manitoba to defy jason kenney, cover refugee health care

The Province of Manitoba has announced that it will cover health care for refugee claimants, in defiance of Jason Kenney's vindictive cuts to help at the federal level. (I haven't been able to find the link from the Winnipeg Free Press; I hope this capture at iPolitics is trustworthy.)
Manitoba will help refugees access health benefits the federal government recently took away.

Health Minister Theresa Oswald said in a prepared statement that the province doesn’t agree with the cut because it’s hurting families and will lead to longer-term and more expensive problems.

Agencies and advocates for privately sponsored refugees and health-care providers have rallied against Citizenship and Immigration Canada’s cuts to supplemental health benefits that took effect June 30.

The refugees’ sponsors were left to pay for any prescription drugs, prosthetic limbs, wheelchairs, vision and dental care they needed, otherwise, they would go without.

Dr. Mike Dillon, who has worked with refugees for decades, praised the Manitoba government for recognizing this as a concern and for picking up the slack.

Oswald said the province will add up the bill and send it to the federal health minister.
This would not have happened without the persistent activism of nurses, doctors, and other health care providers, who fought back for their patients. Well done, Manitoba! Who's next?

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

not so fast

Not everyone thinks the Conservative government is a lock. Canada's opposition Conservative Party, which is set to bring down the minority Liberal government later this week, was hit by a new opinion poll on Monday that showed it was trailing in the country's most vote-rich region. The Leger Marketing poll for the Sun chain of newspapers put support for the Liberals in the powerful central province of Ontario at 43 percent compared with 31 percent for the Conservatives. Ontario, a Liberal stronghold at the federal level for the past 12 years, accounts for 106 of the 308 seats in House of Commons, and no party can hope to form a government without doing well there. . . . Prime Minister Paul Martin's Liberals have been badly hurt by a corruption scandal and Conservative leader Stephen Harper says the government must be defeated as soon as possible. The Leger figures, however, suggest there is no guarantee Harper can end 12 years of Liberal rule. Thanks, ALPF! I must say, I...
Read more

dipstick

So there won't be an election yet. Talk about a squeaker . Feel free to tell us how you feel about this, unless it's all been said already, then feel free not to. ALPF mustered his courage and sent more links, so I have some good commentary to post. I found this Macleans story on the Conservative party's reaction to Stronach's decision - and public reaction to that reaction - very interesting. Canadians seem almost universally turned off by the name-calling and sexist slurs. On the other hand, when a certain governor made his "girly men" pronouncement, his constituency howled with glee. (Which is not to say the rest of us weren't appalled.) The Macleans article also notes that not all the sexism came from politicians: Some of the most sexist characterizations of Stronach didn't come from her political adversaries, but from media. Montreal's La Presse newspaper ran a cartoon of Martin leaning out his car window to solicit a street-walking Stronach...
Read more