Liberals give in to another expensive and unnecessary NDP demand

For decades, provincial health systems have worked within the confines of the Canada Health Act, which mandates that they provide a universal, single-payer medicare system. The result: long wait times, substandard care and an ever-increasing burden on federal and provincial treasuries. Given this experience, the provinces should opt out of the federal government’s plan to impose a universal, single-payer pharmacare program on them.

Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.

Enjoy the latest local, national and international news.

Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience.

Don't have an account? Create Account

On Thursday, the government tabled Bill C-64, the pharmacare act, to comply with a deal reached with the New Democrats, who had set a Friday deadline for when the legislation needed to be introduced in order to maintain the confidence-and-supply agreement that has been keeping the Liberals in power.

The New Democrats are touting this as the best thing since socialized medicine. NDP health critic Don Davies called Thursday a “historic day,” which he said was the “culmination of a dream that began when Tommy Douglas invented health care in Saskatchewan in the 1940s. It’s the culmination of decades of hard work by New Democrats, progressive Canadians and allied organizations.”

Douglas, of course, didn’t invent health care, but he did launch Canada’s first universal health system in Saskatchewan, which was used as a model for the rest of the country. And since that time, the NDP — and its predecessor, the CCF — have been trying to push Tommy Douglas vision into every aspect of the health system. Their only problem is that they’ve never had any real power at the federal........

© National Post