This government is bad for your health

In almost every policy area, the Harper government has failed to protect and promote the health of Canadians

“On health care, Stephen Harper’s dubious record is well known — his view that health is strictly a provincial jurisdiction has led Ottawa to abdicate entirely its traditional leadership role. Harper has refused to meet with the premiers or provincial health ministers during his tenure and, while health transfers have risen, the federal share is slated to decline deeply, passing both costs and risks to the provinces.”

http://www.thestar.com/opinion/commentary/2015/10/12/this-government-is-bad-for-your-health.html

(PBO – Parliamentary Budget Officer)
(CHT – Canada Health Transfer)
(FSR – Fiscal Sustainability Report)

“In FSR 2011, federal CHT cash was projected to average 21.6 per cent of provincial-territorial health spending over 2011-12 to 2035-36, then 26.8 per cent over the following 25 years and 38.1 per cent over the remaining 25-year period, as projected growth in provincial-territorial health spending continued its downward trend.

In contrast, under the assumption that the new CHT escalator formula is maintained indefinitely, the share of federal CHT cash in provincial- territorial health spending is now projected to decrease substantially from its 2010-11 level of 20.4 per cent (Figure 3-1). PBO projects that federal CHT cash will average 18.6 per cent of provincial-territorial health spending over 2011-12 to 2035-36; then 13.8 per cent over the following 25 years; and, 11.9 per cent over the remaining 25 years of the projection horizon.

To put this projected decline in context it is helpful to compare the share of federal health cash transfers in provincial-territorial health spending over a long historical period. Over the period 1968-69 to 1976-77 under cost-sharing federal health cash transfers amounted to 36.1 per cent of provincial-territorial health spending on average (Figure 3-2).”

http://www.pbo-dpb.gc.ca/files/files/Publications/Renewing_CHT.pdf

A few things we should keep in mind.

1. The Toronto Star is a left leaning magazine

2. Health spending projections over 70 year are merely a projection,. Who the hell knows what will be taking place 70 years from now. Certainly not anyone posting on this site. It was only 71 years ago that the second world war started, and look what’s happened since then.

3. The actual amount of money transferred to the Provinces for health care from 2005/06 to 2015/16 has increased by $23.1 Billion.,

4. Health care is a Provincial responsibility. Try and take it away and see what happens.

So again all we are getting here is **Spin** from the left to further their case, and try to garner some votes.

Canada Revenue Agency has been without a contract for over 3 years!!

I can tell you the majority of those 20,000 plus employees won’t be voting for Harper.

This degree of political interest, and the astonishing numbers of early voters, does not bode well for the Harper regime. It does bode well for Canada, though. ABC folks. ABC.

On the contrary, pgbghere, it may bode very well for the Conservatives. The central issue is our cost of living. And people may well be smart enough, overall, to realise the current government looks pretty good in their efforts to leave us with more disposable income to meet that cost of living than their opponents do. Whether tax dollars come from the Federal government for healthcare, or anything else, or from their Provincial counterparts, there’s still only ONE taxpayer. US. As individuals, (because taxes levied on ‘corporations’ only flow through into prices we, as individuals are going to be ultimately paying for goods and services provided by those corporations).

mayday:-“Canada Revenue Agency has been without a contract for over 3 years!!

I can tell you the majority of those 20,000 plus employees won’t be voting for Harper”
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One would think those at the Canada Revenue Agency would be smart enough to understand having a contract that simply adds to inflation, i.e. they get a bigger figure on the paycheque, from which the government they work for will deduct a larger PERCENTAGE of the gross than it does already, leaving the net amount received a little higher with the illusion that they’ve gained something. When, in reality the net pay in terms of actual purchasing power quickly declines relative to the prices (and increased taxes) they’ll have to meet from it. But maybe not.

So a left leaning magazine using real numbers can’t be trusted…Palopu.. How blind can you be to the facts..

Explain why it was okay for Harper to run 8 years in a row as deficits.. Yet Trudeau says he will and Harper slams him for it?

Where will Harper get the replacement money from the supposed %20 income tax cut..something/someone is going to loose because of it….. Or is it like nic child tax credit…where he removed the child deduction so the parents don’t get the $2400 Harper said they would but only $163 because of taxing.. He is famous for taking millions and millions then giving back a few hundred thousand and saying he increased spending in the area…lies. Ask any veteran, senior, etc. Harper hates Canada.

There will be an All Candidates Forum, Agriculture and rural living theme, Oct 14, 2015,7:00-9:00 pm Hixon BC At the Hixon Community Hall, Located beside “Diner 97” restaurant on Highway 97. The media has been invited. Please take the time to attend, to let the media and politicians know that the agriculture industry and country residents are important issues that need addressing. This meeting is not just for residents of Hixon, it’s for all farmers, ranchers and rural people from all communities and ridings. It could be an interesting meeting. The hall can hold up to 200 people so come, help fill it up, and come early to secure a good seat. The conservative candidate will be attending along with the other five candidates.

PVal, it was okay for Harper to run deficits in a time of global financial crisis because had he not done so that crisis would have been as devastating to the Canadian economy as it was to the economies of the USA and many other countries. We came through that period relatively unscathed compared to what was happening elsewhere. There were not massive mortgage defaults, businesses did not fold en masse, and our cities and provinces didn’t end up bankrupt like Detroit, or on the verge of it, like California. Our banks did not fail, our deposits in them remained accessible. But there certainly is a price to be paid for doing that, and it can be paid, without having to raise taxes, through a resumption of growth in our economy as those economies of our main trading partners begin to finally improve. Now young Trudeau wants to continue to run deficits, but these deficits piled on top of what’s already been wrung up, but still manageable through projected growth, will HAVE TO be paid for through increased taxation. They will lead to the same kind of inflation that we experienced when anther Trudeau was PM, and for a long time afterwards. You will have LESS ‘purchasing power’ in every dollar you earn. And even if you earn more of them, the gap between incomes and prices will still widen. Stay the course, PVal, with Harper. He’s not perfect, no government ever will be, but far better than the alternatives will bring us.

PVal, you may think that I’m an apologist for Stephen Harper, or even working for the Conservative Party. I’m neither. I believe ALL our current political Parties are completely missing the main issue that causes a great deal of otherwise unnecessary grief in our economic affairs. That issue is that the current system of finance is NOT, nor can it be as it’s currently operating, fully ‘self-liquidating’. ALL ‘costs’ CANNOT currently be recovered in ‘prices’ (or ‘taxes’). What Trudeau and Mulcair are proposing will make this worse. Harper can’t fully correct it, either, even if every free trade deal we have now, or might enter into, were working as well as they could be. Not long term. You can’t continue to sell more to some country than you buy back from it and use ‘their’ money ~ effective demand for ‘their’ goods and services, not ours ~ to mask the deficiency of ‘our’ money relative to the prices of goods and services for sale here. This deficiency CANNOT be met the way Trudeau wants to meet it, either. Infrastructure, health care, or anything else, has COSTS. While the Federal government can create the money to cover those costs, which is essentially what it’s doing when it deficit spends, it can’t do so with impunity. We will just end up with higher prices and increased taxes and a lot further in debt, personally, businesswise, and governmental, than we currently are. And those who hold this debt will control us. And they won’t be those we elect.

‘Canada Revenue Agency has been without a contract for over 3 years!!’ – Another thumbs up for Harper. Who on earth feels an ounce of sympathy for Rev Canada employees? They are more corrupt than a politician, just dying to find a way for the common Canadian to pay more taxes. Honestly, people finding fault in anyone not rewarding Rev Canada employees just reeks of irony.

soredible seems a little unfair to suggest Canadian banks didn’t suffer the same as US banks because of Harper. Are you aware Canadian banks run a very different systems with different levels of government regulations and oversite to prevent what happend in the US. Yet as a taxpayer under Harper I still had to be responsible for a Canadian banking bailout. Comparing the two systems makes no sense whatsoever. I enjoy the slant the right attempt to put on everything to be pro Harper/conservative…..the bizzare attempt to compare Canada and Detroit is laughable.

unlisted:-“Are you aware Canadian banks run a very different systems with different levels of government regulations and oversite to prevent what happend in the US. Yet as a taxpayer under Harper I still had to be responsible for a Canadian banking bailout.”
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There are indeed differences in banking rules between the USA and Canada. Some of the things Canada’s chartered banks are able to do would not be allowed in the USA, they’d likely be in violation of their anti-trust legislation. And there are ‘State’ banks and ‘National’ banks down there. Be that as it may, the principles governing banking apply in both countries and elsewhere. So comparing the two systems DOES make perfect sense. Our Provinces, like their States, do their own books and can raise loans in their own names, and so, in a sense, could be said to control their own credit. None of their States are, just as none of our Provinces are, sovereign in their ability to actually ‘create credit’ (‘print money’ in the old vernacular), however. The Federal governments of both nations are.

Why would anyone attend a forum after they voted, not like you can change your vote after it has been cast.

slinky. Some political junkies would attend every forum, because it strokes their ego.

We don’t have any numbers on how many people voted at the Elections Canada office on Redwood Street. Could have been lots, or little, who knows.

Once we get the figure’s for the advance polls including today we will then be able to determine if in fact there was a big increase in turnout over 2011. If there is a small turnout to-day then the final numbers could be the same.

A huge turn out at the advance polls does not necessarily mean that there will be a big shift in how people vote. It could, but not necessarily.

This is why I don’t like or trust Harper

His cuts to veterans
His cuts to seniors
His cuts to transfer payments
His cuts to coast guard
His passing off tax increases to the provinces
Bill- C51
The secretive TPP
Illegally using tax dollars to advertise his government
His lies about marijuana he would rather force people to use drugs that have horrible side effects
His dropping the ball on missing women
His dropping the ball on the environment
His appointed senators in scandals
The kpmg Fiasco
The costs and lies of the F-32
He is a war monger

PG101…how do you feel employees of CRA are making taxpayers pay more than what they are supposed to?!?!

Sounds to me like you tried to screw the system and got caught…I hope so anyways!!

They are just doing a job and following the tax rules set in place by government.

P Val. You make a long list of your dislikes, (which is fine) however you seem not to be able to understand that a hell of a lot of people do not agree with your likes or dislikes. Furthermore you do not do enough research on your issue’s and tend to post only the information that supports your position. So in effect you and the information you put out is biased.

Without going through your whole list, to show how haywire it is, which would take one hell of a lot of time, I will use the first one on your list as an example. IE; Cuts to Veterans.

The Liberal Government of Paul Martin introduced the New Veterans Charter in 2005, this bill was supported by the Conservatives, and was passed into law by the minority Conservative Government in 2006. This bill reduced veterans entitlements. In 2007 the Conservatives introduced the Veterans Bill of Rights. So there was in fact some reduction in new veterans pensions, but the legislation came from the Liberals.

Did it ever cross your mind that perhaps, just perhaps, this legislation was needed?? I suggest you take the issue up with Paul Martin and ask him why he felt it necessary to reduce Veterans Pensions.

Hello Thomas (Tom) Mulcair,

in elections ALL parties start with ZERO seats! What are you doing claiming that you need only 35 more seats to beat the Conservatives and that the Liberals need 100 ???

Definitely yet another attempt to fool people! Every party starts with Zero and the potential to win seats!

Just saying.

In think that Thomas (Tom) (Uriah Heep) Mulcair would have you believe that he will retain the seats the NDP won in the last election and just needs 35 more to form a Government. This is **spin** at its greatest.

I see the NDP going into a free fall in this election, and justifiably so. Mulcair is an opportunist and should never have been **crowned** as the leader of this party.

In any event I believe this will be his last **Hurrah**.

So its paul martins fault for harper ending veterans pensions… didnt even know martins in harpers cabinet…. harper did just recently.. but you blame someone not even in politics anymore… thats how scared the cons are…. making more stuff up to try to smoke screen the truth…

“This is **spin** at its greatest.”

Exactly!

Tom is throwing out some bait for potential last minute followers to take!

If all parties would retain the seats they won in the last election – why do we actually have an election now? It is ZERO seats for all parties unless the NDP gets a special exemption!

I got a good laugh out of his silly announcement!

Caeli auxiliator est noster! (Heaven help us!).

Palopu wrote: “…..however you seem not to be able to understand that a hell of a lot of people do not agree with your likes or dislikes. Furthermore you do not do enough research on your issue’s and tend to post only the information that supports your position. So in effect you and the information you put out is biased.

LOL…LOL… LOL>… talk about the pot calling the kettle black …. !!!!!

So the Toronto Star is a left leaning paper …. interesting that a left leaning paper is the paper which has the largest circulation of any Canadian paper …

The Globe and Mail has the second largest circulation (neck and neck with the Star), considered by most people to also be left leaning. It likes to think of itself as neutral and has supported Harper as PM for the last two elections. However, I am of the same view as those who believe it is also left leaning. It is much slicker and smoother in its way of being left leaning than the Star.

The Toronto Sun is blatantly right leaning and very much a local paper nowhere near to the stature of the preeminent Toronto and national papers. It circulation is half that of the Star. When combining the Star with the G&M, the Sun’s circulation is a quarter of the two.

The other National Paper from Toronto which is the National Post, a right leaning newspaper with less than half the circulation of the G&M.

So, in terms of getting the message out, and even more so in terms of what message people want to read, right or left leaning or centrist, I am sorry but the Star wins the battle.

Right wing… left wing …. so who is in the center?

The liberals….. and who is leading the latest polls …

well why don’t we just look up that “neutral” paper the G&M which states this about the Friday poll results…
———————- paraphrased from the G&M —————-

With one week left the campaign for political power in Canada has come down to trying to catch Justin Trudeau.

Stephen Harper’s Conservatives are scrambling to raise red flags about what economic perils of putting Mr. Trudeau in office.

The Liberals have increased their lead nationally over the Cons to 6.8 percentage points. That is the 11th straight day the Liberals have polled ahead of the Cons. The Cons are below the 30-per-cent mark for the third day in a row.

Mr. Trudeau’s party has sufficient support, pollsters say, to win a strong minority government. That is a reversal of fortune in two month campaign.

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The strategy was to play the Liberals as the underdog …. so far, the wrong strategy …. one does not wave a red cape in front of a Bull itchin’ to fight….. let’s see whether Harper will get gored, or Trudeau will get lanced.

An interesting election period is starting …. one more week…..

One thing’s for certain, with another Trudeau in office WE will get screwed. Spend your money quickly if that happens, before he raises the GST back up to 7%, or beyond, and the inflation he’ll cause runs up the prices of everything you need or want.

Trudeau and the Libs heading to a majority gov. and he has such beautiful hair to. LOL. Don’t worry I sure all the red necks of PG will once again send 2 useless MP’s.

Angus Reid polling which has the reputation of having the best record for polling accuracy over the years.

10-7 to 10-9 CPC 33 LIB 31
9-28 to 9-30 CPC 33 LIB 27.

So it depends on who’s poll you are looking at and how accurate their record is.

I would expect another Angus Reid Poll out soon, so we will see what it says.

No doubt its shaping up to be a close election. One good thing coming out of it so far is that it appears that the NDP is taking a hike.

Green Party projected to win 1 seat, and Bloc 4.

Ataloss must be consoling MS May at this point in time,.

Polls are NoT accurate.. It has been proven numerous times.. But again the cons on grasping at straws

P Val. Lets finish the Veterans issue.

April 6, 2006 the Conservative Government enacted the New Veterans Charter, which represented the greatest change to veteran care since the 2nd world war. While the bill was conceived and passed by the previous Liberal Government, Harper championed the policy. The bill was voted on and passed by all members of Parliament.

So this is documented fact. This was Liberal policy and a Liberal bill, that was passed by the Liberals and enacted by a MINORITY Conservative Government and passed by all members.

So, if you want to attach blame then you better blame them all.

I am not up to speed on this particular issue, however I know that it is highly unlikely that you will get changes to this bill by voting for the Liberals, as it is their legislation. Remember the two past Prime Ministers hanging onto Trudeau’s shoulder during this campaign?? One of them was Paul Martin. This is his legislation, and if the Liberals are elected I doubt if they will do anything.

So wake up and smell the roses.

F-150:”Don’t worry I sure all the red necks of PG will once again send 2 useless MP’s.”

Yes! Like those who walk in a religious parade and flagellate themselves with spiked chains until the flood drips down their backs.

Why, you ask?

Nobody knows! (Archie Bunker).

Palopu.. Okay. Let’s chat about veterans

Harper took 1.1billion out from veterans funding and returned it to general revenue

This act you are mentioning cancelled pensions to veterans offering them instead a one time payment and the vets list up to %90 of their pensions worth

Harpers largest cut in staff was to veterans affairs..making it extremely hard for veterans to be heard.

HARPER spent over $750,000 in legal fees battling the vets in court

All this was done while Harper was at the helm… you need to start putting the blame where it rightly belongs..Harper

P Val. You are operating under the illusion (or delusion) that none of these cuts were necessary.

If we Governed this Country by only doing what people want we would all have million dollar homes, big cars, huge vacations, etc; etc; all at the expense of who??? We are not talking about Harpers money, or the Governments money, we are talking about tax dollars.

Everything that the Conservatives do to reduce costs are denigrated by the lefties, who seem to think that there is an endless supply of money.

Harper carried on with the Liberal legislation made cuts where it was deemed necessary or prudent.

Lurking in the background on this issue is the Veterans Affairs Public Sector Union, that lost a bunch of jobs because of these changes. Is it possible that they, and the NDP/Liberals are keeping this issue alive, to try and garner votes. Hmmmmm.

5,832,401 Canadians voted for the Conservatives in the last election. That’s an awful lot of red necks, and an awful lot of flagellating.

Perhaps Prince George and F-150 cannot comprehend such a large number.

What’s an F-32?

Np and here comes Palopu with a long list of excuses of why Harper sucks..

Defoe oops…F-35.

Or Palopu is it you and your fellow cons are trying to hide reality with the blame game..pathetic dude

A glimpse into the tiny mind of Justin Trudeau, a quote from a French-language interview with Tele-Quebec that was shot in 2010:

“Canada isn’t doing well right now because it’s Albertans who control our community and socio-democratic agenda. It doesn’t work.”

Asked if Canada is better served when there are more Quebecers in power than when there are more Albertans in power, Mr. Trudeau replied: “I’m a Liberal so of course I believe that.”

He went on to add: “certainly when we look at the great prime ministers of the 20th century, those that really stood the test of time, they were MPs from Quebec. … This country — Canada — it belongs to us.”

JT, I’m not sure, but are you suggesting that Canada belongs to Quebec?

I’m sure glad that I voted for Stephen Harper and the Conservatives! Only a Quebecor or a fool would vote for Trudeau!

P Val, are you from Quebec, or are you…..?

P Val. I cannot believe that you are as pathetic as you appear to be.

Please tell me that this is all an act, and that in fact you do have a modicum of reality in your life.

Again Palopu you say nothing.. I put down facts and your retort is nothing…

Hart guy.. I am sure the veterans appreciate your boy Harper abandoning them.. So you don’t care that they put their life on the line for our country.. Some even come from Quebec… But to hell with the ones who came back injured etc.. Sorry people.. We don’t care about you.. Now go away, your bothering conservatives.

Hart Guy:-“JT, I’m not sure, but are you suggesting that Canada belongs to Quebec?”
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That seemed to be his father’s attitude, so it wouldn’t be surprising if it had been inherited by the son. He talks about “uniting Canadians”, but the kind of ‘unity’ his father believed in spurred on separatist movements not only in Quebec, but in Alberta and BC as well. If WAC Bennett, who was Premier here early when PET was in power, hadn’t believed in a united Canada and had said the word, there’s little doubt we’d now be living in the Dominion of British Columbia. And it would have been much preferred to the kind of Canada Trudeau, Sr. envisioned ~ a centralised, socialist republic dominated by a big city elite as detested in their native Quebec by the Quebecois as they were in most of the two most western Provinces.

PVal, there are veterans from the USA, and no doubt other countries who have been in recent combat zones and injured in the line of duty in some way who also feel their governments have abandoned them. Have they? Or are some people who’ve served always going to feel that way regardless of how much is done for them? People like you go on and on about how Harper failed to balance the budget at a time when doing so would have caused a worsening of the overall economic situation. Yet you want him to provide all the things you say he’s cut that would’ve made the deficits he did run far larger than they were? Now just how was he supposed to do that? It certainly couldn’t have been done the way the other Parties envision. They all talk about raising taxes, on the wealthy, or on corporations. But experience with their prescriptions in the past has shown their spending always ends up being funded ultimately by all of us. We pay more, and get ever the less for it. We get higher pay, but its purchasing power declines further, and we end up even more in debt. Harper isn’t perfect, but he’s been a lot better at leaving us all more of what we earn than any of his recent pre-decessors have, by far.