WEYBURN - Canada’s premiers and the Prime Minister are in important talks this week about health care, and it’s to deal with a unanimous request from every province, for more funding for health care.
The request going in to the meetings was to see the federal health transfer go up from 22 per cent to 35 per cent of the costs of health care.
It was known ahead of time that individual agreements need to be worked out with the provinces for this funding, as the needs of each region are different.
The danger, and surely every premier will be very aware of what awaits them, is this will be an opportunity for the federal government to try and exercise some control over the health care spending.
As the system is currently set up, every province has the final say over how health care dollars are spent. It’s their jurisdiction, as the needs of the citizens of their province come first.
The problem is, the federal Liberals have made excessive reaches before, exceeding their jurisdiction by trying to control things that are in the province’s domain, and this will be one more opportunity for them to strengthen their grip on the provinces beyond what they are allowed.
We have only to look at how the feds have handled environmental issues, and anything to do with the energy sector, to see how their overreach has hurt provinces like Saskatchewan. They don’t really care how much hurt is caused since we are beyond the central core of Canada where their power is derived from.
Health care is a provincial responsibility and has to remain so, and any attempt to tie conditions to funding need to be rejected by the premiers.
Saskatchewan’s NDP leader Carla Beck recognizes this, as she said in her statement on the health care talks, but then she contradicted herself and said the feds need to make sure the evil Sask. Party doesn’t put any money towards private health care in this province.
Whatever funding Saskatchewan gets will need to be put towards reducing surgery wait times, among other things, and this will surely be the priority of the ministry of Sask Health – but it is not up to the federal government to ensure this happens. Their job is a basic one – provide adequate funding for the needs of the province’s health care system.
The health care system is a complicated and expensive one, but it is in place to ensure that the mental and physical health needs of every citizen are looked after properly.
The province needs to ensure a good deal is in place for the dollars, and then they need to ensure the right services, personnel and equipment are in place, including getting Weyburn’s new hospital built and running, without interference from the federal government.
