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September 2004
Halton Hills:
Recently the Prime Minister signed a 10
year health accord with the provincial premiers. While I have some
concerns, I believe that this health accord is a good first step to
resolving some of the problems facing our health care system. It’s good
news for Canadians, and potentially good news for Wellington-Halton
Hills.
This accord
provides for $41 billion in new money over 10 years. Numbers of
that size become meaningless, so I’ll try to break it down. The
first 6 years call for $3 billion in new money per year; with 308
ridings, Wellington-Halton Hills should expect to receive $9.7
million in new money per year for health care. This should go a
long way to fix health care in Wellington-Halton Hills. This is a
very simple analysis, but it will give you an idea of what we are
talking about.
Where is the
money going to come from? As we argued during the election, money
is available for healthcare without having to raise taxes; in recent
years the government has consistently underestimated the surplus.
As mentioned
previously, I do have some concerns. In Halton Hills, Acton has a
severe shortage of family doctors. Family doctors are important
gatekeepers in our system; without one, you can’t get a prescription
or get referred to a specialist. I am also still concerned about
the future of Georgetown Hospital as a full service community
hospital. We need to ensure that this additional money goes to
solving these problems in Halton Hills. Your federal government has
provided the money. It is now up to the provincial Ministry of
Health to address these concerns with municipal officials,
hospitals, healthcare professionals and other stakeholders. I
certainly will be raising this issue with Health Minister Smitherman.
Email:
Chong.M@parl.gc.ca
www.mikechong.ca
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