Visiting MP wants a stronger national health-care system
Dr. Heddy Fry (right), Liberal MP for Vancouver Center and that party’s official critic for health, visited Revelstoke on Friday evening and spoke to a gathering of local Liberal Party of Canada members and sympathizers, including Edie Schleiss, Peter Bernacki and Maria Stagliano. Fry, who was on her way to a Canadian medical Association conference in Calgary, said the 2004 Canada Health Accord desperately needs renewal. Unless it is updated with the active participation of the federal government it could simply be transformed from a true national health-care system into a series of “13 boutique health-care programs.” Canadians deserve better, she said. Unfortunately, Steven Harper’s Conservative government appears to believe that health care should remain the purview of the provinces. It is within provincial jurisdiction but without national government support and assistance it will remain relatively weak. David F. Rooney photo
