Ignoring alliance would make McGuinty hypocrite

David Teetzel

02/24/05 00:00:00
'It's do or die,

It's down to push and shove

Because everybody's hungry

And there just isn't quite enough.'

-- TonioK, Life in the Foodchain

That's an obscure chorus from a punk rock anthem that wasn't particularly popular when it came out in the late '70s, but it captures the spirit of the times nicely.

Just look at where Premier Dalton McGuinty finds himself. How is he to ignore demands of the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance without looking like a hypocrite?

The alliance, which represents York's three hospitals and facilities in Halton, Peel and Durham regions, argues 905 residents receive 30 per cent less health care funding than other parts of Ontario on a per-patient basis.

York residents pay $169 million in health care premiums, but our hospitals are often the lowest funded per capita.

All told, the 905 alliance wants $615 million more a year for health care services. Here's the kicker: it is asking for nothing more than Mr. McGuinty himself demanded of the feds last week.

Mr. McGuinty wants $5 billion, arguing Ontarians send $23 billion more to Ottawa than we get back in transfer payments. This has a familiar ring in York Region, where we are taking the radical step of sending only $81 million to Toronto's GTA funding pool. According to the province, we "owe" $86 million for social programs, which York Region residents allegedly travel to the city to receive.

Nobody accounts for how this money is spent or how many 905ers use Toronto's programs, so there's no way to calculate a "gap" between how much we send to the city and the value of services we receive.

To take it a step further, Vaughan complains it is paying far more taxes to the region than it receives in services.

This is all based on the assumption that you get what you pay for -- an assumption that doesn't work when you are part of a collective.

Vaughan pays more to the region than it gets back because it has lots of businesses and a relatively affluent population. That "extra" tax money goes to other parts of the region that have greater social needs and lower tax bases.

Similarly, Ontario is naturally going to subsidize "have-not" provinces in the Maritimes. That's the way it's supposed to work.

But it all falls down when people are charged a premium for health care but their needs aren't met. Vaughan needs a hospital. York Central is still waiting for its addition.

People in Newmarket and as far north as Muskoka are waiting for the new cancer care centre. They are doling out money from their paycheques and they wonder where it goes.

I'm sure Mr. McGuinty would love to keep all his promises about restoring health care funding, if only his federal counterparts would just turn on the transfer taps.

So what do we do? Holler "Every man for himself" and forget the have-nots? Keep opening our wallets and waiting our turn?

In the case of the 905 hospitals, Southlake's Dan Carriere makes the point that, by funding hospitals here, the province would actually be investing in the most efficient patient-care facilities.

If you get past the mentality people in the suburbs always travel to the city to receive services, you might make the system stronger by sending people the other way. Why not send Scarborough residents to Markham or Whitby hospitals, which don't have the overhead of downtown teaching facilities?

It would be nice if Ontario would take back responsibility for social services and end the pooling feud. It would be great if the feds ponied up more cash to Ontario so that would be possible.

In the meantime, it would be wise to follow Mr. Carriere's example and demonstrate how providing services here will benefit others, rather than simply complaining about how much we put into the pot.