“A Health Care System for all Canadians”

Manitoba- News Release

“Although the government of Manitoba believes rightfully so that the upcoming First Ministers Conference on November 15^th 2008, should be primarily dedicated to the issues surrounding the state of Canada’s economy and environment, Manitoba is dedicated to ensuring that health care will receive due attention.

Canada is often cited as a model nation, one whose prosperity is used to ensure that its people receive good education and are able to receive care when need be.  Canada’s health care system was designed to provide for all Canadians regardless of income, class or ethnicity.  Yet disparities still exist.  The gaps that persist between Aboriginal health and the health of most Canadians are simply unfathomable. The incidence of infant mortality is almost 20% higher for First Nations than for the rest of Canada, with suicide rates three to eleven times more common. Teen pregnancies are nine times the national average.  These heartbreaking statistics are unacceptable considering Aboriginal Canadians represent the largest segment of our youth and the fastest growing segment of Canada’s population.

Yet with these statistics facing us every day of our lives, the federal government has turned its back on Canada’s Aboriginal people, as it has abandoned the Kelowna Accord, and therefore effectively broken its agreement with all provinces and territories.  The money put aside in the recent budget by the federal government come no where near to that initially promised in the Kelowna Accord.  As a result the Manitoba government has been in discussions with other provinces and territories, and is leading the call to have the Kelowna Accord revisited at the upcoming First Ministers Conference.

Although many of these conditions were years in the making, and will not be overcome overnight, the Kelowna Accord was a step in the right direction to finally accounting for the 140 years of injustice Canada’s Aboriginal populations have been subjected to, and must be revisited.” 

Aboriginal Health Care vs Health Care

Manitoba, in the Third Agenda Meeting, raised an interesting topic in regards to Health Care. Manitoba advocated for greater funding for Aboriginal Health Care on the basis of the broken promise made by the Federal Government of Canada on the Kelowna accord. However the federal government of Canada believes that it is too narrow of a topic to be discussed in the First Minister’s Conference. While other provinces acknowledge the importance of Aboriginal issues, they agreed with the federal government of Canada that Aboriginal Health Care should not be discussed on a national level, instead we should take a “jurisdictional approach” upon this issue, as suggested by the Alberta delegation.

 

According to the 2001 census, Aboriginal people hold 4.4% of our total population. In response to the accusation on Aboriginal health care issue being a “narrow” topic, Manitoba Premier, said the following,

 

“The 4% [of Aboriginal people] are subject to the greatest disparities to health care, their access is the most limited…These issues can not go on the side any further. We had the Kelowna accord but it was abandoned. [Thus we need to readdress this issue]”.

 

On September 5, 2008, the Government of Manitoba posted a news release titled, “Manitoba Reaches Agreement with Federal Government to Implement Jordan’s Principle”. This articles highlights the implementation of Jordan’s Principle in Manitoba allowing “First Nations children with multiple disabilities [to] continue to receive needed care without delays or disruptions resulting from jurisdictional disputes”. Issues regarding Aboriginal people should not be taken lightly, however the extent to which the Federal Government has neglected Aboriginal Health Care may have been exaggerated by the Government of Manitoba in the third agenda meeting.

 

Credit should be given to the Government of Manitoba for bringing forward Aboriginal Health Care onto the agenda because it demonstrates their attention to their province, however alternatively, Manitoba should fight for the consideration of Aboriginal people when the Federal Government is distributing funding for Health Care. Aboriginal Health Care should be an issue addressed by the provincial government once funding is distributed. 

 

Reference

http://news.gov.mb.ca/news/index.html?archive=2008-9-01&item=4376

 

Joyce Chan, The Seditious Times

First Minister’s health care proposals weak

In a succession of dispassionate presentations the premiers of the provinces presented their agenda proposals for the upcoming First Ministers Conference on November 15.

Beside the economic crisis, which has the nation seized with concern health care was  the high priority on the list with the majority of the delegates. All delegates stressed the importance of health care whilst managing to steer clear of any initiatives that specifically addressed their provincial concerns.

Home care, drug costs, geriatric care, wait times, day care, there is a plethora of issues to tackle ⎯ the premiers were decidedly vague about what exactly they wanted.

The Fraser Institute just released their report titled Paying More, Getting Less: 2008 Report surmising that the Canada’s current health care system is unsustainable. Provinces can no longer provide adequate health care with their current resources.

The report revealed that New Brunswick and Manitoba face the greatest monetary crunch, with New Brukswick projected to be spending 50 per cent of its total revenues of health care within 11 years while Manitoba could hit the 50 per cent mark within 12 years.

Earlier this week, officials from the New Brunswick Health Coalition held a media conference to release findings from a national report called Eroding Public Medicare: Lessons and Consequences of For-Profit Health Care Across Canada.

In the past few months, Health Minister Mike Murphy has thrown around the idea of privately owned clinics for the delivery of public services such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) procedures or CT scans.

Tory Health critic Claude Landry says Health Minister Mike Murphy is out of touch if he thinks exploring privatized health care in New Brunswick is a smart move. However, the recent investigations could be a long-overdue acknowledgement that the medicare system needs an overhaul.

Conservative Leader of the Government of Canada has a questionable track record because of undermining medicare as head of the right-wing National Citizens Coalition from 1998-2002.

Economic downtown aside, Canada’s health care was in need of reform. Now, with a looming federal deficit on the horizon meeting the basic health needs of Canadians citizens must be achieved through different means other than relying on the federal purse.

Improvement in Ontario’s Health Care

As part of restoring the fiscal balance, Department of Finance Canada, in its 2007 Budget, has announced a move to equal per capita cash support for the Canada Health Transfer. However this will not take effect until 2014-15. In a recent press release, Ontario has directed one of their priorities to health care, pointing out that “[h]ealth care is an important issue across Canada and requires equal funding to deal with the demands on the system. [Thus, it] requires immediate action from the federal government in terms of the Canada Health Transfer”. While a six-year wait may be unfair, could an immediate move to equal per capita support improve Ontario’s health care problems instantly?

October 10, 2008. The Globe and Mail posted an article suggesting that Ontario should expand and strengthen the role of patient advocates. Physical restraints to control mental health patients and lack of medical monitoring had caused the death of Jeffrey James, a 34-year-old schizophrenic in 2005. After this incident, Gail Czukar, an executive vice-president and general counsel of Canada’s largest mental hospital released the following statement, “We’ve reduced our use of restraints from the last three years by 67%, so we’re not restraint-free yet, but we’ve certainly made significant progress towards that”. It is evident that Ontario’s health care can be improved and in the case of Mr. Jeffery James, improvement was achieved without additional funding.

Joyce Chan, The Seditious Times

Reference

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20081010.winquest1010/BNStory/National