Thursday, October 7, 2010

The Liberals Family Health Plan is Getting the Expected Harperite Response. WE HATE HEALTH CARE!!!!!

Michael Ignatieff has unveiled a plan to help Canadians care for their elderly family members.

Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff is pledging $1 billion to help Canadians care for sick or elderly relatives, a key part of his party's election platform.

Ignatieff said Tuesday he plans to pay for his family-care program by eliminating corporate tax cuts proposed by the Conservative government, including a 1.5 percentage point cut slated to kick in Jan. 1.
But he made the mistake of adding two words that are a red flag to neocons everywhere. 'Family' and 'Health', which is neocon speak for "the non-corporate sector feeding at the public trough."

Diane Finley had a meldown and her husband, Doug, is said to be running around in circles, breaking wind. Environment Canada called it a level one storm.
Yesterday, Conservative Minister Diane Finley dismissed the concerns of caregivers across the country by attacking the Liberal plan to support family caregivers by saying they don’t need any additional help: “There are a number of other devices that people, many employees do have access to in these sorts of situations. Employees do have vacation leave that they can use.”
What if they have no job Diane? Your government is intent on destroying all good union jobs, where people might actually get a good paid vacation.

It is a good plan, that finally puts taxpayer money where it belongs. With taxpayers. As James Travers says:
Even if Michael Ignatieff’s $1 billion home care plan proves less effective and more expensive than expected, it’s still sound policy, solid politics and money better spent than on a two-day bun-toss and chinwag. Getting the ill out of hospital sooner and keeping the old at home longer cuts institutional costs, eases family stress and is a logical next step for a country that often defines itself by its social conscience.

So it’s no surprise that a promise that resonates so clearly is under attack. Armed to the teeth with talking points, Conservatives are denouncing the plan as reckless, recycled and sure to raise taxes.

It’s a scripted argument central to the mantra that power-lusting Liberals can’t wait to get their grasping hands back on your money. It would be more persuasive if record Conservative spending, much of it shaped by partisan calculation, hadn’t blown an inherited $13 billion surplus, putting Ottawa squarely on track for deficits long before the financial market crash.
I love it.

5 comments:

  1. There is much to be said in favor of Ignatieff's plan, which, while far from perfect, at least proposes that the government consider the needs of the electorate in a humanitarian way, something the Alliance-Reform nazis do not do.

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  2. We need to keep up that momentum. The past five years have been about abortion, same-sex marriage, guns and prisons.

    We need to change the agenda and debate back to the things that matter to everyone, not the things that divide everyone.

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  3. The delivery of health care is the responsibility of the provinces and need provincial agreement to implement. When will we get some policies in federal areas of responsibility?

    $100/month will not pay for much elder care, the UI system would work much better.

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  4. The provinces are responsible but they must abide by the Canada Health Act.

    It's puyting health care back on the agenda though. The Harper government never focuses on things that matter. Only guns, war, abortion, etc.

    BTW: What is the UI plan?

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