Today, Rana Bokhari announced that the Manitoba Liberals is proposing to expand the public healthcare system to cover the cost of certain psychological services. I am happy to see the Manitoba Liberals take this position. At our YLC(M) policy night, there was consensus among those who attended that access to psychological care and support services for youth and other vulnerable groups was important to them. While administration of healthcare and hospitals is a provincial power, I would encourage the Federal government and our Federal Liberal Party to help out with this plan where constitutionally possible. For example, while the Federal government is generally not involved in the administration of healthcare and hospitals, public healthcare has its legal foundation in the federal Canada Health Act. The Act authorizes the Federal government to make grants for the administration of public healthcare. Those grants are made out to the provincial governments, which retain their constitutional authority to make and administer laws that concern healthcare. This arrangement is similar to the general authority that the Federal government retains over programs of employment and social insurance that find their legal precedent in Reference re Employment and Social Insurance Act, [1936] SCR 427 (SCC); aff’d in [1937] AC 355 (JCPC). While such an expansion will be pith and substance (!) a provincial matter, the proposal would benefit from the Federal governments cooperation. It is important to make this a reality for those in need of psychological care notwithstanding their socio-economic status. Josh Shaw VP of Policy YLC(M) winnipegfreepress/local/Bokhari-proposes-psychological-coverage-under-Medicare-283211081.html
Posted on: Wed, 19 Nov 2014 20:12:34 +0000
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