Former Saskatchewan Premier Roy Romanow calls them tepid.
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty is saying no means no.
There is likely more frustration at Victoria’s Premiers’ meeting this week than among the coaching staff of the wilting Toronto Maple Leafs.
The Premiers first arrived after discovering the Federal government had unilaterally decided on what the funding side of the next health care accord would look like.
The Niagara Health System and the Peterborough Regional Health Centre are frequently on the radar of the public, and presumably, the Minister of Health and Long Term Care.
While hundreds of kilometres apart, both have accumulated significant debt from years of running operational deficits and both are struggling with unrealistic hospital improvement plans (HIP).
This week both made the news.
It is very possible Canadians are confused about what the Premiers want from the federal-provincial meetings taking place this week in Victoria, BC.
A lot of it has to do with language and meaning.
For example, some provinces are saying they want the new federal-provincial health accord linked to innovation.
Posted in Health System
Tagged Health Accord, Health care privatization, Premier's Meeting
While we await release of the 400 or so recommendations of the Drummond Commission, its likely important to remember that Dwight Duncan is the finance minister of the province of Ontario, not Don Drummond.
Recent commentary has suggested the McGuinty government will likely use the Drummond Commission on public service reform as a means of lowering expectations before bringing in a budget that offers what the Premier described in last fall’s election as a more “steady hand.”
That doesn’t mean there won’t be significant pain for health care – we are already witnessing eyebrow raising cuts, including Monday’s revelation that $66 million in research grants to hospitals and universities have been eliminated. The impact will be much larger given research grants are usually collaboratively funded between different levels of government and the private sector. The Council of Academic Hospitals of Ontario – representing 24 teaching hospitals – estimates the real impact to be “potentially over $360 million.”
Saskatoon health policy consultant Steven Lewis agrees with NDP leader Andrea Horwath that there needs to be a cap on Ontario hospital CEO salaries.
While calling the issue mostly symbolic – he says the income of hospital CEOs barely covers Frank Stonach’s tip money – Lewis asserts that most CEOs are not motivated by the pay rate. Nor is there any evidence that CEOs are leaving for megabucks jobs in the private sector. Given hospital CEOs make far more than their counterparts in the public service, why shouldn’t there be a reasonable cap?
To read Lewis’ essay on the Longwood’s site, click here.
We are overdue in extending our congratulations to Dr. Gordon Guyatt who is to be awarded the Order of Canada by Governor General David Johnston later this year.
Dr. Guyatt is professor of clinical epidemiology and biostatics at Hamilton’s McMaster Unversity, but is best known to Ontarians as a passionate advocate for public Medicare.
The end of the year announcement is officially for Guyatt’s contributions “to the advancement of evidence-based medicine and its teaching.”
We’ve long been used to the Canadian Medical Association politically advocating on behalf of the nearly 60,000 doctors they represent.
It shouldn’t therefore be surprising that the Canadian Psychiatric Association has decided to go public in its criticism of the Harper government crime bill. Some say its about time.
The CPA says the Harper’s “get tough on crime” agenda may impact people with mental illness disproportionately, adding to their present over representation with the criminal justice system.
Posted in Health System, Mental Health
The media have been on a feeding frenzy today around Tuesday’s disclosure of hospital executive compensation packages. Like the sunshine list, it is a chance for the private sector to paint a picture about how the public sector has been wining and dining on the taxes of the downtrodden, even if it is less than true.
The real story is there are really no big revelations here.
The most shocking example we found appears to be the work of sloppy reporting rather than executive excess.
The Toronto Star reported that Dr. Robert Howard, CEO of St. Michael’s Hospital, was receiving “a $75,000 allowance for a car.” This would lead most people to believe Howard was getting $75,000 each year to apply to a lease or purchase of a vehicle. In fact, had the reporters been a bit more careful, they might have figured out that it was for a lease or equivalent for a car whose retail value was up to $75,000. Nice, but at this level, ho-hum.
Less than a week before Christmas Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty marched into a luncheon meeting of his provincial counterparts and told them what the Federal contribution to health care funding would be to 2024.
“They just landed this on the table over the lunch hour,” Manitoba’s finance minister told the Globe and Mail. “It caught us all by surprise.”
The “take it or leave it” deal includes:
When it comes to Ontario’s hospital executives, you may not have to wait for the Sunshine lists to find out how much they are earning.
Tomorrow the Ontario Hospital Association says its members will be posting executive contracts on their hospital web sites rather than wait for an avalanche of Freedom of Information requests.
Hospitals became subject to FOI requests January 1, 2012.
OPSEU Diablogue 