Views of the provinces on health care

[Topaz]

I was listening to the Premiers taking questions of the media and the health are question was asked. All seem to be in agreement that the Feds needs to be at the table with the Premiers and as Wall said, its only been 24 hours maybe they will show up. Then some one else said maybe Harper could plant a tree, if he doesn't like PM and Premiers meeting, they all laughed. It was also pointed out that the agreement with the provinces was 50% funding from the Feds and in 2004 report said that funding shouldn't fall below 25%, which all the Premiers are agreeing. The Feds, on the other hand, want it at 6% but not below 3% and that all depends on how well the economy is doing. As on Premiers said, we can't tell our citizens who needs medical care to come back next year when the the economy is doing better and he's right. I really think Harepr is going to have to change his mind on this or the voters will change government.

[Canuckistani]

I was listening to the Premiers taking questions of the media and the health are question was asked. All seem to be in agreement that the Feds needs to be at the table with the Premiers and as Wall said, its only been 24 hours maybe they will show up. Then some one else said maybe Harper could plant a tree, if he doesn't like PM and Premiers meeting, they all laughed. It was also pointed out that the agreement with the provinces was 50% funding from the Feds and in 2004 report said that funding shouldn't fall below 25%, which all the Premiers are agreeing. The Feds, on the other hand, want it at 6% but not below 3% and that all depends on how well the economy is doing. As on Premiers said, we can't tell our citizens who needs medical care to come back next year when the the economy is doing better and he's right. I really think Harepr is going to have to change his mind on this or the voters will change government.

Medicare should be a federal responsibility - you should be able to get the same care no matter where you go in Canada.

[punked]

Know who has impressed me the most out of this whole meeting? Dexter and Wall. Two guys on opposite ends of the political spectrum actually sitting down together with their health minsters to share ideas that work in their provinces about health care. I was super impressed yesterday when I read they will be adopting each others policies that work and tossing out old ideas that have not. That is what this whole thing should be about. I just understand why Redford and Clark wasted the whole meeting fighting with each other when they could have been actually doing something like the Premier of NS and the Premier of Sask.

[punked]

Medicare should be a federal responsibility - you should be able to get the same care no matter where you go in Canada.

If their is different access and level of care from province to province then the Feds are violating the Constitution. I am sure Harper could care less about the law but that is just how it is.

[Newfoundlander]

Increased privatization is needed.

Edited July 27, 2012 by Newfoundlander

[Wild Bill]

I was listening to the Premiers taking questions of the media and the health are question was asked. All seem to be in agreement that the Feds needs to be at the table with the Premiers and as Wall said, its only been 24 hours maybe they will show up. Then some one else said maybe Harper could plant a tree, if he doesn't like PM and Premiers meeting, they all laughed. It was also pointed out that the agreement with the provinces was 50% funding from the Feds and in 2004 report said that funding shouldn't fall below 25%, which all the Premiers are agreeing. The Feds, on the other hand, want it at 6% but not below 3% and that all depends on how well the economy is doing. As on Premiers said, we can't tell our citizens who needs medical care to come back next year when the the economy is doing better and he's right. I really think Harepr is going to have to change his mind on this or the voters will change government.

Don't worry about it, Topaz. It has all happened before! The problem is self-correcting.

Way back in the early 90's Paul Martin, then finance minister for the Chretien government, was doing exactly the same thing. He kept chiseling away at the amount of money given to the provinces for medicare, breaking the 50% funding promise.

It backfired on him, big time! A sacred cow for the feds is to have the same standards of care all across the country. That idea worked well when Ottawa was paying half the costs but when it no longer was doing that the provincial finance ministers all realized that there was no good reason to do what the feds told them!

He who pays the piper calls the tune. Several of the provinces began to take steps to make changes in how they handled medicare within their own province, changes that were not necessarily what the feds wanted!

In effect, the provinces told the federal government that if they weren't going to pay their promised share then the provinces would start doing things their own way.

If Harper goes too far down this path the same thing will happen to him!