Over the weeks leading up to the reading of finance minister Paul Martin’s 1999 federal budget, the CBC national news was filled with nightly clips of Canada’s deteriorating healthcare system. Hospitals were understaffed, beds were full, and people in desperate need of care were forced to stand in line. Nurses, doctors, and patients all told shocking tales of crowded lobbies, insufficient operating rooms, and patients sleeping in linen closets, all of which led to life-threatening situations.

One wonders how Canada’s health care system has deteriorated to a level where patients are forced to lie ill at a hospital’s doorstep. When elected in 1993, the Chretien government promised to protect healthcare. Instead, they enacted the greatest cuts to healthcare in Canadian history, leaving the program in the decrepit state described above. Over the past four years, the Chretien government has cut an increadible $20 billion from healthcare.

Although Chretien’s Liberals have made drastic cuts to healthcare during the 1990s, the sharp decline in funding began in the late 1980s when the Conservative federal government repealed the Generic Drug laws. Under these laws, companies were allowed to copy a drug four years after a pharmaceutical company had developed it. Because of the removal of the Generic Drug laws, a pharmaceutical company now has a twenty-year patent on any new drugs. This monopoly on new drugs has driven up the cost of medicine to the benefit of the biomedical multinationals. This costs Canadians an extra 500 million dollars each year and further erodes the standard of care.

Cuts to healthcare have led to a national uproar over the poor conditions in Canada’s hospitals. In response to this, Paul Martin’s 1999 budget attempts to make it appear that the federal government is dedicated to putting money back into the healthcare system. Martin’s budget will put a measly 2.5 billion dollars per year into health care over the next five years, compared with the $20 billion they took out. When one accounts for population growth, inflation, and an increasing number of senior citizens, it becomes obvious that Martin’s budget will only keep the quality of healthcare at its current level, or less. And as the situation in Canadian hospitals has worsened over the winter, it has become evident that the present quality of health care is grossly insufficient. While Martin and the Liberals are proudly calling this the "health care budget", it is nothing more than another budget of Capital and offers no solution to the programs ailments.

It is because of a business led assault on social programs that healthcare is in its present state. The past fifteen years have exposed how much power big business wields over elected governments. Privatization and cuts to public spending have been implemented across the nation to satisfy the demands of Capital. Ultimately, the goal of business is to privatize healthcare, opening up the medical industry for profit. The Klein government in Alberta has already attempted the passage of bills that would pave the way for private hospitals. Unfortunately for business, Klein’s moves to open private hospitals have met with widespread resistance.

Healthcare is Canada’s most popular social program, and because of its popularity business longs to discredit it in the eyes of most Canadians. The removal of the generic drug laws is a prime example of this, for this action has served no other purpose than driving up the cost of healthcare. Although business and government claim that cutbacks are necessary to control the deficit, one reason for implementing them is to reduce public programs to a state where they no longer appear to be capable of serving the public. Healthcare is a perfect illustration of this, as men like Ralph Klein cite the public sector’s inefficiency as reason to open private hospitals.

To preserve healthcare we must excise the chief agent of decay. The parasitic drug companies must be taken into public ownership and integrated into a universal medical plan. When lives are at stake we cannot risk playing with the anarchy of the market. This would give the public the funds needed to revolutionize the present sate of care. Beds would be re-opened, service would be restored, and far better wages and conditions conditions would be established for medical workers.

Working people cannot be satisfied with minor improvements to healthcare. We must strive to make drastic advancements. The scope of healthcare should be extended beyond basic needs, so that public coverage can be provided for other health services, such as optometry, and dentistry. Presently, these services are too expensive for many lower-income Canadians, especially those who receive no coverage from their employers. All private clinics must be placed into public hands to ensure fair treatment for all.

The parties of capital have expressed no interest in improving, or even preserving, healthcare. In fact, they want to destroy it. Contrary to what the media says, the recent Liberal budget has only served to further reiterate this. For every dollar the Liberals take away from public services, they thrown a dime back in and expect us to be grateful. Healthy people are essential for a healthy productive society, increasingly capitalism fails to meet even these most basic requirements. We must all unite with medical workers to ensure decent healthcare for all.