What a disappointment. What a change from his promise to reach consensus before he was elected. What other promise can he possibly breach in the next 3 years ? Please call an election and see what your constituents think. Enough is enough.
Reader feed back : This is a "F" outrage. Ontario is no longer the economic engine that drives the Canadian economy.If this asshole didn't f----- up everything he touched, we wouldn't have a fiscal problem
Hamilton: "McGuinty drags Que. into war with feds
Wants Ottawa to review equalization payment program
Colin Perkel Canadian Press February 12, 2005
TORONTO -- Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty dragged Quebec into his dispute with Ottawa on Saturday as he continued to attack the federal government over how the country's wealth is distributed among the provinces.
In a speech to more than 300 provincial Liberals, McGuinty noted that Ottawa gives Quebec almost four times as much money for each immigrant as it gives Ontario.
'How can that be fair?' McGuinty asked. 'We're just asking for a bit of fairness.'
The crowd gave McGuinty a standing ovation as he portrayed himself as a proud Canadian standing up to injustice.
On Friday, the Ontario premier served notice of a 'strong campaign' against the federal Liberals over the country's fiscal arrangements. The final straw, he said, was the royalty agreement for off-shore resources that Prime Minister Paul Martin struck recently with Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador.
In his speech Saturday, McGuinty repeatedly noted the '$23-billion gap' between what Ontario contributes to federal coffers and how much it receives in return.
The missing money, he said, is critical to the province's ability to fund services for immigrants, post-secondary education and other social programs.
'A gap this massive just doesn't make sense, especially when Ottawa sits on a huge surplus funded largely by Ontarians,' he said.
Only a prosperous Ontario can continue to be the 'economic engine' and 'heart' of Canada, he told the crowd.
'When we make this argument now with our friends over at the federal government, it's about buil"a stronger win-win for our fellow Canadians."
Other provinces, such as Saskatchewan, New Brunswick and British Columbia, have also begun to criticize the country's system of equalization payments in light of the deal struck with the two Atlantic provinces.
Speaking to reporters afterward, McGuinty said he was looking for a "healthy discussion" with the Martin Liberals.
He said raising the unfairness of immigrant funding was another step in the campaign but other issues, such as post-secondary education, were also on the agenda.
"We have a responsibility to make this argument," the premier said. "The federal government has no choice but to listen to us. The facts are on our side. It's a very compelling argument."
McGuinty came to office 16 months ago promising to move beyond the acrimony that developed between Ontario and Ottawa under the previous provincial Conservative government.
His increasingly vocal criticism of Ottawa this past week indicates a complete change of tack.
Asked if he was simply trying to deflect attention from problems his government is facing, he said he was just standing up for his own province.
Among those problems is a $5.5-billion budget deficit and bubbling dispute with the province's doctors, who have become increasingly vocal in their attacks on McGuinty's Liberal government.
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Medicare Systems- The Canadian state of Health with an Ontario twist
The Ontario healthcare system is in extremely poor condition. Not only are costs skyrocketing, but the system is also failing patients. The treatment of patients is critically ill with unacceptable waiting times, that are often life threatening. To worsen this volatile situation, the government is compounding the problem by feuding with the medical practitioners and the front line caregivers. Real and needed resources are being laid off at an alarming rate, while the administrative costs of the system continue to escalate unabated.
The last two statements are keys to the puzzle. There are indications that the system has been bureaucratized, with internal patient delivery standards compromised and that a total collapse is imminent.
Healthcare is too critical a service to be allowed to collapse. The system needs major corrective surgery to survive. To date, the government appears to be "tinkering" with solutions that have little apparent positive impact to the patient or caregiver. What this means is more of same with a layoff here or there, large infusions of cash and absolutely no real improvement.
The bureaucrats are confused, the politicians are full of rhetoric and nobody seems to have an answer. Ontario Healthcare appears to be a huge rudderless ship, with a minimal, entrenched and challenged leadership, a huge bureaucracy, the 10,000 strong Ministry of Health, heading towards the shoals of oblivion. This is somewhat similar to what the Swedish public health used to be, before it was radically reformed and competitively re-invented.
We do have options, however. There must be radical surgery for the business of providing healthcare systems. We can no longer afford to have unimaginative and ill-conceived tinkering. We need full blown, out of the box solutions for the system to avoid implosion and collapse.
Let us consider healthcare as a business for a moment. If a business is alienating and not delivering services to its customers, and its costs are soaring, there are really two solutions - let it die, which is not an option, or restructure and re-invent itself to deliver better service. What are the reality pill options?
We propose to expand the customer and revenue base to allow the system to breathe again. To date, expanding the system revenue base has meant that the government has to cough up more public “taxpayer” money. This solution means that the people have to pay and that the administrative bureaucracy expands to "take care of" the investment, particularly at the provincial level. The spending priorities are obviously misaligned.
Our proposed solution involves a reduction in the bureaucracy. It also involves a reduction in government involvement. Heresy!! No, good common competitive sense! What would happen if healthcare became a profit centre instead of a cost centre, or an increasing sinkhole for public money? "Private Healthcare", screams the bureaucrat. No, it is just an opportunity to make money by providing service for non-Ontarians in the worldwide market place.
The United States has private healthcare systems. Canadians are making money by providing pharmaceuticals south of the border. American states are embracing this in order to benefit their residents. Can we take advantage of the value of the Canadian dollar; keep our medical resources in Canada by providing medical services to these same people? Obviously, the state governments are sympathetic. The HMO's will cooperate if the price is favorable. It appears that the patient is the key customer and that the interests of the customer are king in other health jurisdictions. That is where we come in.
Our group is interested in setting up a pilot system in Ontario to provide an expanded and competitive revenue base for the healthcare system. The suggested steps in the process are as follows:
· Create a crown corporation or other corporations with special provisions
· Form the corporation(s) under the business corporation act
· Eliminate the involvement of political appointees and bureaucrats
· Create a Board of Directors of real business people as in a private corporation
· Structure the administrative systems to be sleek, economical and accountable
· Develop a business plan to provide the services across international borders. This phase will emphasize market research and marketing plans.
· When the plan is complete, the corporation(s) will seek private funding just like any other business.
When the “ Competitive Delivery” system and framework has been created, what could happen next? The system will begin by competitively selling to American and worldwide customers who need quality healthcare. This system can and will make a profit and be self-sustaining. Some of the profit can be used to subsidize the general provisions of healthcare for Ontarians. The Ontario systems should have the same degrees of freedom as the private portion of the system. In fact, the private system would probably be a good overseer for the public system. It would also increase the overall competitive health delivery standards in Ontario.
The Government's role would be a simple one, provide their share of the funding to provide high service levels for Ontarians. The Funding would go to those that provide the best service for the best value given to the end customers.
Once the pilot system is running properly, the system could be rolled out to the rest of the province. My team and I, believe that the system would provide the following benefits:
· A new revenue base and private subsidy sources for the care of all Ontarians
· Less requirement for tax increases (The Mcguinty pledge revisited. )
· Less requirement for bureaucrats
· More employment for caregivers
· Less contention or confrontation with the doctors
· Private capitalization for equipment
· A superior world class health care system for Ontarians
· A competitive overflow systems for Ontarians
The system, we are proposing, is radical but most certainly doable. It has successfully been done before in other jurisdictions. (The Swedish Model is a good example.)
Our team has extensive business experience. We can restructure the administration systems in the pilot test. We have access to retired knowledgeable medical practitioners to assist in setting up the medical systems. Finally, we have marketing specialists who can work with our American and worldwide affiliates to provide an initial customer base. We are a system of small companies and individuals with a mighty, united, presence.
We stand ready to advise the government in setting up an innovative pilot system that could break the existing health care gridlock and do so constructively in a timely and appropriate manner..
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