ke
}
a

‘world have
* maximum type of health insur-

LPP CALLS ON PARLEY FOR ACTION

Establish health plan now |

Following is the text of the representation made to the
Federal-Provincial Conference on Health Insurance by the
national committee of the Labor-Progressive party: ;

The Labor-Progressive party stands for the immediate

- establishment of an all-inclusive health insurance program to

be applied throughout the country. We favor a system that
will provide adequate and complete coverage for every man,
woman and child in Canada and to include diagnostic, physi-
cian and surgery service, hospitalization, convalescent care,

nursing, mental hospitals, TB
sanatoria, confinement care,
drugs, dental and optical services.

In our opinion, an all-inclusive
health insurance scheme _ also
must provide payment for loss

of wages and salaries during ill-|

ness so as to eliminate suffering
to the patient and his dependents
whose income is cut off as a
result of illness. Knowing, how-
ever, that such a maximum health
insurance program would, at this
stage, meet with considerable re-
sistance from our present govern-
ments and from those’ groups in
our community who fiercely resist
payment of their due share of
taxation, we confine our present
proposals to the more limited
level of health insurance as out-
lined ‘above.

' That there is an urgent need
for the immediate introduction of
health insurance scheme we
petition for is now almost uni-
versally recognized. :

Most advanced countries in the
world have had one or another
form of health insurance program
in operation for many years. In
our own country every segment
of the labor movement, farm
organizations, social service and
religious bodies have repeatedly
petitioned the federal and pro-
vincial governments for the: en-
actment of such schemes.

The advances made in the dia-

‘ gnostic and treatment areas of

the medical profession with the
subsequent sharp increases in the
costs of such services have only
intensified the public demand
for health insurance.

The popular demand for this
service was long ago recognized
by almost all political parties in
our country. In fact, the Liberal
party, which is now in power,
has gone on record as far back as
1919 as favoring a national health
insurance program.

Towards the end of the last
war, this pledge was renewed
by the party in power, it was
introduced as an immediate
objective at the 1945 Dominion-
Previncial Conference, and a
model health insurance bill
actually was printed by the
Liberal government.

The socialist countries of the
in operation the

ance schemes. The advanced
capitalist countries also, under

_ the pressure of their people and!
as a result of world events, have|

introduced or improved existing
health insurance programs to a
much higher level.

In our own country a number
of provinces have introduced
limited and varying types of pro-
vinee-wide health insurance pro-
grams. But until now, Canada,
one of the richest countries in the
world, still is lacking a cohesive
and adequate health insurance
plan to cover the entire country.

The lack of such coverage on

_ the one hand and the increasing

difficulty for wage and salary
earners to meet the cost of health

_ protection have caused the trade

union movement to raise the de-
mand for health insurance cover-
age to the forefront in all labor
negotiations. In fact, there have
been many strikes for the
achievement of some type of
medical and hospital schemes.

We wish also to emphasize
that it is untruthful to say that
the poorest section of our popu-
lation is now receiving free
medical treatment as indigents.
The fact is, such “indigents”
are as a rule pressured and
hounded by municipal welfare
department, as well as by pro-
vincial mental and TB hospitals,
for repayment of the “debt”
incurred while being hospital-
ized as “indigents.”

All the above and much more
that ‘favors a government health
insurance scheme is well known
to you, ministers gathered at this
conference, and to all who take
an interest in the health and
well-being of our people.

Aside from certain selfish
groups who seek to block govern-
ment health insurance programs,
no government and no _ public
spokesman, with the exception
of the present premier of Quebec,
dares take an outright position
against a government health in-
Surance scheme. But failure to
take prompt action to implement
such a program is often publicly
justified by government spokes-
men on two major grounds.

First, because of the supposed
lack of hospital accommodation
and the lack of trained person-
nel to provide the hospital ser-
vices that a health insurance pro-
gram would demand. And, second,
because of the lack of funds for
the operation of such a program.

We wish to make the following
comments relative. to the above
two -frequently advanced argu-
ments: :

™ Lack of accommodation and
personnel: We reject entirely
this specious reasoning and con-
sider it a crude evasion of govern-
ment responsibility and a flimsy
excuse for inaction in an area
that is of vital importance to the
well-being of the vast majority
of our population. B
. The continuous postponement
of government action for health
insurance on the grounds of lack
of hospital accommodation and
lack of personnel actually con-
stitutes an admission that a large
number of our citizens, who are
now in need of hospital service,
are unable to afford such service
and are undoubtedly suffering
the consequences of that neglect.

This argument, therefore,
rather than proving the need of
postponing the introduction of
health insurance, provides, in-
stead, the most telling evidence
in favor of urgent and immediate
action for a public health insur-
ance scheme in our country.

_ As for the possibility of rapid-

ly catching up with the inade-

quate accommodation and train- -

ed personnel, we state
emphatically: our country is
financially and in every other
way fully capable of overcoming
those shortages in very little
time. _ :

All that is. required is the
genuine will’ on the part of our
federal and provincial govern-

~

| have long ago

introduced and
‘are “successfully operating ad-

* | vanced forms of national health

fe | insurance schemes.

HON. PAUL MARTIN
Who can’t afford what?

ments to proceed in an emergency

|fashion to meet the full needs

of our people for adequate: hos-
pital accommodations and the
necessary trained personnel to
provide the required services.

We urge that the necessity for
the defense of the health of our
people be approached in the same
manner as was. approached the
need for conducting the success-
ful war against the threat of
Nazism and fascism, and we are
confident that the same miracu-
lous results will be achieved.

~ Lack of funds for the
operation of an _ all-inclusive
health insurance scheme: At the
outset we desire to state that we
reject any and /all arguments
which are advanced against the
immediate introduction of a com-
prehensive health insurance pro-
gram in our country on the
grounds of inability to pay for
it. The fact is that many coun-
tried, far less rich than we are,

Surely a country such as ours,
which is now spending around
two billion dollars a year on arms,
can well afford to finance a health
insurance program. Yet the
federal Minister of Health and
Welfare, Hon. Paul Martin, re-
cently has stated that the financial
demands made on the federal
government as a result of the
armaments race makes it impos-
sible to introduce a health in-
surance program at this time.

Aside from the fact that is
increasingly clear to Canadians
and other people, that the
armament race is both danger-
ous and wasteful, it is of inter-
est to point out that Britain,
whose economy is certainly not
healthier than ours, is also
spending vast sums on arms
and is, nevertheless, able to
operate a national health in-
surance scheme that is of a'

rather advanced character:

We furthermore believe that
international events, and more
particularly since the historic
Geneva Conference of last sum-

fully, justify the diverting of the
money now spent on arms to
meet the cost of a national health
insurance scheme,.

While sharing the belief that
the provincial governments should
be given the responsibility for
administering the national health

an appropriate cut in our arms
expenditures would enable the
federal government to provide the
insurance program, which
million a ‘year, without increas-
ing taxes and without making
any demands on our citizens to
contribute out of their earnings
towards the operation of such
a program.

Doubting, however, the
readiness of the federal govern-
ment to follow such a policy at
this time and anxious that
health insurance should come
into being without delay, we
support the proposal that the
cost of operating an all-inclus-
ive health insurance scheme be
divided on a 60-40 basis be-

mer, make possible and would |

entire’ cost of a national health -

tween the federal and provin-
cial governments with Ottawa
providing the larger share.

It is also our opinion that the
cost of operating mental and TB
hospitals be included in the 60-40
division of financial responsibil-
ity.

We are convinced that such
a financial plan is well within
our means and should, therefore,
be agreed upon at this present
meeting of ministers and be en-
acted by the federal and pro-

'vincial parliaments during their

current sessions.

It also should be pointed out
that the operation of a national
health insurance program,
financed either completely by the
federal treasury or shared be-
tween the federal and provincial
treasuries on a 60-40 basis would,
in addition to protecting and ad-
vancing the health of our popula-
tion, also be a considerable aid
to our hard-pressed municipalities
who are now obliged to spend
extremely large amounts on vari-
ous hospitalization costs.

While convinced of the correct-
ness and soundness of our pro-
posals for financing a national
health insurance program as out-
lined above, we feel duty bound to
warn against any attempt to
throw a large share of the cost

of financing such a program

directly on to the shoulders of
the wage earners, the salaried
people and the farmers of this
country.

In the first place, the vast
insurance program, we say, by| majority of Canadians in these
way of illustrating the point, that |

categories are financially unable
to meet such obligations.

In the second place, it should
be remembered that the syphon-
ing off of any appreciable por-

is|tion of the earnings of these
estimated to require about $750.

groups into the health insurance
fund will seriously affect the
purchasing power of the broad-
est stratum of the* population,
will thus have repercussions
throughout our economy and will
adversely affect the living stan-
dards of the majority of people.
We therefore urge that if
you should decide to recom-
mend a program that will be
contributory in nature, that
‘such contributions from the
wage and salary earners and
from farmers should be kept
to the very minimum and, in-
deed, normal basis. ;

“

LPP to enter 40 candidates —
in coming Quebec elections —

Headed by Gui Caron, its provincial leader, the LPP is entering at

MONTREAL
least 40 can-

didates in the Quebec provincial election scheduled for next summer. “Contesting all the 15
seats on the island of Montreal and at least 25 additional seats in other parts of the prov-
ince, the LPP is entering this campaign “as the only party
sell-out policies shared by Duplessis and the Liberals.”

Caron recently declared: “Our
party sees in the election battles
shaping up an opportunity for
the people of Quebec to speak out
decisively in the fight to stop the
sell-out of our birthright.

“Many people scoffed when the

‘LPP first said that the sales of

our natural resources to U.S. in-
terests was a crime agaihst the
people. When we first warned that
handing over control of our nat-
ural riches meant placing the
national life of French Canada
in danger, there were few who
heeded. a

“Today tens of thousands o
Quebec’ citizens recognize the
correctness of that warning. We

are proud that many diverse poli- |

tical elements of French Canada

‘are today taking up the demand

offering an alternative to the

to regain control of our: ré-
sources.” :

Among the candidates already
nominated are: ‘

Montreal: St. Louis — Gui
Caron; Maisonneuve — Camile
Dionne; St. Henri — Gerard
Fortin; St. Jacques—Jeannette

: Brunelle; St. Ann — Bill Wil-
_mott; N.D.G. — Helen Hall;
Jacques Cartier — Bob Had-
dow; Outremont — Dave Ship;
Verdun — Ken Perry; Ste.
Marie—Eugene Casault; Jeanne
Mance—Howard Madden; West-
ee George—Frank Bren-
on. :

Others: Quebec East — Roger
Messier; Montmorency — Pit
Jolin; St. Hyacinth — Elphege
Brunelle; Labelle — Romeo
Lafond. :

GUI CARON

_ JANUARY 2%, 1956 — PACIFIC TRIBUNE — PAGE 10

7