Martin Liberals hidden agenda to privatize Canada's healthcare system

The Martin Liberals electoral platform on healthcare could be viewed to be an act of great political hypocrisy. It is apparent that the Liberals alleged commitment on public healthcare in Canada would not last beyond any majority government that they seek to obtain after the 2004 Federal Election.

On April 26, 2004, Liberal Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew had this to say about the Canada Health Act, the foundation of our universal and accessible medicare system: "The Canada Health Act does not preclude delivery of services by private elements as long as there is a single public payer."

Liberal spin doctors forced Pettigrew to retract his statements the next day.

However, while Mr. Pettigrew re-affirmed a commitment toward providing public funding to healthcare in Canada, he did not commit to maintaining Canada's one-tier universal public healthcare system. The carefully dissembled representations of Mr. Pettigrew demonstrates the lack of Liberal commitment to the maintenance of Canada's one-tier universal public healthcare system. Indeed, one Liberal Senator, Michael Kirby, has led court litigation efforts to support American Big Business effort import the failed American private healthcares into Canada. His leadership efforts to destroy Canada world renown public healthcare system, demonstrates the lack of a genuine substantive commitment by the Paul Martin government to protect public healthcare as a vital part protecting the quality-of-living of all Canadians. The Canadian Health Coalition reports that Senator Kirby has, in fact, developed an investment portfolio into private healthcare companies, which has betrayed a conflict-of-interest as a representative of the Parliament of Canada. At least Stephen Harper's ultra right-wing Conservative Party has been open enough to express its greed-driven privatization interests, against Canada's one-tier comprehensive and universal public healthcare system.

Canada's world renown universal public healthcare system had been championed by former Premier of Saskatchewan Tommy Douglas, and was re-affirmed by the passage of the Canada Health Act during the Progressive Conservative Brian Mulroney government in the mid-1980's.

Free Trade incompatible with public healthcare in Canada

It is apparent that the Martin Liberals seek to import a two-tier system of healthcare similar to the United States. Obtaining Healthcare in the United States is based upon relative access to superior financial resources, in a manner that denies many millions of American any healthcare. The apparent Martin Liberal planned post-election agenda on healthcare is designed to appease to North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) vested interests to privatize healthcare in Canada.

Indeed, so-called "Free Trade" in Canada -- which was somewhat ironically advocated by the same Mulroney government which re-affirmed public healthcare in Canada -- has been significantly responsible for the destruction of Canada's social fabric, that includes public healthcare. The Liberal Party of Canada prospective post-electoral plan is to legitimate the need for private healthcare based upon Martin's publicized "neo-Liberal" agenda to for "Canada to adopt to the 21st century". The Martin Liberals do not seek to re-affirm Canada's international leadership as a socially progressive society. Rather, it is furthermore apparent that the Martin Liberals seek to assimilate Canada into a continentalistic "Brave New World" of "free trade" and "Economic Globalization", where only the "fittest survive", and those without healthcare perish under "superior guidance" of "market forces" .

"Free Trade" in its current conception is incompatible with Canada's universal public healthcare system, and Canada's other progressive social programmes..

The federal Liberals under former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien and now Paul Martin have run considerable budget surpluses. There is no economic excuse that legitimates well-documented federal budgetary neglect of Canada's healthcare system. However, such a systematized neglect on budgetary support of Canada's healthcare system is consistent with a strategy to allow Canada's healthcare system to become so financially troubled, that Canadians in desperation, will become more open to the privatized healthcare systems, which in fact, would only further jeopardize public healthcare access. While the federal Liberals did not have money to put into public healthcare, they did however, have the money to finance the reported "Sponsorship Scandal" in Québec.