Comrade Marcel
29th May 2004, 06:12
PUBLIC RELATIONS: Louis Lang (613) 862-1568 / Quebec: Claude Brunelle (514) 887-7968
PRESS RELEASE - May 28, 2004
Paul Martin's Sudden Enthusiasm to "Fix" Health Care:
An Election Issue
What are Canadians to make of Paul Martin's sudden enthusiasm to "fix" the health-care system and the announcement of $9 billion in spending? What happened to Martin's claim that there was no money for health care? Was there too much health at the time his government delivered the budget and now something has changed because he has called an election?
A closer look reveals the depths of the cynicism of the Martin Liberals. The pledge to bring in a pharmacare program is a scaled-down version of the 1997 election promise which has yet to be acted on. A home-care program was also first promised in 1997. Then there is the question of how much money is actually being promised. Martin announced $9 billion in one-time funding -- a way of announcing the same funding over and over again. This $9 billion turns out to be $1.5 billion a year for the next two years, plus a $2 billion Home Care Fund and $4 billion Wait Times Reduction Fund which would begin in 2005-06 and be delivered over five years -- $1.2 billion a year. It turns out that the annual increase in health-care funding is less than the amount that equalization payments to the provinces was reduced this year ($2 billion). It seems that when Martin talks about "a fix for a generation" it means that it will take a generation to actually deliver the funds.
What about privatization? With utmost cynicism, the Martin Liberals repeat ad nauseam that they are against privatization but have not taken a single step towards making the change to the Canada Health Act which would close the door to privatization and extend the public system.
As Finance Minister, Paul Martin slashed federal health-care spending in 1995 after promising increased funding in the 1993 election. The decade since has seen endless commissions and studies on the part of governments and countless demonstrations, meetings, rallies, campaigns by the people demanding their rights be recognized.
There is no mystery about what is needed in health care. The agenda has been established by the people in the course of the tenacious fight which has taken place from coast to coast to coast against the brutal anti-social offensive. Canadians have expressed their urgent demand that the funding required be provided to ensure that a free, comprehensive, public, high-quality system is there when people need it. People have also clearly stated that the funding urgently needed to deal with the crisis in health care must not be handed over to the monopolies through any form of privatization.
In all this, there is not even a shred of recognition that the right of Canadians to health care must be provided with a guarantee. Instead, a question of such fundamental importance to society is reduced to a cynical election ploy. This is intended to throw people off balance. It shows the need to stick to the agenda which has emerged from the struggles for health care and the rights of health-care workers and professionals and to renew the democracy so that decision-making is put in the hands of the people themselves.
Health Care is a Right! No to Privatization! Stop Paying the Rich -- Increase Funding for Social Programs! On the issue of health care, this is the stand the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada is elaborating in this election.
PRESS RELEASE - May 28, 2004
Paul Martin's Sudden Enthusiasm to "Fix" Health Care:
An Election Issue
What are Canadians to make of Paul Martin's sudden enthusiasm to "fix" the health-care system and the announcement of $9 billion in spending? What happened to Martin's claim that there was no money for health care? Was there too much health at the time his government delivered the budget and now something has changed because he has called an election?
A closer look reveals the depths of the cynicism of the Martin Liberals. The pledge to bring in a pharmacare program is a scaled-down version of the 1997 election promise which has yet to be acted on. A home-care program was also first promised in 1997. Then there is the question of how much money is actually being promised. Martin announced $9 billion in one-time funding -- a way of announcing the same funding over and over again. This $9 billion turns out to be $1.5 billion a year for the next two years, plus a $2 billion Home Care Fund and $4 billion Wait Times Reduction Fund which would begin in 2005-06 and be delivered over five years -- $1.2 billion a year. It turns out that the annual increase in health-care funding is less than the amount that equalization payments to the provinces was reduced this year ($2 billion). It seems that when Martin talks about "a fix for a generation" it means that it will take a generation to actually deliver the funds.
What about privatization? With utmost cynicism, the Martin Liberals repeat ad nauseam that they are against privatization but have not taken a single step towards making the change to the Canada Health Act which would close the door to privatization and extend the public system.
As Finance Minister, Paul Martin slashed federal health-care spending in 1995 after promising increased funding in the 1993 election. The decade since has seen endless commissions and studies on the part of governments and countless demonstrations, meetings, rallies, campaigns by the people demanding their rights be recognized.
There is no mystery about what is needed in health care. The agenda has been established by the people in the course of the tenacious fight which has taken place from coast to coast to coast against the brutal anti-social offensive. Canadians have expressed their urgent demand that the funding required be provided to ensure that a free, comprehensive, public, high-quality system is there when people need it. People have also clearly stated that the funding urgently needed to deal with the crisis in health care must not be handed over to the monopolies through any form of privatization.
In all this, there is not even a shred of recognition that the right of Canadians to health care must be provided with a guarantee. Instead, a question of such fundamental importance to society is reduced to a cynical election ploy. This is intended to throw people off balance. It shows the need to stick to the agenda which has emerged from the struggles for health care and the rights of health-care workers and professionals and to renew the democracy so that decision-making is put in the hands of the people themselves.
Health Care is a Right! No to Privatization! Stop Paying the Rich -- Increase Funding for Social Programs! On the issue of health care, this is the stand the Marxist-Leninist Party of Canada is elaborating in this election.