Canada’s Manufactured Healthcare Disaster

Doug Ford cuts gas taxes and then has the audacity to turn around and say there’s not enough funding for healtcare.

It must be privatized!!

NONSENSE.

The health care ‘crisis’ in Canada has been manufactured by the greatest collection of political charlatans and hucksters this country has ever seen.

It is a product of cynical, inept, incompetent right-wing provincial governments (and the BC NDP) that seek to set the stage for privatization of our health care system.

Here’s the classic ‘cry wolf’ approach to making money for friends:

• Cut taxes and revenue sources (eg. gas taxes in Ontario)
• Slash health budgets and funding programs
• Overspend on REALLY stupid things like building highways across some of the world’s most fertile farmland and habitats of endangered species (eg. Highway 413)
• Tie the hands of anyone that might be able to make a difference (eg. Salaries and benefits for nurses)
• Discourage people from going into the core programs.
• Declare an emergency.

Hands have been tied.It has been a VERY effective and systematic deconstruction of a good thing that all Canadians need.

The Human Element

Tommy Douglas was responsible for pushing through MEDICARE in Canada in the early 1960s.

He started at the provincial level (Saskatchewan) and brought it to the federal level.

It’s said that John Diefenbaker of the Conservatives – in opposition at the time – said to Tommy Douglas: ‘this is a damn fine thing you’ve done for Canadians’.

Now, Conservatives everywhere are being indecent and are literally driving us all to our graves sooner than it should.

The Demographic Element

Baby Boomers have been retiring in greater numbers over the course of the last 10 years and with Covid, this process has accelerated.

This is a key component behind the ‘great resignation’ we’re all witnessing.

Baby Boomers are ageing and will need more health care services.

The privatization process right now will cut off millions of people who have been paying into the coffers of our governments for decades.

It’s cruel.

It’s inhumane.

It’s stupid.

The Business Element

Corporations, non-profit organizations, even government bodies benefit ENORMOUSLY from Canada’s healthcare system.

By acknowledging that ALL OF US are shaped by our mortal coils and that ALL OF US are vulnerable to death, disease and disabilities and by creating a pool funded by ALL OF US to help those smaller numbers of people that will be bankrupt unless they have public healthcare, we make our society great.

We remove the administrative burden.

We remove the cost structure.

We remove the third-party costs.

ALL organizations in Canada profit from a public healthcare system.

Once we start with a private system WE WILL NOT GO BACK.

They no longer have to offer extra benefits, payouts, bonuses and other pay structures to compensate for a private healthcare system.

If you run a business, your cost of doing business will escalate dramatically under a private system.

Employees will no longer work for companies that merely offer minimum wage.

All employers in Canada will have to assemble a completely platform of benefits and services for employees to compensate for the loss in Canada’s public health care system.

A socialized system works like non-profit insurance: we all pay into a pool and a handful of us benefit from those contributions WHEN WE NEED IT. Accessing this system doesn’t destroy us financially.

The Media Element

Canadian media sucks. I’m disgusted with the jerkwater, wimpy response to the crisis that has been created by the like of Ford, Kenney and others.

They are taking this lying down.

On a crash cart.

With no defib paddles handy.

They are acting like we don’t give a shit.

They are VERY WRONG.

This is urgent.

ALL CANADIANS NEED TO PREVENT THIS FROM HAPPENING.

The Federal Element

Our federal government MUST take action against privatization.

The easiest thing to do would be to declare an end to any funding that results in a transfer to private companies for the delivery of what was a public obligation.

The federal government MUST take provincial governments to court if they must, arguing that this is a right and not a convenience for Canadians.

The federal government MUST demand an audit of any transfers and insist on a proper level of accountability when it comes to federal transfers to provincial healthcare budgets.

The Activist Element

I’m struggling with collective resources that are actually making a difference when it comes to protecting our healthcare system (and finding ways to make it better) and protesting privatization.

The main organization is just SaveMedicare.ca. They are devoted to action, but I’d like to see comments related to other options or recommendations for groups or individuals that are doing big things to protect what we have … and maybe even make it better.

Make the pledge.

Now.

This is unacceptable.