The Conservative platform leaves nothing for the future of health care and tells Canadian families to get to the back of the line and wait behind corporations, jets and jails, Liberals said today.
Stephen Harper’s budget said health funding was “subject to change” and the Conservative platform makes no post-2014 health care funding pledge other than to “respect limits on the federal spending power.
“Before Stephen Harper helps families or funds health care, he has to fund $6 billion in giveaways to the largest corporations, $13 billion for new mega-prisons, and $30 billion for an untendered stealth fighter jet deal,” said Ottawa South candidate David McGuinty.
Stephen Harper has taken health care off the national agenda and done nothing to guarantee its future. In his platform, he has made no commitment to invest in health care beyond 2014, when the Health Accord is set to expire. Instead, Mr. Harper has made major spending commitments for 2014 and beyond, leaving nothing left over for health care.
“Mr. Harper is making families wait for five years behind out-of-control spending on jets, jails and corporations – and will only help them if he balances the budget,” said Mr. McGuinty. “Even then, he’s only offering to help families that are already well off.”
Stephen Harper has never met a single deficit reduction target he’s set, and the Parliamentary Budget Officer and the International Monetary Fund said his deficit reduction targets are just not credible. Stephen Harper took a $13-billion Liberal surplus and turned it into a deficit before the recession hit, en route to the largest deficit in Canadian history at $56 billion. After adding $106 billion to the national debt, he is on track to adding another $200 billion over the next five years.
“The Liberal Party will help average Canadian families right away with the cost of child care, post-secondary education, family care, pensions, and cutting high energy costs,” he said. “And unlike the Conservatives, we can keep our promises because our platform is full-costed and credible.”
The Liberal Party’s fully-costed platform, has been praised for its credible costing, deficit targets and built-in prudence reserve that is twice as large as what the Conservatives are offering.
Liberals are putting families at the front of the line with measures that will help them now – not five years from now. The “Liberal Family Pack” is a five-point plan to strengthen families:
- Canadian Learning Passport – to help families pay for college and university
- Early Childhood Learning and Care – to create more high-quality affordable child care spaces
- Family Care – to help family caregivers take time off from work to care for sick loved ones, and to help with the costs of caregiving
- Stronger Public Pensions – to enhance the Canada Pension Plan to make it easier to save for retirement, and provide more help for low-income seniors
- Green Renovation Tax Credit – to help families save on energy costs while helping the environmen
“We can help families and secure the future of universal health care – without raising taxes on families – but only if we reject Conservative corporate giveaways and turn the page on wasteful spending like $30 billion fighter jets,” concluded Mr. McGuinty.
