The Reminder is making its archives back to 2003 available on our website. Please note that, due to technical limitations, archive articles are presented without the usual formatting.
More Health Care Problems Health care remains the top priority in many surveys of Canadians. Yet more and more are becoming favourable to the idea of a public/private mix, especially since the provincial systems suffer from a constant wait-times crisis. Wait times of course vary from province to province and are simply dreadful in Manitoba and Saskatchewan, with the health ministers giving all kinds of excuses Ð too few doctors, not enough operating room times, and a shortage of doctors in emergency wards. One former Flin Flonner told The Corner that if he had to go to the emergency ward in Winnipeg, he would instead drive to Portage la Prairie and save hours of wait time. Recently, the Manitoba health minister announced huge bonuses for doctors if they would spend more time in these wards. Is this throwing more and more money at the system or what? As we know, this has been this government's pattern since 1999, to the tune of $100 million more each year and constant begging of the federal government for more money. In mid-June, in one of her many submissions to The Reminder, rookie MP Tina Keeper, now Liberal Public Health Critic, joined by Liberal Health Critic Ruby Dhalla (known in some circles as parachute Ruby, as she was parachuted by Paul Martin from Winnipeg to a safe Ontario riding), attacked the Harper government for not fulfilling its election promise to help cut down on wait times. She went on to complain that the federal budget did not give extra money to the provinces but pressured them to solve the problem. On checking with a couple of "insiders" in Parliament, The Corner" was told that Keeper has it "painfully wrong" and should do more research if she is going to fulfill her critic's role. One adviser to Health Minister Tony Clement gave me a complete explanation of the problem and the Conservatives' determination to severely cut down on wait times. He said that the typical Liberal/NDP solution is to throw more money at the problem, which was created "by $25 billion in cuts by finance minister Paul Martin in the mid-'90s. The health care accord signed by Martin and the provinces in September 2004 partially addresses that void. "For Keeper to say that more money was not pledged in the budget is incorrect, as the deal struck between the provinces and the Feds is upheld in the budget. It is ironic for Keeper to be critical of the health care wait time crisis that the federal Liberals helped to create as she willingly joined the Liberals this year." The adviser goes on to explain that it was not only the '90s cuts, but also poor Chretien/Martin policy and shortsightedness, such as cutting the number of medical school graduates just as the Baby Boomers were heading into retirement. The Harper government is enacting a wait-time guarantee, which essentially will force the provinces to provide timely services or citizens will be able to go outside the province or country for treatment without financial penalty. This is a very common occurrence now among wealthy Canadians who flock to private clinics, many in the U.S., for treatment and pay their own way rather than wait for operations and other treatments. The wait-time guarantee is supported by the Quebec Supreme Court's 2005 decision that allows Quebec citizens a choice of using private clinics if timely care is not provided by the public system. The court deemed it a basic human right. There is no sign that this decision will be overturned, so in effect the courts have already decided that Canadians are not restricted to a slow public health system. One may ask why a so-called high profile Liberal critic would not know about the budget item or court decision. Did she choose to ignore the facts as a lot of Liberals are doing these days? Some commentators are saying the Liberal party is in great disarray both in and out of Parliament, with the leadership contest, the continuing Adscam scandal and trials providing too much of a distraction for the Official Opposition. Roger's Right Corner runs Wednesdays.
