(Reprinted from Thornhill Month, May 1999)
By SEAN B. PASTERNAK
‘Good news for the health care system'.
Anyone who has read a newspaper, watched television or listened the radio since February has heard that phrase in reference to the 1999 budget. Dubbed ‘the health care budget' by many, Thornhill MP Elinor Caplan has been one of its most ardent supporters.
"It is a very balanced budget," Caplan says, noting that there have also been some $16.5 billion allotted in tax cuts over the last two years.
As a former Minister of Health, Caplan believes the 1999 budget is "very significant" to the Thornhill community. "It gives confidence that the federal government is doing its job" she says
Of course, this year's budget was capped off by an $11.5 billion investment of the Canadian health care system over the next 5 years. While provinces can not be instructed on exactly where within health care they have to spend the transfers, the Premiers and Prime Minister signed a ‘Social Union Agreement' in January.
The document is essentially a reassurance that new federal transfers will, indeed, be used for health care, Caplan explained to Thornhill residents during a budget breakfast meeting in February.
However, she pointed out that funding alone will not heal health care in Canada.
"Fixing medicare means more than money," Caplan says. "It means creating systems. We don't have a health care system in Canada."
"We need integration and accountability rather than throwing money at a problem". Believing prevention should be a focus of the system, Caplan says "Health care is about being healthy."
With the exception of fee for service payments, she admits the system is "very sporadic about what we do."
An information network, which will be posted on the internet and available through a special 1-800 number, is under development to share findings and resources and should be up within the year
In addition to looking at health care issues, Caplan says she has been working with Human Resources Development to discuss employment issues in the community.
"There is lots of job creation here," she reports, adding that unemployment in this area is over three per cent lower the Canadian average. "Not perfect, but it's getting better"
Caplan also hosts crime prevention, immigration and town hall forums throughout the year, as well as a community picnic which was held last September.
"I believe people should have direct access to me," she says. "I think we have a very effective office and I think I'm quite accessible"
