Jerry J. Fortin

Well said. On the other hand with the feds slowly removing themselves from the equation, we will watch the health care system fund replicated efforts from all parts of the country. A two edged sword to say the least. I will suggest that ALL research efforts be conducted at the national, not provincial level. To my mind this is the only way to have federal control over regulation and provincial control over service delivery. This would prevent the feds from backing completely out of the funding formula.

There is in fact a good reason for the newly coin phrase "for profit motive". It will cost more, the numbers don't lie. However in order to get there in the first place means you get to create a multiple tier system. I suppose that those that can afford extra benefits ought to be able to acquire them. That said , you have to open the door in order to get their.

Not at all. Meaning that we can have whatever we want as long as we can figure out how to pay for it.

Of course there will be problems for the province! Its their programs not the feds. Tax dollars staying in the province should make you at least consider the real net impact. The transfer of power to the province will come with a price. Lets be realistic for a minute. To fix health care, which by the way means different things in different places, It is a "local" problem, not a national one. You can only fix the problems one by one in place after place. Each so called problem is really some citizen needing some form of care. There is no legislative blanket to cure all of our ills within the system. That is because costs exceed funding, its a game of dollars and common sense make no mistake about it. Its complicated and there are no easy solutions. It may be time to step outside of the box and seek new ways to solve our problems. A good start I think would be to convince the citizens that every dollar the government taxes is a dollar removed from a consumers pocket. That consumer is the real driving force of the economy, and a reduction in that spending impacts all citizens. So government spending actually detracts from the citizens ability to consume products and services. It puts the interests of business in opposition to that of the government. Its no wonder we find ourselves at this point.

The way I read the article, all that is really defined is the current plan. We are talking about the transfer of funding to the provinces. The problem is that the provinces will have to raise their taxes for every reduction in federal taxes. The fed share is designed to shrink, to what level is not clear. In my view that is simply a fine solution. Given that the responsibility of health care is known to be provincial not federal. The provinces own this, always have and always will.

Well we had an Arab spring, perhaps a Russian summer is in the wings. A nice China fall would be nice, topped off with a European winter. Don't laugh too hard, it could happen.

This is a Conservative government, headed by Steven Harper, it was expected.

Joe who?

The RCN needs far more than just ships, it needs port side infrastructure in spades up north.

Well there is a statement for you!

The health care issues we currently have are not insurmountable. All it will take is sufficient political will to tackle the problem. That will is created by the citizens themselves.

Interesting points, good questions too.

I think the answer is both yes and no. Those agendas are carefully constructed, or should I say negotiated. Its an annual photo shoot for the big shots, so nice is the name of the game. You want things you can accomplish brought to that table. If the Prime Minister wanted to do things a little differently perhaps more could be done.

In truth that was the nicest thing the Government of Canada has done for its citizens in a very long time.

Nice touch! I wish, either that or pay for MP housing on reserves............

Wrong direction. How about starting to think outside of the box. The city state evolved into a nation state, and that will evolve into an international state. Its a logical progression of the democratic model. The problems of power concentration and bureaucratic centralization are known factors and can be dealt with.

Such as the First Ministers conferences ?

Excellent point. When you stop and think about it, that exactly what we need to do.

Hang on, what part about "Ottawa warns current health transfers unsustainable" do you not understand? While they have not actually come out and said it for all to hear, its still pretty clear.

To preserve their culture????

Lets get back on track here folks. The topic is Ottawa says that current transfers are unsustainable. In other words run and hide folks here comes the axe. The feds will cutback on their funding that's what they have said, so we can expect it to happen. This means that the provinces will have to fund any future shortfalls. From recent events it appears that the Government of Canada is now trying to handover to provinces more responsibilities and less financing. This could lead to many other changes.

Awesome link!

Don't get me wrong Manny, please. I will always give two points to the folks that do something, I applaud effort. I agree that the plight of those living on the reserves requires immediate public attention. That said, the knife will cut both ways, but in my view that is a good thing. It is time to clean up the mess we have been ignoring. It will be neither easy or pretty.

You are kidding right?

Touche !!