Believe it… or not

As we approach the date of our First Ministers Conference, November 15th 2008, delegations have been busy strategizing their agenda and having discussion behind closed doors.

The Seditious Times has gotten their hands on a very reliable source regarding potential new agendas that would be presented in the upcoming First Ministers Conference.

According to our sources, Ontario might be advocating for Upper Canada. There is an intention to annex neighboring provinces. “We two oldest provinces must come together with English Ontario in control” stated our source. If Ontario manages to pass this agenda, Quebec and Manitoba would be in danger.

Apparently, Ontario doesn’t intend to stop there with geographical restructuring. There are talks about another priority being the moving of Canada’s capital from Ottawa to Hamilton, moving Canada’s capital closer to the United States. History has proved that Canada cannot isolate itself from the United States due to their geographical proximity. However, after witnessing our current economic crisis, should Canada strive to develop without the help of the United States instead?

 The Seditious Times is looking forward to the First Ministers Conference

 

“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

Wrong priority…?

Monday October 26th 2008, the 2nd Agenda Meeting in regards to the fiscal crisis became a rather heated debate. Both Manitoba and Ontario advocated for the need to develop better infrastructure within their provinces. This in turn requires a substantial amount of money from the federal government. The positive impact from having a better-developed infrastructure is undeniable, however is this really the priority we should advocate during a financial crisis?

Consumers are panicking and loosing trust in banks. Under a situation like the financial crisis, resolutions need to be immediate. Most gains from infrastructures are long-term gains, thus we may benefit from it in the future, but something needs to be done in the meantime. A popular topic during the discussion on Monday afternoon was internal trade. Many delegations have brought up the Alberta-BC trade as a good model and example for internal trading. Taken directly from Government of BC homepage,

“The purpose of the Agreement will be to:

ESTABLISH an open, efficient and stable domestic market in Alberta and British Columbia

ENHANCE competitiveness, economic growth and stability

INCREASE opportunities and choice for workers, consumers and business;

REDUCE costs of consumers, business and governments;

PROMOTE sustainable and environmentally sound development, high levels of consumer protection, and health and labor standards; and

SUPPORT ongoing trade and investment liberalization both nationally and internationally”

Most of the goals that a better-developed infrastructure intended to achieve are similar to the ones in the agreement. Therefore it shows that trade is an important component for Canada in terms of lessening hte impact of the financial crisis.

In a recent interview with the Ontario delegation, they have clearly indicated that trading with EU and internal trading would greatly influence Canada’s economy. Ontario representatives argue that since trading with EU is a national matter, the federal government should deal with most of the matters, however it should not fail to consult the provinces when making decisions.

While both the Manitoba and Ontario delegations have acknowledged the importance of trade, it was not the crucial topic they were advocating for. Are we underestimating the impact of trade?

Joyce Chan, The Seditious Times

Reference:

http://www.gov.bc.ca/ecdev/down/framework_agreement.pdf

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.