Ken_Danagger

I guess you have a point there... But getting rid of OHIP doesn't preclude another provincially backed, voluntary scheme from popping up where the gov't runs some hospitals/clinics and Ontarians who want to pay into it, do so...while the private sector is allowed to service people who want to pay out of pocket. Publicly funded health care is a sinking ship. It's going to cover less and less as time goes on. We're going to pay more and more out of pocket while our taxes are going to be going up and up. In the long run (probably not in my life time) people are going to have to accept the fact that not everyone is going to be able to afford health care and the province isn't going to be able to pay for everyone either. It's not a pretty picture but that will eventually be the reality...like it or not.

I have to agree with the above statement. The baby boomers allowed a creeping socialism into our policies as a result of the Depression and WW2. It seems based on the concept of continual growth in all areas. They didn't factor in the possibility that people would live longer and birth rates would drop. Actually, they did, but didn't care as they were truely the short sighted ones and focused only on getting votes.

What I think will happen is this... As the problem becomes more apparent as we get closer to realizing it...it will become a major political issue. All the parties will have basically the same thing to say on how to fix it...they will end up raising taxes until they ruin the economy(liberals) or their core supporters get too angry(conservatives)...and then they'll flip flop and introduce a two tier system (and at the same time screw the people who elected them and say they made the hard choice because they had too). If they were smart they'd do a lot of things now to ease the burden...things like... -ditch OHIP (I'm only talking ONtario here...although I suppose any province could do this) -introduce 2 tier health care -make it easier for Dr's and nurses to set up shop in this province. -get US-style insurance. -set up Medical Savings Accounts for people to contribute to their own health care and make it tax deductable like RRSP's. Gov't could do so much now...but they won't for fear of an electoral backlash. Nobody wants to touch this hot potatoe and we're all going to pay the price in the end.

So PST didn't come in until 1961. Income Tax wasn't levied in Ontario until 1969. So how were government services paid for before 1961? I know government wasn't as big back then...but it still existed and there were bills to be paid.