The above-noted article goes on to inform us that a "health contribution" will also be levied; to me, what's really interesting about the latter is the way it's being implemented -- apparently, you won't be dipping into your purse/wallet for this one -- oh no, for your convenience it's being shoe-horned nicely on to your income tax bill -- now, who could be upset at a government for being so understanding?
For this "health contribution", the plan is to charge Quebecers $50 in 2010, but since the budget was passed during the year, they get a 50% discount; for 2011, they'll reach for $100 and this doubles in 2012; sorry, but there are no prizes for guessing where it's heading after 2012!
This tax grab will further lighten the residents of Quebec's pockets by close to a billion dollars annually.
I love the following paragraph on page 22 of the 61-page report (my emphasis):
"The health contribution is a simple and effective way to provide substantial funding for the health-care institutions, but without demanding an excessive effort on the part of each taxpayer."
What this really means to me is that they need a quick and easy way to get more funding for healthcare; forget the effort required to find other means (e.g EMRs/EHRs/PHRs) of squeezing inefficiencies from the system -- heck, they should have this thing up and running in no time at all.
After I finally managed to get the remnants of my receding hair-line back in place, I filed the article and continued reading; curiously enough, another article soon catches my attention -- this one informed me of an upcoming visit by the leader of the Federal Liberal Party, Michael Ignatieff -- he would be the guest at a luncheon hosted by the Ajax/Pickering Board of Trade; ah, the wisdom of the Universe, I thought -- dropped right there in my lap was an opportunity to put a question to the man himself -- to get the official word on how the Liberal Party would deal with such a potential contravention to the Canada Health Act.
After all, one could be forgiven in thinking: this is Ontario, it'll never happen here; well, just remember that the Premiers meet on a regular basis and there's no reason to believe the "honey-pot syndrome" does not apply when they do get together!
So, on the day in question, I donned one of my best blazers, made my way to the convention center, and waited; soon the crowd became agitated as word of Mr. Ignatieff's arrival spread amongst the tables.
In he walks and my jaw drops -- he was dressed in the exact same style/color of blazer -- my immediate concern was: how would the luncheon crowd be able to differentiate between the two of us? Then it hit me -- it would be easy -- I was the handsome one, silly!
I relaxed, enjoyed the lunch and prepared to queue up behind the microphone, but alas the time for questions ran out, so I decided to wait outside the room and try to get his attention as he was leaving.
Let's continue this in part 2 where I'll discuss how I ruminated on the answer I received from Mr. Ignatieff; in the meantime, there's something that's demanding my immediate attention -- as I'm writing this article, the air is muggy and the sweat's pouring from my forehead, yet there's a story on the radio about stores in Toronto displaying winter coats; this is madness!
Photo credit: Dave Stell
Ernest A. James
President/CEO
Regal Informatics Inc.
