked by the Liberal health critic. All of which would have been more relevant and more important to the average Albertan who has or will have a loved on in a nursing home, private or not.