New column day

Here, on Justin Trudeau's broken health care promises - and the need for a concerted provincial push for an equal partnership in maintaining and enhancing a universal health care system for all Canadians.

For further reading...
- The Liberal and NDP 2015 election platforms (PDF) offer a useful indication of the expectations Canadian voters had of any replacement for the Harper Cons.
- Joan Bryden has already compared the Libs' platform to their current rewriting of history, while Campbell Clark calls out the games the Libs are playing. 
- But this exchange from the September 17 leaders' debate more clearly highlights Trudeau's dishonesty now in claiming to have campaigned on capping health funding:

Hon. Justin Trudeau:         Mr. Harper, Mr. Mulcair has talked about health care transfers ––
Rt. Hon. Stephen Harper:  –– and the financial (crosstalk) government to make (crosstalk).
Hon. Justin Trudeau:         –– but he just stepped back from that promise. He promised to increase health care transfers, and now has said oh no, balancing the books is more important.
Hon. Thomas Mulcair:       We are increasing ––
Hon. Justin Trudeau:         That’s not what Canadians need.
Hon. Thomas Mulcair:       — investments, we are increasing them.

Needless to say, that couldn't be much less reconcilable with Trudeau's current position:

“Canadians voted, in part, for our commitment to increase health care transfers by three per cent,” he said in French.
“And yes, we were well aware we would be criticized for that during the election campaign but it’s a promise we made in terms of priorities. People should not be surprised that we are staying faithful to our election promises.”

- Finally, Thomas Walkom notes the need for both an expanded view of health care, and increased federal funding to support it, while providing background on the development of our national Medicare system. And my mention of current funding levels is based on Teresa Boyle's report on this week's meeting.