“WE COMMITTED TO HEALTHCARE
AND EDUCATION…”
A conversation
with the Hon. Dalton McQuinty, Premier of Ontario.
By
Thomas S. Saras
Editor-In-Chief
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Mr. Premier, I would like to thank you once again for your time. It has been quite a long time since your last interview with us. Then you were the Leader of the Opposition Party and now you are the Premier of Ontario. Mr. Premier, please tell our readers how the state of the Province of Ontario is today.
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The Province has wonderful potential. We have everything we need to be an overwhelming success. We have a strong economy, a good manufacturing basis, and new economy industries. Our greatest strength continues to be our people and the single greatest advantage we enjoy among our people is our diversity, which enables us to enrich each others lives and to do business with the world. We therefore have everything we need to be a tremendous success in the international economy and to be a caring and compassionate society. But to get there we are going to have to do a bit of building. We are particularly committed to healthcare and education. We have a four-year plan for both areas and what we are doing is making significant investments in both areas. In return of those investments we are demanding on behalf of the people of Ontario that we get very specific results. In healthcare for example we want shorter wait times in our cardiac care, cancer care, hip and knee replacements, and MRI/CT scan waiting time. So to that end we are making investments, we are hiring 8000 more full-time nurses, setting up 150 brand new family health teams all with the intention of getting our waiting times down.
Q. How long do you think this will take to materialize?
A.
Over the course of our mandate we will do this, but I can tell you
that we already have the funding in place for 2400 new nurses. We are
already starting to vaccinate Ontario children against diseases like
meningitis. We have already begun to set up new relationships with our
hospital; accountability agreements so that hospitals know what is
expected of them in return for the investments we are making.
Q.
Mr. Premier, this year I tried to hire a young person to help me with the
business of the National Ethnic Press and I placed an ad on the
government’s website. Needless to say that I received 260 applications
for a job that was paying only $7.15/hour (the minimum), and some of those
who applied have PhD’s and Masters Degrees. I have been through this
many times, but I felt quite disgusted knowing that these young people are
so desperate to apply considering their high qualifications. We spoke
about this year’s back, you referred to Ireland and how they managed to
get out of their situation. Are you aware of this situation and if so what
are your plans for correction.
A.
Well I am very much aware of the situation not only by those with
qualifications looking for work, but by those communities who would
benefit as a result. For example foreign trained doctors being able to
practice here. We have made some very concrete steps in a number of areas.
For one thing we have now doubled the number of residency spaces for
foreign trained positions from 100 to over 200 so that we can more quickly
incorporate foreign trained physicians into the practice of medicine here
in the province of Ontario and we have only been in power for 10 months.
Our minister responsible for training colleges and universities, Marianne
Chambers, has a specific responsibility to work with all of our trade and
professional organizations to begin to break down those barriers that
stand in the way of foreign trained trades’ people and professionals
being able to work to their potential here in Ontario. We have also set-up
an opportunity for people kind of a one-stop shopping for foreign trained
professionals to go to the website to find out what more information that
tells that what they need to do to comply with Ontario standards.
Q.
I noticed that you have started to move towards the more
humanitarian aspects of government to help the less fortunate but of
course this progress is very slow and it will take time. There are people
that are real desperate for this type of help such as single mothers,
families with low incomes etc. The increase has been dramatical and it
seems like we will never be able to catch up with whatever solutions the
government provides. Mr. Premier does your government think that in the
next few months to a year it will be able provide any opportunities for
the less fortunate?
A.
Well, we have already taken some steps but there is also more that
we can do but we have made some first very important steps. We have
increased as you know our disabilities rates and welfare rates. We have
increased the minimum wage. We have increased the comfort allowance, which
is money that is available on a monthly basis for poor seniors living in
nursing homes. This has not been increased since 1992. We have increased
the property tax credit for low income seniors, which had not been
increased since 1992. We are now working with representatives of the
disabled community on a new piece of legislative that will help address
the needs of the disabled community so that as a society they can take on
greater responsibilities and play a greater role and have access to
opportunities that are essential for them to achieve their potential. This
is the direction the government is moving in. We are proud of how far we
have come in such a small period of time. But obviously there is much more
to do.
Q.
We are a Province that accepts a big number of new immigrants on an annual
basis. The majority of them are coming from countries that are neither
Anglophone nor Francophone and they come here they try hard to become part
of this society, but they come across many difficulties. In the past we
had welcome houses that provided some sort of services for these new
immigrants regarding jobs, dwelling quarters etc… Today we do not have
anything like this. New immigrants arrive today in Ontario and they face a
very real problem. Is there anything that your government can provide for
these people?
A
Yes, we can and we have already started Tom. You have put your
finger on a very important issue. Almost 60% of all new immigrants to
Canada come to Ontario and we feel a strong sense of responsibility to
settle quickly and become productive members of our community. There is
something called the Newcomer Settlement Program of which we have invested
$4 million. It is a community based program, providing services such as
job search workshops and language classes. We have also signed a letter of
intent basically it is a notice that we are going to do something with the
federal government. Basically develop an agreement to help Ontario
newcomers. We do not have an immigration agreement here in the province of
Ontario. It does not make any sense because 60% of newcomers settle in
Ontario. So we are going to work with the federal government and establish
stronger programs. We have also invested an additional $45 million for
English as second language students to extend the instruction for
elementary school students. It used to be that you can only attend for
three years and now we have extended it to four years so that a child can
have English as a second language instruction for a longer period of time.
It is our belief that it is a great investment. If it takes a child four
years to become more comfortable with the English language then we are
quite prepared to make that investment.
Q.
With regards to the members of my association, the ethnic press, we were
able to obtain some sort of advertisement, which was a help to continue
our work. Since your government took over very little advertisement
available. I know that you are facing financial problems that you
inherited from the previous government, but at the same time I believe
that the ethnic press plays a vital role in the life and progress of this
community. Is this situation going to change?
A.
Well, first of all Tom I couldn’t agree with you more. The ethnic media,
press particular, is a vital link that helps keep Ontarians informed about
what is going on in their community and informed about issues that are of
immediate concern to them. Two points I want to make about the
advertising. Number one you are probably aware that we banned partisan
government advertising in Ontario. This means that we no longer will abuse
taxpayer dollars by spending it on the kind of advertising that is
designed to put us in a favourable political light. It does not mean we
ban all advertising just partisan government advertising. With respect of
the remainder of the adverting dollars that we continue to spend I am
determined to connect with as many Ontarians as I possibly can. And to
that end I have asked the Chair of Management Board, Gerry Phillips, to
review how it is that we are spending our advertising dollars at present
and to advise me with respect to how we can improve this so that we are
better connecting with all Ontarians but especially those who are not
speaking English. The other point that I want to make Tom is that when we
put out the budget this year for the first time we put our executive
summary in eight different languages.
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I would like to obtain your opinion about the healthcare premiums as well as the pharmacare program that you have asked the federal government to support with Medicare. Can you elaborate on these two issues?
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Well, we are now the third Canadian Province with the healthcare premium. We have worked very hard to make this as fair as possible. 48% of seniors will not pay the premium and 43% of everybody who pays taxes will not pay the premium. And if you are earning $21,000 taxable income that is the income that is left after all eligible deductions then you will pay $5.00/ month. If you are earning $200,000 or more then you are paying $75.00/month. Now the people are entitled to know what they are going to receive for this money and what we are investing it in as part of our plan over four years is our commitment to hire 8000 full-time nurses, 36,000 more cardiac procedures, 9000 more cataract procedures, 2300 more hip and knee replacements, we are getting a brand new vaccination program for Ontario children this will save the family $600 per children, 1000 more cancer patients will be able to receive hospital care the first year alone. So that is what we are doing with our new premium. We are making absolutely essentially investments in healthcare. The healthcare costs have been growing at a very fast rate. We have an aging population and there is demand for evermore sophisticated technology and very expensive drugs. This brings me to the second question about the new pharmacare program that the Premiers are proposing that the federal government put into place. What we are saying is that it is time for the federal government to assume its responsibility to ensure that there is a national standard for drugs and it take responsibility for establishing that standard and for funding. What we have right now is different drug plans in different provinces. And it could be that a senior in Ontario is entitled to a drug of which a senior in New Brunswick is not entitled too because our province is wealthier than New Brunswick. So the federal government already regulates drugs, they already control the patent act, they already approve our drugs. We are saying that they should take the next step and put in place a national drug formulary so that they can bargain on behalf of all Canadians rather than having 13 separate formularies that we presenting have and have Prince Edward Island trying to bargain with drug companies. We think that there should be one bargainer on behalf of one buyer on behalf of all Canadians and that should be the federal government so that they can get a better price for the drugs and they can ensure that all Canadians enjoy a high standard of drug care.
Q.
Mr. Premier, I thank you very much for your kindness and cooperation in
answering all my questions.
A.
My pleasure Tom.
