At a campaign event today, Stephen Harper said, “We have a universal system of health insurance in this country, it is not without its problems, but it ensures that Canadians can get access to the health care system, whether they have the ability to pay for services or not when they need medical treatment. That is something that our party strongly supports, and has strongly supported for decades.”
Except that past comments by Stephen Harper and the Conservatives show that they have not supported universal health care for decades. Here’s the reality:
“It’s past time the feds scrapped the Canada Health Act.” (Stephen Harper, then Vice-President of the National Citizens Coalition, 1997)
“Monopolies in the public sector are just as objectionable as monopolies in the private sector. It should not matter who delivers health care, whether it is private, for profit, not for profit or public institutions, as long as Canadians have access to it regardless of their financial means.” (Stephen Harper, Hansard, October 1, 2002)
“We also support the exploration of alternative ways to deliver health care. Moving toward alternatives, including those provided by the private sector, is a natural development of our health care system.” (Stephen Harper, Toronto Star, October 2002)
“Each province should raise its own revenue for health care – i.e., replace Canada Health and Social Transfer cash with tax points.” (Stephen Harper, ‘Firewall’ letter, January 24, 2001)
“What we clearly need is experimentation with market reforms and private delivery options [in health care].” (Stephen Harper, then President of the National Citizens Coalition, 2001)
“The federal government today intervenes massively in provincial jurisdictions, and in particular in health and education, two areas where it has no constitutional legitimacy whatsoever. …Ending the federal spending power, eliminating the federal programs that violate the division of powers, and transferring tax points to the provinces would be the right thing to do from several perspectives.” (Conservative MP Maxime Bernier, Albany Club, Toronto, October 13, 2010)
