Layton softens stand on clinics
Can’t stop growth of two-tier medicine, NDP leader admits Parties’ differences on private vs. public care turn murky
New Democratic Party Leader Jack Layton, who has portrayed himself as the lone champion of public health care in the current election, now admits he can’t stop the growth of two-tier medicine in Canada and says he wouldn’t shut down private clinics. The admission takes the wind out of a key issue for the NDP in the campaign and further muddies the distinctions among all the political parties in the debate over private versus public health care.
In a speech to supporters in Vancouver yesterday, Layton vowed that only the NDP would stop the “ American- style” privatization of the health system. But later his position blurred when he said his party would not act to close private clinics already in operation.
“That’s been available since medicare was established. That’s a fundamental aspect of what Tommy Douglas established,” he said, referring to the founding father of the NDP movement.
Instead, Layton said he would change the regulations to ensure private clinics do not get public funding, something he said Prime Minister Paul Martin has so far refused.
It was, in fact, a breakdown in Liberal- NDP talks on protecting public health care that led Layton to join forces with other
opposition parties and bring down the government a week ago, launching an election that will be held on Jan. 23.
“ Our focus is on what happens to the public tax dollars that we all contribute to help take care of Canadians. We want them going to non- profit and public facilities and services and physicians,” the federal NDP leader said.
“ We don’t want them going to the American-style, for-profit health corporations that end up skimming off profits instead of financing people’s health care.”
Health care was a dominant issue in the 2004 campaign, with all parties staked out on reasonably distinct grounds, but that’s not shaping up to be the case in this campaign as the positions get more blurred and complex. Thanks to a variety of developments, it may be becoming the non-issue of the campaign of 2005- 06.
Conservative Leader Stephen Harper unveiled a policy on waiting times last week that differs from the Liberals mainly in nuance and emphasis. On CTV’s Question Period
broadcast yesterday, he portrayed his position as one mainly of reality over ideology.
“ We’ve had a growth in private medicine, a lot of it delivered within the publicly insured system. I think this is a distinction the public does make,” Harper said.
“ There’s a difference between, you know, how a health-care service is managed or provided, versus whether or not that health- care service is within the public insurance system. And what we want to make sure and what our emphasis is ( is) that we maintain the principle of the Canada Health Act, which is that core and necessary and essential services be publicly insured and that they be provided to people when they need them regardless of whether they’re provided through a public or private provider.”
Liberals, meanwhile, are awaiting a report from the provinces as soon as this week on benchmarks for waiting times, which they are bound to use as proof of progress made in the quest to preserve medicare.
Provinces such as Alberta and Quebec have been moving preemptively to make sure that health care doesn’t become a political football in this long election campaign.
In Quebec City, Health Minister Philippe Couillard announced on Friday, for instance, that he will delay tabling a consultation paper on health care until after the election. Quebec had been prepared to make public a document that would lay out the options for Quebec’s response to the Supreme Court judgment that upheld citizens’ rights to private health- care insurance. The result would have been a full- scale debate on the public health- care system in the middle of an election campaign.
All these events seem to be conspiring to make health care a non- issue in this campaign — too complex to be debated in the short time frame and polarizing rhetoric of the political theatre. Still, Layton parried with the federal Liberals yesterday on who stood up more for public health care.
“Liberals and Conservatives will allow more private, forprofit health care — more Americanmedicine,” he told diners at a Chinese restaurant enjoying dim sum yesterday morning.
In a biting attack, he accused Health Minister Ujjal Dosanjh of doing nothing to stop the growth of fee- charging clinics and suggested the minister has “ sold out completely.” But Dosanjh responded later, saying it was Layton who “ walked away” from Liberal efforts to strengthen public health care and went into the “embrace” of the Conservatives, referring to the opposition efforts to bring down the government last week.
“ I find it amazing for Mr. Layton to say that he is the champion of health care and we’re not. It’s absolutely untrue,” Dosanjh told reporters. Dosanjh admitted he’s concerned by private clinics.
“ My concern is that if that goes on and on and on you are then . . . building up a robust second tier. That’s not something the federal government can, by law, prevent from happening. It is up to the provinces,” he said. He said private clinics providing medically necessary services and seeking public funding “ can’t charge user fees and you can’t allow people to jump the queue.
“ Those are the conditions that apply,” Dosanjh said, adding that he’s been talking to the provinces to ensure those rules are enforced.
Layton will be in the Toronto riding of St. Paul’s today where he will make an economic announcement with former banker Paul Summerville, the NDP candidate. Layton and Bloc Québécois Leader Gilles Duceppe were the only leaders campaigning allout yesterday, with Harper taking the day off and Martin making only a brief, photo- opportunity appearance to buy a Christmas wreath.
Pacing is an issue in this second week of the long election campaign, and with the holidays approaching, it remains to be seen how much the political parties will want to keep themselves front and centre before the voters.
Harper, appearing on Question Period, said he believed the Liberals were keeping the gloves off right now but predicted the campaign would get historically nasty once the holidays were over.
“I suspect after Christmas we’re going to see the most vicious, negative campaign in history. But I think the public wants to know about the future of the country, not how bad the other guy is,” Harper said.