Dear Premiers (Especially Jean Charest):

[electricland]

You are all a bunch of whiners.

For your information, the only people who give a damn about whether the federal government or the provinces administer healthcare are provincial politicians. Your "Give us more money but don't you dare tell us how to spend it!" stance is just juvenile -- I think Canadians would all like, at the very least, some guarantee that you won't go spending your new billions on lawnmowers, like last time.

Also, speaking as a Quebecker for the next two weeks and a carrier of a Quebec health card for the next 3 months and 2 weeks, it would be really, really great if you'd get off your butt and get around to making our health care fully portable, like it's supposed to be. Remind me again what we're all paying these ridiculously high taxes for?

And now you think it would be really swell if you could have a national pharmacare program that Ottawa would pay for too. I have just one question: Are you kidding me?

Grrrr.

Comments

[mindrobber.livejournal.com]

Look on the bright side. You won't even notice the new health care premiums when get back to Ontario because they're hidden payroll deductions. Because in the end, it's all just a tax grab

[wanderingaengus.livejournal.com]

So exactly how high are your health care taxes?

[electricland.livejournal.com]

er... hard question to answer. (Except in Ontario -- talk to me in a couple of weeks.) Health care funding comes out of taxes -- each province and the federal government sets its budget every year and decides how much it's going to spend on health, among other things. For the federal government, this takes the form of a lump-sum "transfer payment" to the provinces -- 24.1 billion dollars this fiscal year for health and social services (http://www.fin.gc.ca/budget04/pamph/paheae.htm), apparently.

So I couldn't tell you offhand how much I'm personally paying for health care, although I can point you at some budget sites (http://canadaonline.about.com/od/governmentbudgets/). But our income tax rates are <a href="http://www.taxtips.ca/tax_rates.htm>here</a>.

um...

[raithen.livejournal.com]

note time stamp on your message. note lack of internet access chez toi. note usericon. you are a smart girl, figure out the lecture message for yourself. :D