The Huron Expositor, 1999-03-31, Page 5CASE lir
Reform critic
speaks in county
about health care
BY CARL STAYROS
Clinton News -Record Staff
Member of Parliament and
Deputy Health Critic Elley
Reed was touring through
Huron County last week
setting up "town hall"
meetings to -promote the
Reform Party's policies and
direction to local residents.
He stopped at Central Huron
Secondary .. School
Wednesday night. -
"We are getting the
message out that there .are
other views." said Reed
referring to the dominance of
Liberal policy in Ontario.
Reed feels that Ontario is
not aware of the policies of
the Reform Party, meaning
that the message to Ontarians
is often misrepresented. By
getting to the grassroots level
and making contact with the
• local Reform . Party
organization, the word can be
heard more accurately and
"effectively". •
Among the issues that
Reed•feels must be addressed
to ensure that Huron County
residents. have an accurate
view of the Reform Party -are
health care and the economy
related to taxes.
"I think that most
Canadians have apriority list
of things that they want
government to do. and we
know that health care is right
up there." Reed. 'said. •
Reed stated that the
Reform Party' believes it is a
necessity to update the
universal. medicare system in
Canada to make it more
financially feasible.
The other major problem
Reed pointed out regarding
the current state of the health
care system is "simply a
shortage of funds". •
• "In the last five years. (the
Liberals) have cut $17 pillion
from the health care system
in Canada ... you can't take
that amount of money out of
the system and expect that
everything will be okay,"
Reed said. As a result,. the
provinces were left with a
• huge gap.in their -funding due
to the massive cuts made in
the transfer payments from
the federal government. This
. drop in disposable money left
the provinces "scrambling"
and; therefore, -they were -
forced to make drastic cuts.
With less money in the
health care system. Reed
expressed concern regarding
the future of medicare. He
pointed out that in the next
10 years. as the nation's 9.2
million baby boomers begin
to age and access the health
care system, it will be relied
upon more heavily than ever
before. Taking this factor into
consideration, Reed and the
Reform Party feel that
precautions must be taken
now to avoid a potentially
disastrous situation, which he
stressed the Liberals are not
doing.
Although the obvious
problem is a lack of funding,
according to Reed, the
problem is not limited to
financial parameters. He
expressed that the concept of
universal health care is
something that Canadians
feel is a defining
characteristic of our country
and we are not willing to
sacrifice the concept.
However, Reed believes the
structure must be reformed to
be practical in today's world.
"There . needs t� be a
federal government initiated
review of the health care
system that includes talking
with the provinces, health
care professionals and
ordinary Canadians about the
collective wisdom we have in
Canada that could fix this
thing," explained Reed.
One example of the type of
reform Reed discussed is an
initiative to have privately
owned medical facilities that
are government. regulated.
These facilities would exist
as an option to the present,
overburdened diagnostic
services across the country.
Patients would receive their
treatment at the facility. then
forward thebill to the
government. This way.
universal medicare would be
protected, but the facilities
would be able to bear the
cost of establishing and
maintaining the facilities. He
added that towns like Clinton
could benefit from such
policies as services
previously available only in
London or Toronto could
then be offered on a local
level.
This is only one idea of
potential reform to health
care, -according to the
Reform Party. Reed stated
that these are the types of
changes that need to be
looked at, adding that "the
Liberals have consistently
refused to do this (type of)
review."
Sincethe_Reform Part has
seen no action on this matter,
"we initiated our own
Reform health task force...
and are coming up with our
own recommendations,"
Reed stated.
He indicated that the
report of Reform's task force
will be ready for review in a
month's time.
Vincent Farm .Equipment
Seaforth
Cordially Invite
You To Attend Our Spring Kick Off •
Breakfast &
Open House
Sat., April 10, 1999
8 am - 1 pm
Highlights include:
The New CIH MX Magnum,
MX & CX Series of Tractors. ATV
Driving Range,
- Garden Tractor Driving Range,
Numerous -Door Prizes
Be Sure To Attend
82s a�o>t
Shop
Locally
Grace Tilford of Seaforth Manor Nursing Home holds a
lamb brought to the Manor by Janny Stryker March23:
HILGENOORFF PHOTO
Board has $ 100,000 less.
BY SUSAN HUNDERTMARK
Expositor Staff . •
The Avon Niaitland District
School Board• is.. already/.
receiving•S100,000 less than
it needs from the province for
transportation and has
achieved all the cost
efficiencies it can through the
shared busing the province's.
new transportation funding
review committee . is
recoinmending, business-
r.
usinessf- superintendent Janet Baird-
• Jackson told the board at last
night's meeting.
. She told the board that_
recommendations school
hoards be required to .set up.
consortia by .January, 2000
with offices 'outside- of
participating hoards will -
actually cost . the Avon
Maitland board money that it
cannot recover from savings
from shared busing since
theca are no more'savings to
be made.
"We've got elementary.
secondary. public, _Catholic
and Christian students all on
the same bus. Setting up a
consortia could be a pretty
futile exercise' for us. The
•irony is we've been doing it
all along because we've had
to," she said.
Board vice-rhair Bob Allan
said he i.s troubled by the
province's inability to
recognize the savings. rural
hoards have already_ made in
transportation. • . / .
"This is an instance where,
' rural -Ontario and the Avon'
Maitland hoped doesn't d•0
very well. For one more vex.
we'll sit and rccei‘L poor
transportation grant; ++ hilt
our eilicleneies are not
— recognized.. he said.
Baird-Jackson-saidthe
hoard will hare. 'to
comntunicatc witli • 'the
province about its concerns
and denuinstratcthe sharing
and ctist savings that are
already taking place.
For Easter
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527-180
t4 Main Sr.
Seaforth
THE HURON EXPOSITOR, March 31, 1999-5
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