Filed for publication with the Mirror
John Duncan, Member of Parliament, Vancouver Island North.
Re: Canada Health Accord 2014.
Citizens For Quality Health Care, an organization of residents of the northern Vancouver Island, is extremely concerned about the course that your government is taking with regards to federal funding for health care. Your government has refused to meet with the leaders of the provinces and territories to negotiate a new Health Accord to replace the 10 year agreement that expires on March 31, 2014. Instead of negotiating a new Accord, your government unilaterally and arbitrarily declared a new funding formula which will see decreased funding, decreased health care services, and increasing inequality. That is not acceptable to the majority of Canadians who value our public health care system.
We believe that only by protecting, strengthening and expanding public health care throughout Canada can the federal government fulfill its responsibility to Canadians. We join with many individuals, groups and organizations of concerned Canadians from across the country who say to both the federal, provincial and territorial governments that we will never abandon our commitment to a fully public health care system, and demand that the federal government play its role not only by increasing the funds transferred to the provinces and territories for health care, but by collaborating on the establishment and enforcement of national standards for our public Health care, Pharmacare, Home Care, mental health and dental care, long overdue.
It is not acceptable that governments act against the interest and well being of Canadians by permitting, encouraging and arranging the privatization of our public health care system. Protecting the well being of Canadians and protecting the bottom line of private sector investors and operators are not compatible.
Citizens for Quality Health Care stands for publicly funded and publicly delivered health care and expects your government to defend and adequately fund that system. We also expect our provincial government representatives to stand up to the federal government for the people of British Columbia to protect, strengthen and expand our public health care system.
This important issue, most certainly, will be an election issue.
Lois Jarvis, Campbell River and Barb Biley, Comox Valley
On behalf of all of us in Citizens for Quality Health Care