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Canadians‘ love of freedom will prevail im Newton (letter: Government encouraged criminal activity, July 24 Waterloo Chronicle) sugâ€" gests our government‘s tobacco tax grab only encourages illegal smugâ€" gling. He expresses the commonly held views that 1) "it‘s difficult to take seriously governments who pocket 75 per cent of the price of a pack while trumpeting their knightâ€" inâ€"shiningâ€"armour status for comâ€" ing to the rescue of our health care system", 2) cigarette warning picâ€" tures are "ridiculous" and 3) if you want to prove your point you simâ€" ply "establish a think tank and disâ€" cover..." your point. Those behind the antiâ€"smoking crusade would likely applaud his proposal to force smokers into Move to private MRIs means move to twoâ€"tier health care On July 8, the Emnie Eves governâ€" ment announced that it is planâ€" ning a massive expansion of private health care in Ontario. It is inviting private, forâ€"profit companies, including foreign companies, to set up 20 MRI and five CT scan clinics in this province. This is a very bad idea. It is the clearest signal so far of this government‘s bias for private health care, and should be seen for what it is: The thin edge of a wedge that will soon divide our healthâ€"care system into two tiers. Now, some medical services are already provided by private compaâ€" nies. For example, if you need your blood tested, there is a chance that the test will be done by a private lab. The cost, though, is covered by OHIP. The principle of publicly funded health care remains intact. But with this announcement, the Eves government has violated that principle. Health Minister Tony Clement insists that "medically necâ€" essary" test will be covered by OHIP, but ignores the fact wealthy people can now byâ€"pass the system and pay to have their tests done immediately. That is queueâ€"jumping, whether Clement and Eves want to admit it or not. You said it YOUR PLANS FOR THE LONG QUESTION stateâ€"run indoctrination programs in the cancer wards of our hospitals. While Newton seems to have a good grasp of what‘s wrong with the antiâ€"smoker campaign now underâ€" way, it is difficult to agree with these intolerant sentiments being directâ€" ed towards one third of our friends and neighbours. Would he also send his friends with a dangerous body mass index greater than 25 to state run proâ€" grams in the cardiac care units of our hospitals? After all, if we are to believe the think tanks, our overâ€" weight friends represent more than half of Canadians and obesityâ€"relatâ€" I hope Newton is willing to fairly reconsider his proposal from slightâ€" ly different perspective. _ _ â€" That is twoâ€"tier health care. On June 27, I tabled in the legislaâ€" ture several conditions that must be met before the government is allowed to farm out MRI and CT testing to the private sector. First and foremost, all of these services must be paid for through OHIP. Private clinics must not be allowed to offer any mix whatsoever of medically covered and uncovered services, so that the wealthy will not be able to buy their way to the front of the line. MRI and CT services within the public system should be expanded first and all existing MRIs must be running at full capacity. Funding for private MRI clinics must be no greater than that availâ€" able to public providers and the process for obtaining one has to be fully transparent. Finally, there must be a centrally managed waiting list process in place so patients can not jump to the head of the line simply by visiting private clinics. The Eves government has not met any of these conditions, which in my view are ironclad and nonâ€" negotiable. Therefore, the Eves plan for a massive expansion of privateâ€" sector MRI and CT scan services must not go forward. "I am going camping at White Lake, near Ottawa." "I will be going up to my brotherâ€"inâ€"law‘s farm and relaxing in the fresh air." Konstantine Krivtsov Vernon Dorscht THE CHRONICL] COMMENT ed diseases are said to cost our health system far more than the disâ€" eases think tanks blame on smokâ€" ing.Perhaps our health care costs would also be reduced if those who wish to purchase alcohol were required to attend fourâ€"hour proâ€" grams with patients with diseased livers and the victims of drunk driâ€" vers. The "war on tobacco" or any other government attack on our personal lifestyle choices will ultiâ€" mately fail simply because, as we have seen by the heroic actions of our soldiers in past and present wars, Canadians‘ love of freedom will prevail over fear. What‘s really going on here? The Eves government has underfunded these medically necessary services to the point where there are severe and unacceptably long waiting lists. Now it is exploiting the perfectly understandable fear and anxiety of people stranded on these waiting lists to ram through its agenda for privatized health care. That is an odiâ€" ous example of political blackmail; it holds the health and lives of people to ransom. Believe me, it is no accident that the Eves government has chosen to do this in the dog days of summer, when the legislature is in recess and when public attention is diverted by vacations and other family activities. Our health care system needs reforming, but any reforms must be in keeping with the principles of medicare. The Eves government wants to lead Ontario down the path to privaâ€" tized and twoâ€"tier health care. They have no mandate to do this, and I would argue that they have an obligâ€" ation not to. On behalf of the workâ€" ing families of this province, I will continue to oppose the Eves governâ€" ment‘s twoâ€"tier health care agenda. Dalton McGuinty, Ontario Liberal Party leader "I‘m going to the African Lion Safari." "I am going to my annual church picnic at Bingemans." HRONICLI Michael Valman Eric Boyd, f you point your web browser to www.jacklayton.ca and Iclick on the "Supporters" link, you‘ll find the name Scott Piatkowski â€" three down from Steven Page of Barenaked Ladies and two up from Michael Prue, Ontario‘s newest NDP MPP. Having no official role in this campaign (beyond encourâ€" aging sympathetic people to join the party to take part in the oneâ€"memberâ€"oneâ€"vote leadership selection, and encouraging my fellow party members in the area to join me in supporting Jack), I feel more free than 1 have in other recent NDP leaderâ€" ship campaigns to tell you about the reasons for my preferâ€" ence. Why Jack? Simply because I‘ve always been impressed by his principles, his ability to articulate them, and the real results that he‘s been able to achieve since first being elected to Toronâ€" to city council in 1982. I‘m backing Jack Layton The first article that I ever had published in a national magâ€" azine was a spirited response to the petty and unjustified attacks on Layton over the fact that he and his family had choâ€" sen to live in a downtown Toronto housing coâ€"op and pay marâ€" ket rent. More recently, I‘ve watched with considerable interest as he grew into a leader of national stature, both as the high profile president of the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and as the author of the landmark book "Homelessness: The Making and Unmaking of a Crisis". Jack doesn‘t have to be briefed on the issues that I care most about, simply because he already knows them inside out. He recently . |W ape in gave the keynote address at the annuâ€" . | ANOTHER | al meeting of the Coâ€"operative Housâ€" | uUIALY | ing Federation of Canada and, speakâ€" | e | ing without a single note, brought the _ *3 crowd to its feet with his attack on & federal and provincial housing poliâ€" | ie cies (or, rather, lack thereof)}. He‘s | pet* been at the forefront of so many P important battles, and he‘s actually h won quite a few of them. That kind of || | [ nott focus on solutions is what I‘m looking | for in the next leader of the New | Democratic Party. â€" emnntT When Jack wanted to do someâ€" || c EUFut: II thing about male violence towards PIATKOWSKI women, he helped to found the White Ribbon Campaign (now an international organization). When he wanted to help combat the crisis in our healthâ€"care system, he didn‘t just complain about a lack of funding (though, approâ€" priately, he did that as well); he introduced the innovative idea of a Healthy City program (now in place in municipalities across Canada). He‘s done more to combat global warming, smog, poverty and homelessness than just about any other elected official in Canada (at any level). He‘s proven that he can work with people of all political stripes to achieve results, instead of settling for the kind of pathetic "moral victories" of which the NDP has become so fond. For me, the fact that Jack is a strong candidate who happens to be from Ontario is a positive thing. No federal party has been led by someone from Canada‘s most populous province since Ed Broadbent retired as NDP leader in 1989. While it‘s widely thought that the rest of the country won‘t tolerate a national leader from Ontario (not to mention, gasp, Toronto), I think that Jack can easily overcome that objection. First of all, he grew up in smallâ€"town Quebec and only moved to Toronto in his early 20s. More importantly, he‘s the very opposite of "the ugly Torontonian" that most Canadians love to hate. For examâ€" ple, he led the fight against the attempt to export Toronto‘s garbage problem to Northern Ontario. And, as president of FCM, he dramatically increased the organization‘s memberâ€" ship by working effectively with rural farming and fishing vilâ€" lages as well as the major cities. Much has been made of the fact that, in spite of his solid "left wing" credentials, Jack Layton enjoys the support of the Ontario NDP "establishment" â€" people like Ontario Federaâ€" tion of Labour president Wayne Samuelson and several current and former members of caucus and the party‘s executive. Of course, he is also supported by MPs Svend Robinson and Libby Davies, OSSTF president Earl Manners, actor and former St. John‘s West NDP candidate Greg Malone, and Nova Scotia MLA Howard Epstein, who all favour a more radical approach for the party. The first thing to note about this apparent contrast is that it demonstrates the folly of how some people in the party tend to choose a leadership candidate: based on who else is supportâ€" ing them or not supporting them (that sounds too much like the "You can‘t be my friend if you play with her" taunts that fill most elementary school playgrounds to be a basis for sound political decisionâ€"making). In addition, it tells us that Jack is the one candidate that can bring together the multitude of facâ€" tions in the party and turn our attention to taking on the other parties and the corporate agenda. ~ANOTHER ’ o n I F a | 1P â€" | u/ Es | SCOTT ‘ PIATKOWSKI ‘