Saskatchewan Speech
Some excerpts from speech:
Friends, for over ten years now, in election after election, working families, ordinary Canadians, have been telling pollsters and politicians running for office that the most important issue on their minds is health care. Why?
First, because working families and ordinary Canadians know what they want when it comes to health care.
And second, because they know that right wing politicians like Paul Martin and Stephen Harper want to go in the opposite direction.
Canadians want the kind of health system founded in this province. It’s a simple vision. It’s a model that works. It’s the envy of nations around the world. It’s one of the things Canada does best. And we can keep it working if we want it to.
Health care that’s there when you need it. Health care that you receive because you need care, not because you’re one of the lucky ones who can pay for it. Health care that’s universally available. That keeps costs down with every dollar going to care, and none wasted on multiple private administrations and dividends to shareholders.
Canadians want that kind of health care.
It’s the common-sense, fair and efficient way to provide it. It’s the health care system the New Democratic Party founded here. That Tommy Douglas took across the country during the great minority governments of his time. And that Canadians know they can count on New Democrats to fight for today.
But Canadians can see that Liberals and Conservatives, both federally and provincially, are taking us to a very different place. Make no mistake about it. Medicare is being sabotaged by people who claim to be protecting it. Paul Martin, Ralph Klein, Stephen Harper, Jean Charest and Gordon Campbell are all on the same wavelength.
They’re all pulling the same way. They want to open Canada’s health system to the profiteers. They know that’s the last thing Canadians want. So instead of being honest about what they want to do, they’ve been sneaking up on their goals. And that’s why Canadians have been increasingly worried about the creeping, quiet, stealthy commercialization of our health system.
But the quiet time is coming to an end. A few months ago, the Supreme Court released a surprising and unfortunate ruling that attacks Canada’s single-payer medicare system at its core. And the profiteers are only waiting for this election to be over.
Let’s be really clear about the issue here. Let’s start by being clear about what we have now. Our single-payer system was described with crystal clarity by Tommy Douglas when medicare was introduced in this town. Our single-payer system means this: when you go for medically-necessary health care, the doctor sends the bill to the government, instead of to you.
You’re not out of luck if you can’t pay. You don’t lose your house. Your employer isn’t burdened by private health insurance. Your health costs are paid for fairly, based on ability to pay, through income tax.
A narrow majority of our Supreme Court has other ideas. Earlier this year, on the basis of a set of facts almost a decade old, the Supreme Court of Canada stepped into health policy, and – very unfortunately – delivered a ruling that may have opened the door to private providers to break our single-pay system.
Roy Romanow delivered an important speech on this topic after that ruling was released, which I’m distributing today. I think more Canadians should read what he had to say. Canadians need to know that the profiteers are circling around the core of our health care system. Canadians need to know that Ralph Klein and Jean Charest are waiting for this election to be over, so that they can go forward with wrong-headed plans that take advantage of this Supreme Court ruling. And Canadians need to know that Paul Martin and Stephen Harper would both let them do it.
The NDP founded medicare. Working families and ordinary Canadians count on us to fight for the public medicare system they want. I did. And we will.
So we went to Mr. Martin this fall after that ruling, and we told him that if he wanted a few extra weeks of life for his scandal-plagued government, we needed action on this issue. He said no. And so here we are. And here’s the commitment we are making to Canadians today.
We will not permit the dismantling of Canada’s single-payer medicare system.
It’s not the federal government’s business to tell provinces how to manage their own jurisdictions. But the federal government can use its own funds to help build a universal, public health care system. And the federal government can say what it’s own funds must NOT be used for.
In the next Parliament, we will introduce tough new rules in the legislation and agreements that govern federal transfers to provinces for health care.
Under these rules, no federal money, directly or indirectly, could be used to subsidize a new, separate, profit-making private insurance system covering medically-necessary services.
No federal money could be used to cover the salaries or costs of doctors and any other medical personnel involved in a new, separate, profit-making private insurance system.
These tough new rules will be monitored and enforced. We spelled out these proposals in our correspondence with the Liberals, which I am also releasing today.
Here’s the headline on these commitments: NDP MEDICARE CRACK DOWN. Premiers and Profiteers – forget it.
Ne vous méprenez surtout pas. Le régime de santé est en train d’être saboté par ceux-là même qui prétendent le protéger.
Paul Martin, Ralph Klein, Stephen Harper, Jean Charest et Gordon Campbell sont tous sur la même longueur d’onde.
Ils empruntent tous la même voie.
Ils veulent remettre le système de santé du Canada entre les mains des profiteurs.
Ils savent que c’est bien là la dernière chose dont veulent les Canadiens.
Plutôt que de faire preuve d’honnêteté quant à ce qu’ils veulent faire, ils faufilent leurs objectifs.
Le NPD a fondé le régime de santé.
Les familles de travailleurs et les Canadiens ordinaires comptent sur nous pour défendre le système de soins de santé public qu’ils veulent.
C’est ce que j’ai fait. Et, c’est ce que nous continuerons de faire.
Paul Martin proved this fall that he can’t be trusted to defend our medicare system. Stephen Harper has never wanted to.
We proved in the last Parliament that we get things done. New Democrats are about getting results for people. Our record proves it. We’ll do it again in the next Parliament. So this time, in this election, I’m asking for your support.
And let me say a final special word to people in Saskatchewan who are with us on this issue. Liberals can’t win in this province. They can’t win seats provincially, and – give or take a certain finance minister who does not stand up for his own province on critical issues like equalization – they can’t win federally. We’re for a single-payer, public health care system. If you want to stop the Americanization of our health care system. Don’t vote Liberal. If you vote Liberal, in Saskatchewan, you are voting to elect a Stephen Harper Conservative. Nobody knows better than you do where those people stand on this issue
Some excerpts from speech:
Friends, for over ten years now, in election after election, working families, ordinary Canadians, have been telling pollsters and politicians running for office that the most important issue on their minds is health care. Why?
First, because working families and ordinary Canadians know what they want when it comes to health care.
And second, because they know that right wing politicians like Paul Martin and Stephen Harper want to go in the opposite direction.
Canadians want the kind of health system founded in this province. It’s a simple vision. It’s a model that works. It’s the envy of nations around the world. It’s one of the things Canada does best. And we can keep it working if we want it to.
Health care that’s there when you need it. Health care that you receive because you need care, not because you’re one of the lucky ones who can pay for it. Health care that’s universally available. That keeps costs down with every dollar going to care, and none wasted on multiple private administrations and dividends to shareholders.
Canadians want that kind of health care.
It’s the common-sense, fair and efficient way to provide it. It’s the health care system the New Democratic Party founded here. That Tommy Douglas took across the country during the great minority governments of his time. And that Canadians know they can count on New Democrats to fight for today.
But Canadians can see that Liberals and Conservatives, both federally and provincially, are taking us to a very different place. Make no mistake about it. Medicare is being sabotaged by people who claim to be protecting it. Paul Martin, Ralph Klein, Stephen Harper, Jean Charest and Gordon Campbell are all on the same wavelength.
They’re all pulling the same way. They want to open Canada’s health system to the profiteers. They know that’s the last thing Canadians want. So instead of being honest about what they want to do, they’ve been sneaking up on their goals. And that’s why Canadians have been increasingly worried about the creeping, quiet, stealthy commercialization of our health system.
But the quiet time is coming to an end. A few months ago, the Supreme Court released a surprising and unfortunate ruling that attacks Canada’s single-payer medicare system at its core. And the profiteers are only waiting for this election to be over.
Let’s be really clear about the issue here. Let’s start by being clear about what we have now. Our single-payer system was described with crystal clarity by Tommy Douglas when medicare was introduced in this town. Our single-payer system means this: when you go for medically-necessary health care, the doctor sends the bill to the government, instead of to you.
You’re not out of luck if you can’t pay. You don’t lose your house. Your employer isn’t burdened by private health insurance. Your health costs are paid for fairly, based on ability to pay, through income tax.
A narrow majority of our Supreme Court has other ideas. Earlier this year, on the basis of a set of facts almost a decade old, the Supreme Court of Canada stepped into health policy, and – very unfortunately – delivered a ruling that may have opened the door to private providers to break our single-pay system.
Roy Romanow delivered an important speech on this topic after that ruling was released, which I’m distributing today. I think more Canadians should read what he had to say. Canadians need to know that the profiteers are circling around the core of our health care system. Canadians need to know that Ralph Klein and Jean Charest are waiting for this election to be over, so that they can go forward with wrong-headed plans that take advantage of this Supreme Court ruling. And Canadians need to know that Paul Martin and Stephen Harper would both let them do it.
The NDP founded medicare. Working families and ordinary Canadians count on us to fight for the public medicare system they want. I did. And we will.
So we went to Mr. Martin this fall after that ruling, and we told him that if he wanted a few extra weeks of life for his scandal-plagued government, we needed action on this issue. He said no. And so here we are. And here’s the commitment we are making to Canadians today.
We will not permit the dismantling of Canada’s single-payer medicare system.
It’s not the federal government’s business to tell provinces how to manage their own jurisdictions. But the federal government can use its own funds to help build a universal, public health care system. And the federal government can say what it’s own funds must NOT be used for.
In the next Parliament, we will introduce tough new rules in the legislation and agreements that govern federal transfers to provinces for health care.
Under these rules, no federal money, directly or indirectly, could be used to subsidize a new, separate, profit-making private insurance system covering medically-necessary services.
No federal money could be used to cover the salaries or costs of doctors and any other medical personnel involved in a new, separate, profit-making private insurance system.
These tough new rules will be monitored and enforced. We spelled out these proposals in our correspondence with the Liberals, which I am also releasing today.
Here’s the headline on these commitments: NDP MEDICARE CRACK DOWN. Premiers and Profiteers – forget it.
Ne vous méprenez surtout pas. Le régime de santé est en train d’être saboté par ceux-là même qui prétendent le protéger.
Paul Martin, Ralph Klein, Stephen Harper, Jean Charest et Gordon Campbell sont tous sur la même longueur d’onde.
Ils empruntent tous la même voie.
Ils veulent remettre le système de santé du Canada entre les mains des profiteurs.
Ils savent que c’est bien là la dernière chose dont veulent les Canadiens.
Plutôt que de faire preuve d’honnêteté quant à ce qu’ils veulent faire, ils faufilent leurs objectifs.
Le NPD a fondé le régime de santé.
Les familles de travailleurs et les Canadiens ordinaires comptent sur nous pour défendre le système de soins de santé public qu’ils veulent.
C’est ce que j’ai fait. Et, c’est ce que nous continuerons de faire.
Paul Martin proved this fall that he can’t be trusted to defend our medicare system. Stephen Harper has never wanted to.
We proved in the last Parliament that we get things done. New Democrats are about getting results for people. Our record proves it. We’ll do it again in the next Parliament. So this time, in this election, I’m asking for your support.
And let me say a final special word to people in Saskatchewan who are with us on this issue. Liberals can’t win in this province. They can’t win seats provincially, and – give or take a certain finance minister who does not stand up for his own province on critical issues like equalization – they can’t win federally. We’re for a single-payer, public health care system. If you want to stop the Americanization of our health care system. Don’t vote Liberal. If you vote Liberal, in Saskatchewan, you are voting to elect a Stephen Harper Conservative. Nobody knows better than you do where those people stand on this issue
