There was something missing in
the Conservative minority government's first budget,
delivered on May 2. The vaunted GST reduction? No, that's
there. Generous tax cuts benefiting corporate Canada?
Those are there too. Oh yes, conspicuous by its absence
is Canadian voters' top concern: healthcare.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty didn't
announce any cuts to healthcare transfers. Nor did he
announce any increases. This is a blow to provinces
hoping for new money to address transfers reduced under
the Liberals. The Tories hinted at sweeping and vague
changes to the relationship between Ottawa and the provinces
they promise will address the fiscal imbalance issue.
Crucially, fiscal responsibility will be transferred
back to the provinces, along with more "predictable"
levels of funding for services they control, including
healthcare. This hands-off approach is likely to make
at least two provinces happy: Quebec and Alberta. Bloc-Québecois
leader Gilles Duceppe has already expressed his delight
with the plan. The Tories also say they'll let the provinces
at those surpluses the Liberals so jealously guarded
as a 'rainy day' fund, starting next year. But they
still haven't said exactly how they'll do it.
Will it be like the set-up they
propose for childcare? Instead of the more paternalistic
Liberal concept of a centrally-administered public system,
the Tories will allocate a yearly allowance of $1,200
per child to parents. They can spend it any way they
like. If Daddy wants to spend the extra $100 a month
on beer and cigarettes, Stephen Harper surely won't
be there to check.
A province could likewise flout
its responsibility. Instead of improving healthcare,
it could, say, spend its share of the kitty on testing
the waters of independence (QC), constructing white
elephant green houses (NL) or building up an ill-fated
fleet of super-fast ferries (BC). Will Papa Harper shake
his head and tut and ask if they've learned their lesson?
During their long reign, the Liberals'
PM was a domineering parent who forced the provinces
to cling to his apron strings. But Mr Harper's hands-off
parenting approach could be equally disastrous for healthcare.
Generous funds allocated specifically to healthcare
for each province would help provinces dig themselves
out of the depression most of them are in. And increased
funding for countrywide problems like wait times would
at least ensure that the quality of health services
in all the provinces gets the same equalized treatment
promised for transfer payments. — Gillian Woodford,
Editor
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