The Wild Rose of Private Health Care - Dunderdale's Choice

As more information flows out of Ottawa's plan for health care - Canadians who believe in universal health care should be very concerned.

It should come as no surprise that Harper's funding plan will benefit Alberta the most with an almost 1 billion dollar windfall for that province.

If you ask yourself - which province is most willing to have a private health care system - what would your answer be? Mine is Alberta - hands down.

For those who read my last post - Harper's plan to use Premiers to push his fundamentalist agenda of private health care seems even more likely.

So the province with the attitude that private is better - is going to get the most while other provinces will be suffering through what amounts to decreased funding.

The whole idea of per-capita funding for health is antiquated and incomplete.

If you take a province such as Newfoundland and Labrador with a huge geographic footprint and minimal population - the idea of per-capita finding is scary. Our people need equal access to quality and timely health care but in order to achieve that - dialysis units, MRI's, Cat-Scans, and surgical units would have to be placed geographically in many regions. If our health care transfers are based on per-capita alone - without the ability to factor in regional needs leaves us behind the eight-ball.

Throw on top of that - the Quebec factor - where there health care funding is different than all other provinces and you have a mess.

How many readers can tell me how the Quebec system works?

Do you know that Quebeckers have a different federal tax system than all other provinces?

Do you know that Quebeckers have more direct control of federal taxation relative to health care?

Do you know that all other provinces had the option to do the same thing but rejected it?

How can we place Charest into the equation and come up with a national plan?

The question is - what is Kathy Dunderdale going to do about it?

The question is - will Kathy Dunderdale fight hard for us?

The question is - will Kathy Dunderdale push to have the unique circumstances of our province recognized and funded?

The question is - will we remain the province that relies on the templates of places like Alberta and Ontario instead of designing what's best for us?

Premier Dunderdale has the opportunity to come up with a made in Newfoundland and Labrador solution which has the potential to protect the essential health care needs of our people. The Premier has the opportunity right now to deal with the demographics that have the potential to financially cripple our province in 10 years time. If the Premier looks outside the "officials" and her "colleagues in the "big" provinces she may well find the solution. As long as we are slaves to the templates of Ontario and Alberta - our children are doomed to the debt and pressure that will be ours in a decade if we do not stand on our own two feet.

Here's a Challenge Premier - try this out with Flaherty

Our skilled tradespeople are migrating to Alberta for work - and they are making good money in that province.

Many of these people have families at home - students and spouses - who must avail of our healthcare - education - and transportation infrastructure systems. That is only right - they are Newfoundlanders and Labradorians.

Here's the problem - because the outmigration of our skilled tradespeople is fairly significant and for Revenue Canada purposes - the taxpayer reports - based on "ordinary residence" as at December 31st of any year. For many of our people - that will be Alberta and Ontario and in some cases Nova Scotia and PEI.

These workers may be employed for 6 months in Alberta and return home for 6 months or any combination - unfortunately Revenue Canada that cuts the checks back to the provinces (provincial tax) they do not break down how many months people live in what province.

We invest in training so people can gain professional skills - they have to move away for work so they pay their taxes elsewhere - they return home and utilize infrastructure in Newfoundland and Labrador while not paying personal income tax here.

Why not be really creative Danny - why not ask Minister Flaherty to consider tax splitting based on numbers of months in various Canadian provinces. This would help economies which are "developing" to receive much needed provincial tax needed to maintain and build infrastructure. It would also reflect more accurately the realities of migrating workers.

Great for Alberta and Ontario - they get our skilled people for a portion of the year - they collect their personal income tax - and our people only use their health - education - and transportation infrastructure so many months of the year.
Only in Canada eh?