During an appearance on The Great Canadian Talk Show last month, Mayor Sam Katz mistakenly referred to paramedics as “ambulance drivers.”
A sensitive bunch to begin with (they feel they’re always getting the shaft in favour of firefighters), some paramedics took offence to the term, and requested an apology from the Mayor.
That prompted an opportunistic bunch, the Manitoba Government Employees Union, to issue a letter reprimanding the Mayor, demanding an apology by a specific date, and threatening repercussions if he didn’t reply by a certain date.
Look, it was a boneheaded mistake. The man obviously is familiar with the term “paramedic”, but “ambulance driver” came out in one interview. It wasn’t a news release or a scripted formal announcement.
A suitable response would be to go back on the same radio show, declare his admiration for the work that paramedics do, and declare a “my bad” on using the wrong term (which he basically did on CJOB this week). An over-the-top response would be to issue a written apology to all paramedics as the union has demanded.
I’m normally quick to criticize politicians when they intentionally say stupid things, or deliberately offend groups with their choice of words. But simply piling on every time a politician has a minor slip of the tongue is cheap, easy and stupid.
And as for the paramedics’ response that “you wouldn’t call a firefighter a fire truck driver, or a police officer a police car driver,” you’re right. Because no one really ever uses those terms. In contrast, “ambulance driver” shows up 427,000 times in Google, including in 237 news articles in the last month. Going to demand an apology for that too guys?
Filed under: winnipeg blog | Tagged: City of Winnipeg, mgeu
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/wayoflife/04/10/aa.fire.engine.drivers/index.html
I attempted to get the Mayor back on the Nighthawk with me next week for round 3 but alas, he is unlikely to be available. So the war of words will resume on TGCTS later this month. I’ll let you know when.
Does anyone really give a sht what they think ?
As for repercussions, do anything except your jobs, and you are all fired.
Politicians can’t please everybody; as became evident recently when groups of Republicans blasted President Obama for using the “wrong” kind of mustard on his cheeseburger.
Are the men and women who drive taxis offended when people call them taxi ab drivers too?
*taxicab
My brother’s a paramedic – he got a call from the mayor today apologizing. FYI.
if you google “police car driver” you get 27,700,000 hits. I’m just sayin’.
@gepinniw – Actually no. If you Google that phrase without quotes (giving you any entry that includes those three words) then you get millions. If you search for the exact term “police car driver”, you get 4,510 hits. “Fire truck driver” gets you 34,000 results.
This whole thread is making my brain freeze.
There’s a deeper, underlying issue between the mayor and City of Winnipeg paramedics.
Please don’t be so naive as to think the paramedics were being petty.
Winnipeg EMS paramedics are REAL paramedics. They love their jobs.
“Firefighter paramedics” are firemen. They love their jobs too–as firefighters.
Now bring Alex Forrest into the mix. He’s the head of the UFFW. He constantly plays politics with the “paramedic” term in their advertising and union tactics. The UFFW attempts to brainwash Winnipeggers into thinking firemen are paramedics. Firemen have no clue WTF they’re doing as paramedics. They’re lucky if they get one medical call on a tour (4 day shifts).
REAL paramedics are out of the hall all shift long. Sometimes they don’t even get a bathroom or lunch break.
Alex Forrest wants the city to spend money to buy more firetrucks and build more firehalls. He claims with more firetrucks, there will be faster “paramedic” response times. It’s all propaganda!!
So when you see the paramedics getting out of shape about the mayor referring to them as “ambulance drivers”, it’s because the mayor is completely clueless and doesn’t even know the basics about the role of a REAL paramedic. He thinks they just “drive ambulances” and they’re a bunch of dummies.
It’s time for Winnipeggers to wake up to the reality that Winnipeg EMS is suffering from critically low staffing numbers and the city DOES NOT have enough ambulances on the road. Sometimes there are NO UNITS AVAILABLE when you call 911 and need help right away.
About three weeks ago, two people were shot on Manitoba Avenue. They lay bleeding-to-death on the street. One died. There were no ambulances immediately available to dispatch to this scene.
The next time you see Alex Forrest on TV speaking for “paramedics”, do everyone in Winnipeg a favour and call or email him, telling him he does not speak for paramedics. He is a firefighter and should know his place.
Alex Forrest is all about the NDP and is very pro-union. He will do whatever it takes to get the funding for more firetrucks and for compensation towards the “suffering” some firefighters go through when they get testicular cancer, etc. (How do you get testicular cancer by sleeping in the firehall all night again??)
Wow. That’s my rant. There’s so much the average Winnipegger doesn’t know about the politics involved with the UFFW and the tiny MGEU/911 union.
Concerned Citizen
(No, I’m not a paramedic or a FF. I just know it all!)
Dear Concerned Citizen:
If those issues are real – and some of them seem to be – then ambulance drivers need to learn to actually raise those issues instead of shouting about a slip of the tongue on a radio station no sane person listens to anymore.
The union over-reacted.
@ Know it all, I have not heard this put so well. Thank you for this. Three friends just retired from the paramedic service as highly qualified medics (don’t know the real term) and they are continually discussing just this. Firemen attending medical calls really have nothing to do except control traffic and get in the way. There has even been some head-butting at the scenes over who is in charge.
That being said, there are some young firemen who are taking medical training in order to advance their own careers – they are few and far between though I hear.
Some time ago I rescued a suicide attempt, a disturbed guy dove off the Redwood and then cried for help. I dragged him to shore with my boat and the police took him away. The police came over shortly after and took a statement and patted me on the back.
An officer from the fire dept came over some time later and asked for a statement as well. When I told him I already gave a statement to police he gruffly stated “We don’t talk to police – WE’RE FIRE!