April 11, 2000
Kamloops Daily News


When you get all 10 provinces agreeing on an issue, you have
to think they are on to something.  Provincial governments
say that Health Care in Canada is underfunded and that the
federal Liberals should pay up. 

Yet, Health Minster Rock wants to study the problem further. 
If  health care was Rock's own neglected car, he'd get out
of the car during one of its frequent breakdowns, look at
the threadbare tires and stalled engine and think, "I should
get a committee together to study this problem, or maybe
redesign the car."  Well no, Mr.  Rock, what's  needed is
immediate repair. 

To premier Mike Harris, the lack of federal funding leaves
few alternatives, "Either private sector is going to have to
pay more, individuals are going to have to pay more, or
somehow or other we can run this system on far fewer dollars
than we have today".  If it's obvious to Harris, its obvious
to all -- fund public health or expect private health care. 
The Liberals talk about defending public health care but I
wonder. 

Oh sure, Rock berates Alberta for their proposed Bill 11
that would privatize health care.  But then the Prime
Minister visits Alberta and says  "I'm sure all those acts
have within them absolute adherence to the Canada Health
Act." The message may be mixed but the intent is not.  The
Liberals intend to do precisely what Rock criticises Alberta
of doing -- bring private health care to Canada.

To find what the Liberals are up to, watch what they do, not
what they say.  They cut funding to health care because,
they said, we have to balance the budget.  But now that
there is a surplus of $100 billion in the next five years,
they are only putting $2.5 billion back.  If the budget was
the problem, then health care funding would be restored by
now. 

Trade Minister Pierre Pettigrew knows the routine.  Before
the talks of the World Trade Organization in Seattle, he
publicly said over and over again that education and health
care were not on the table -- he would not endanger these
valuable programs.  Canada, he said, would not be trading
health care and education as part of the WTO's General
Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). 

The GATS proposes that services such as health and education
be globally traded much the way goods are traded now. The
Americans, of course, support such a deal.  The Liberals
have probably already signed agreement to the deal by now.

We don't know exactly what Pettigrew said behind the closed
door meetings on GATS.  But we do know what the reaction of
others at the table was.  Through a leaked confidential memo
from David Hartridge, head of the WTO services division, a
picture of compliance appears.  The memo was obtained  by
the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

It seems that in private Minister Pettigrew wasn't so vocal
in his defence of Canada's public health care.  In the memo,
Hartridge says that the GATS agreement was the "least
controversial element" of the Seattle agenda.  Canada's
Trade Minister apparently didn't express opposition.

Its not just me who is suspicious. A provincial health
official recently said that "there's a deliberate federal
strategy afoot to talk about things other than funding". 
The Liberals know that if they stall long enough, Canada's
health care will continue to unravel to the point where the
only solution will be private health care.  And, they can
say that the WTO made them do it.

As Canadians watch health care fall apart, they are getting
more desperate.  The majority want a universal, well funded
public health care system and they are willing to pay for
it.  But, failing a public health care system that works,
they will spend additional money at private clinics. 

It's only human nature: when faced with the choice of
keeping their health or their money, Canadians will spend
every cent they have to buy health, even if it means that
they spend the rest of their lives poverty.  A government
that plays on citizen's basic survival fears to achieve its
own political ends is unconscionable.

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