CALVERT: MEDICARE'S FOUNDING PRINCIPLE DEMANDS WE MEET THE FUNDING CHALLENGE

Premier Lorne Calvert today said there needs to be significant and sustainable changes in federal funding to meet the challenges facing medicare now and in the future.

In his opening statement at the First Ministers' Meeting on health, Calvert reminded the Prime Minister, Premiers and Canadians today of the principle on which medicare is founded.

"Medicare was born on the prairie of Saskatchewan on the basis of a simple principle, that principle being that every citizen should be entitled to health care on the basis of need and not on the ability to pay," Calvert said.

The premier said in order for Canadians to continue to have confidence in the health care system, that principle must be backed up with meaningful and ongoing federal funding.

"Canadian medicare is a publicly funded system where, through our governments, we pool our resources to provide health care," Calvert said. "If we fail to build the adequate, predictable and sustainable financial foundation for medicare in Canada, those who believe our health care solutions are in the marketplace will have their cause significantly advanced."

The Premier said medicare is a reflection of our shared values as Canadians and he stands against for-profit health care.

"As the stewards of medicare today we need both the wisdom to strengthen the foundations and the courage and vision to change," Calvert said. "Today we owe a loyalty to our elders who pioneered Canadian medicare and perhaps an even deeper loyalty to our children who will inherit our work."

The First Ministers are meeting in Ottawa from September 13th to September 15th.

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