Harper writes Liberals platform.

Governing party void of ideas

Harper promises guaranteed wait times for health services
02 December 2005

CBC News on-line

**Excerpt**

A Conservative government would establish and enforce guaranteed wait times for health-care services, Stephen Harper said on Friday.

He also moved to counter his critics by denying he intends to damage public medicare.

"There will be no private, parallel system," Harper told a campaign rally in Winnipeg.

The provinces and the federal government would gather to establish waiting times for various services, and would guarantee that they will be adhered to.

"We will reduce waiting times; we will hold governments accountable," he said.

A cancer patient, for example, should start radiation treatments no more than 10 working days after seeing a cancer specialist, Harper said. Patients should not wait more than 10 months for non-urgent hip and knee replacements.

A group of medical organizations called the Wait Times Alliance, suggested those as medically acceptable targets.

Harper's plan would allow patients to go to other provinces to get services their own province can't provide within the time limits.

This type of guarantee, Harper said, is "the only way that government can preserve the principles of the Canada Health Act and respect requirements of the Charter of Rights."

In September 2004, Prime Minister Paul Martin signed a $41-billion agreement with the provinces, which the Liberals touted as a fix for a generation.

"I will not call our approach a quick fix," Harper said. "It is a call to action. We are going to reduce wait times, we are going to hold governments accountable for their commitments, we are going to do what it takes to protect the public health-care system and respect the charter."

Harper said his party would work with the provinces to set other priorities for health care, including getting more doctors into the system by expanding educational programs.


Supporting Canadian Families: The Canada Health Guarantee
January 04, 2006

Supporting Canadian Families: The Canada Health GuaranteePrime Minister Paul Martin today set out the next steps in the Liberal government’s plan to support Canadian families with a bold new health platform, including a Canada Health Care Guarantee; 1,000 new family doctors; a new National Cancer Strategy; and a Canadian Mental Health Commission.

“Canadian families have a right to a health care system that puts their needs first. They have a right to quality care in a timely manner by ensuring that critical wait times are reduced. They have a right to a health care system that is accountable to them. Above all, they have a right to care based on need not ability to pay,” Prime Minister Martin said.

That’s exactly the kind of health care system that the Liberal government will deliver.

Building on our strong record of getting results for Canadian families through collaboration with the provinces and territories, we will ensure Canadian families have access to the quality health care they need, when they need it.

The Canada Health Care Guarantee

Working with patients, health care providers and governments, a new Liberal government will act to ensure Canadians get the care they need, where they live, within medically-accepted timeframes.

An additional $300 million will further increase capacity in Canadian teaching hospitals to reduce wait times, and a $50 million investment in the Canada Health Infoway will accelerate the development of registries, booking systems and electronic health records to aid in wait list management. A further $10 million invested through the Canadian Institutes for Health Research will develop a national research agenda for the development of future wait-times benchmarks.

As well, an investment of $10 million will help foster patient-management training programs for health professionals, particularly physicians, aimed at wait list management and helping patients navigate the health system.

We will also invest $75 million to create a Health Care Guarantee Fund to assist patients and a family member with travel and accommodation costs to receive treatment in a public facility in another province in order for them to obtain timely care.

An NDP budget? Now a Conservative plan for health care? This is what happens when you don't have a vision for Canada. Hey Dithers, it is supposed to be fiscally conservative and socially progressive, not the other way around.