New Brunswick’s Green Party leader joined his federal counterpart to send a clear message to Ottawa about healthcare.
Ahead of next month’s healthcare meeting between the prime minister and premiers, David Coon and Elizabeth May shared their concerns during a news conference in Fredericton on Friday.
May says the federal government should stand up for the Canada Health Act which was put in place to eliminate for-profit healthcare.
“We’re seeing premiers whether Higgs or Ford undermine the very existence of our healthcare system,” May said.
Coon wants Ottawa to know healthcare costs are proportionately higher in New Brunswick due to its older population.
He noted when the Atlantic provinces originally joined the national Medicare program, proportionally more funding was provided to New Brunswick and the other provinces based on their financial need at the time.
Coon said healthcare was designed to meet provincial needs rather than simply distributing funding on a per-capita basis, which has been the case lately and has disadvantaged us.
“No less than the Medical Society of Canada backs the demographic-based funding model we are calling for,” Coon said.
The second issue Coon wants to be brought forward is the “disturbing trend towards corporate-managed and delivered healthcare services.”
“In particular, I am speaking about the rise of the corporate ownership of surgical centres,” Coon said.
Coon said the cost savings provided by these centres can quickly disappear if the owners are looking to maximize their profits.
“We see strong benefits to having community-based surgical centres to provide surgeries that don’t have to be provided in hospitals as long as they are publicly owned and publicly managed,” Coon said.
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