Health care is so vital, that many believe it is a service that must be accessible to all, especially in modern democratic societies. While this maybe true, the reality is like everything else in life, free health care comes at a price. Canadian patients must pay the price of time. Whether it is waiting hours in the ER or having to wait 1.5 years to see a specialist, it is quite evident there is a big problem on our hands.

Canadians who uphold our health care system, would argue that its better for everyone to wait, rather than have many without access to health services at all. They often point the finger at the United States, where 15 million Americans are uninsured. Arguably, that is simply unacceptable.

The reality is, the choices that we make are determined by what societies value the most. In terms of healthcare, it comes down to equality vs. efficiency. Canada is far more egalitarian in nature, compared to its southern neighbor. For Canadians, it is better so that everyone has access to health care – even if it means we have to wait.

However, I can’t help but wonder, why despite being one of the most developed countries in the world, Canadians have to make such a difficult choice. Rather than having to pick one or the other, why can’t we have an equal and efficient healthcare system?

Within the past 20 years, Germany has radically reformed their health care system. Private hospitals have grown by 90%. Today, about 33% of hospitals in Germany are for profit. Hence, the Germans have developed a system where both the visible and invisible hand play a role.

Interestingly, we don’t see any of the problems critics claim, where the poor are left sick and untreated.

German statistics have shown that since the increase private hospitals, their health care system has been able to treat patients more effectively and quicker. In addition, no one is left without getting treatment. What about the long wait times in emergency rooms? They don’t exist in Germany.

So this leads me to my point. In a very developed country like Canada, why should we have to make a choice? Its about time that Canadians follow suit in Germany’s path.

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/ontariovotes2011/story/2011/09/23/ontario-leaders-debate548.html

It runs from 6:30pm to 8:00pm and it’ll be broadcast live by CBC Television (Channel 26 for most of you).

It’s a round-robin style debate tonight, with a total of 6 rounds.

Round 1 starts off with McGuinty vs. Hudak.

Round 2 will be Horwath vs. Hudak.

Round 3 features McGuinty vs. Horwath.

Then we’ll see a repeat of the first three rounds and each leader will have a chance to give a closing statement.

If you’d like to join other Young Liberals tonight to watch the debate, let me know! I’ll send you the details, just send a quick email to community@tcyl.ca

Premier McGuinty began by thanking the youth in attendance for their inspiration, but it was McGuinty who continued to inspire the youth in this pub. He reminded them the importance of making sure that all young people, from all families, all have the opportunity they need – to get the jobs they want to help Ontario build the economy it needs so that we can support great public services like healthcare and education.

McGuinty’s Liberals have already created 200,000 more spaces in post-secondary schools and they’ve increased funding for both universities and colleges. They’ve brought back grants and have put a cap on student debt at $7,300 dollars per year on OSAP loans. McGuinty has the support of youth and this event just proved it even further. He showed his light side and poured beer for some of those who attended, it was a great event!

Check out a video from Sunday afternoon:

Youth Rally in Toronto

From left to right: Michelle, Michael, Paulina and Chris

From left to right: Rona, Chris and Michael

NDP Leader Andrea Horwath released the party’s platform at Ryerson University. They’ve not only promised to freeze tuition fees for universities and colleges, but also said they’ll scrap the interest on the provincial portion of student loans. In other words, a program that comes with a hefty price tag of a total of $365 million dollars in its fourth year will only save students a mere $60 dollars per year.

On the other hand, Liberal Leader Premier Dalton McGuinty, has clearly made education a core focus on the campaign trail. Instead of opting for a tuition freeze, the Liberals have promised a 30 per cent reduction in university tuition fees for families earning less than $160,000, and by the way, that would account for more than 80% of students in Ontario. The Liberals would offer a new scholarship grant that would amount to $1,600 per university student and $730 per college student.

Let’s do the math…an average B.A. program is a total of 4 years. Horwath’s plan would include savings  of $240. McGuinty’s plan would save each university student over $6000 and over $2900 for college students.

Let’s give the education the recognition it deserves. It is after all, key for development.

Forward. Together.

The Ontario Liberal platform can be found: here

Like @Dalton_McGuinty’s Facebook page and be the first to get a sneak peek of our platform on Monday! http://www.facebook.com/PremierMcGuinty

The “Banning Asbestos Exports to Developing Countries” policy that was passed can be viewed here: click here

For a quick update on this topic, make sure to check out this interesting video recently posted by Ontario News Watch: click here (Thanks for sharing Chris!)

The Globe and Mail also has a great article: click here

Student revives Young Liberals

By CAROL MULLIGAN, THE SUDBURY STAR

Just months ago, Laurentian University didn’t have a Young Liberals club. During the weekend, it hosted the annual policy conference of the Ontario Young Liberals that drew 175 delegates aged 14-26 from across the province.

The highlight of Summer Fling was a visit Saturday from Ontario Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty, who announced a new initiative born out of a conference like the Sudbury one.

Click here for the full article.

And check out this video from the Sudbury Star:

Ontario Young Liberals in Sudbury

 

And this from CTV Northern Ontario:

Premier McGuinty at SummerFling

These media pieces highlight that when Young Liberals gather to talk about policy and bring people together from across the Province, it gets attention. Congratulations to all the organizers of SummerFling 2011 and to the Toronto Centre Young Liberal members for attending and contributing!

While there are many important commitments in the document, one stands out for the Toronto Centre Young Liberals: an investment in affordable housing. This has been a policy that TCYL has pushed for over several years and you can read our policy in this section of our website. There are other issues critical to Toronto Centre that TCYL has advocated for including child care, supports for new Canadians, reducing poverty and investing in public transit.

What’s the point to getting involved? This platform shows that joining the Toronto Centre Young Liberals and working hard on the issues you’re passionate about can make a difference!

While I did not agree with all his proposals, I could not help but agree with the notion that it was not enough for us as Liberals to just bring attention to and criticize the actions of the “Harper Government.” If we truly care about our institutions and the state of this civil society in this country, we as Liberals need to present ourselves as viable, trustworthy alternatives to the Conservatives and ensure Canadians that we will reverse the damage that has been done and restore our democracy.

As documented on this blog, since coming into power, the Harper Government, as they liked to be called, and the Conservative Party of Canada have proven to Canadians that they simply cannot be trusted to respect or protect the principles and institutions that form the very foundation of our democracy.

More recently, the federal government has been found in “contempt of Parliament”, an unprecedented low for the Government of Canada.

Nevertheless, that the Harper Government should be the very first government in Canadian history to be found in contempt of an institution that is at the very core of our democracy should really come as no surprise. After all, this is a Prime Minister that has ignored political convention and twice prorogued Parliament in an attempt to hold on to power and silence his critics. This is a government that has used the Senate, not only as a patronage tool, but also to overturn the will of the House of Commons, despite the Prime Minister’s long history of advocating for a Triple-E Senate. This is a government that has consistently held parliament hostage, attacked the public service, strategized how to disrupt committees and willfully mislead the House while continuing to further centralize power within the Prime Minister’s Office.

The last time I wrote an entry in this blog, I urged us to stand up to this government’s blatant disregard and contempt of democracy, to hold this government to account. I repeated Lawrence Martin’s refrain for the Liberal Party of Canada to demonstrate to Canadians a solid commitment to better governance and accountability, to respect for our democratic traditions and institutions.

Since then, I have been very pleased to see Michael Ignatieff and the Liberal Party of Canada pushing back against the actions of this government while presenting a plan to renew our democracy:

A Liberal government will renew democracy in Canada by:

• Making open government our default position for releasing information to the public;
• Holding a weekly People’s Question Period to allow Canadians to directly engage the prime minister and cabinet ministers with unfiltered questions;
• Limiting the prime minister’s power to prorogue Parliament;
• Reducing the size of the Prime Minister’s Office and returning to cabinet government; and
• Respecting the independence of watchdogs, boards and commissions.

As we now find ourselves preparing for a federal election this spring, these are exactly the kind of commitments I am proud to see from the Liberal Party of Canada, and as we embark on another election campaign, I hope to see more of them.

The ever-growing size and influence of the Prime Minister’s Office is an issue that I have become particularly concerned with in recent years, particularly under this government, as we have seen legislative power and decision-making shift away from elected members and into the hands of unaccountable party stalwarts in the PMO. By restoring power to cabinet and the legislature, as well as reforming Question Period, we can help make Parliament and the role of Members of Parliament more relevant in our politics and hopefully restore trust in our public institutions as well.

Stephen Harper and the Conservatives are going to try to make this election about the economy, but really, so far as I am concerned, in addition to the many other issues on the minds of Canadians, this should be an election about trust, an election about respect, an election about what kind of government you want to have and what kind of people you want running it.

We currently have in power a governing party that is facing charges under the Election Act. We have a government that has purposefully blurred the lines between party and state for partisan gain on numerous occasions, including an unprecedented amount of self-serving government advertising, paid for with public money.

Conservatives, journalists and pundits are quick to dismiss the kind of democratic issues I have addressed throughout this post as “insider baseball,” as esoteric issues that do not concern the “average” Canadian- this is a very dangerous attitude to have. When we allow others to tell us what people care about, we allow ourselves to become cynical, passive participants in our own democracy. It is precisely this kind of attitude that creates apathy among the electorate, mistrust of institutions, disengagement from civic life, and this has absolutely detrimental effects on the health our democracy.

Stephen Harper and the Conservative Party of Canada want people to be disengaged, to not care about their abuses of power, for people to think that politicians are not to be trusted and feel that political participation is meaningless. Low voter turnout has generally favoured the incumbent, and with the last election’s historic low, the Conservatives are depending on voter apathy to keep them in power.

While I do not doubt that issues like parliamentary privilege are not the most pressing concerns for a majority of Canadians, what’s important to recognize is that disrespect for Parliament, for the constitution, for the public service, for the rules that we expect our politicians and public officials to follow ultimately demonstrates disrespect for Canada and its people. This is not the kind of government I want for my country.

As the Harper Government is expected to fall this Friday on a Liberal motion that the House finds the Government in contempt of Parliament and has thus lost the confidence of the House of Commons, I can freely admit that while I did not want an election right now, I have been ready to campaign against this government for quite some time. 

This government has done more than enough damage to our country and it has been very difficult to watch. Let’s bring down Stephen Harper and the Conservatives and start to restore democracy in Canada.

I wanted to attend the event regardless of how jet lagged I felt because I knew it would be a wonderful experience. I did not know how well I would adjust to the political environment but I was confident that I would look back on the day and say that I took part in an extraordinary opportunity. Even though I was not a Minister of or Parliamentary Assistant, I got to sit in the Legislature in the actual seat of a Member of Provincial Parliament. I was able to enjoy heated debates about different bills from the Young Conservatives, Young NDP and my fellow Young Liberals. I even witnessed some humourous and pointed heckling uttered by my fellow MPPs!

Besides sitting in the seat of a MPP and listening to the debate on the bills, Model Parliament participants heard from several special guest speakers including Jamie Watt, Scott Reid, Premier McGuinty, the Minister of Aboriginal Affairs Chris Bentley. These speeches were uplifting and proved to me that people from my generation can truly make a difference.

I’m glad I was asked to attend. The opportunity gave me a newer appreciation for politics. As well, hearing the voices of young people reassured me that our voices will not be lost if we get involved!