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Govind Rao

NDP aims to shake spendthrift image - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246471|tost|20150827|227972412

from heather ndp federal election

shared by Govind Rao on 27 Aug 15 - No Cached
  • Toronto Star Thu Aug 27 2015
  • Tom Mulcair has made the deficit fetish his own. The New Democratic Party leader has vowed that, no matter what happens, he will balance the federal budget if his party wins government. Even Conservative Leader Stephen Harper hasn't gone that far. He says governments may have to run deficits during recessions. Coming at a time of a wobbly world economy and falling oil prices, Mulcair's promise is almost certainly bad economics.
  • But for a party saddled with the (largely undeserved) reputation of wasting public money, it is probably good politics. The reason Mulcair's promise is bad economics is that deficits are sometimes necessary. In times of recession, for example, efforts to balance government budgets by raising taxes or cutting spending can make matters worse. The NDP understood this in late 2008 when, as part of an ill-fated coalition attempt, it said Ottawa should spend billions and endure at least four years of deficits in order to fight the worst economic slump since the 1930s.
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  • But with interest rates close to zero, Bank of Canada governor Stephen Poloz is running out of room. The other is to have Ottawa pump money into the economy, either by cutting taxes or spending more. This is not a radical idea. Mainstream economists say that in this low-inflation environment, the government can run deficits without putting the economy at risk. Writing in the Globe and Mail, former deputy minister of finance Kevin Lynch argues Ottawa should borrow money to fund necessary infrastructure projects even if this results in deficits. The NDP has already announced bold spending plans worth billions of dollars, ranging from daycare to health care. Given these commitments, it seems odd that the party would imprison itself in the balanced-budget straitjacket. At least it seems odd until the politics are taken into account.
  • Ultimately, Harper obliged. At the time, New Democrats didn't complain about the massive deficits that the Conservative stimulus plan would entail. Rather, as Mulcair told the Commons in early 2009, the NDP worried that Harper would renege on the billions in spending that he promised. Is Canada in a recession now? Experts differ, but Mulcair seems to think so. At least that was the impression he gave in a televised debate earlier this month. But even if the country is not technically in recession, an ironclad commitment to balanced budgets can be counterproductive. Governments have only two methods to steer a sluggish economy in the right direction. One is to have the central bank cut interest rates. The Bank of Canada has tried this.
  • Politically, the NDP faces a stereotype problem. Voters tend to believe that New Democrats are overly casual with public money. In fact, NDP provincial governments have pretty much the same fiscal record as those of other parties. They try to nickel and dime public servants in order to keep costs down. They fret about credit ratings. Their finances get whacked when the overall economy turns south. But New Democrats never get any fiscal respect. In Saskatchewan, former premier Allan Blakeney's NDP government regularly balanced the budget. His Conservative successor rarely did. Yet when polled, Saskatchewan voters tended to view Blakeney as the spendthrift. Mulcair's aim is to break the stereotype.
  • Hence the hard-line position on deficits. The New Democrats are even using lines from Conservative attack ads to bolster their case. Toronto NDP candidate Andrew Thomson, a former Saskatchewan finance minister, has taken to mocking Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau for saying that growth is more important than slavish attention to deficits and that, if the economy grows - and tax revenues grow with it - the budget will balance itself. The odd thing is that, in this instance, Trudeau was right. The odder thing is that the NDP used to take the same position. Thomas Walkom's column appears Wednesday, Thursday and Saturday.
Cheryl Stadnichuk

Structural deficit is today's Saskatchewan reality | Regina Leader-Post - 0 views

leaderpost.com/...is-todays-saskatchewan-reality

SK lean budget

shared by Cheryl Stadnichuk on 01 Jun 16 - No Cached
  • We have cyclical resource revenues in Saskatchewan. Of this, there is no dispute. How cyclical they truly are will again be demonstrated when Finance Minister Kevin Doherty presents today’s 2016-17 budget. Hopefully, he will not repeat the mistakes of his predecessors who consistently inflated revenue projections at budget time and wound up overseeing a deficit budget that year.
  • Wall said on Monday that the 2016-17 Saskatchewan budget will have $1 billion less revenue than last year. This is obviously not comforting, because it translates into the Saskatchewan Party government’s third-straight deficit budget and sixth deficit in nine years. But by acknowledging this problem at budget time — instead of playing the game of high-balling resource revenues and presenting a deficit at year’s end — we at least are seeing early signs that the government gets that its deficits are no longer cyclical, but structural in nature.
  • Consider how its supposed big cost-saver in health — the John Black and Associates lean model — has produced no tangible evidence of actual savings, but plenty of evidence that it it has created a new bureaucracy within the already-bloated health bureaucracy. In Regina, there are now no fewer than 36 government/health region employees with the term “Kaizen” in their title — JBA’s lasting legacy of lean — including six Kaizen directors, 12 Kaizen specialists, lean specialists, workflow specialists, directors, Kaizen promotion office specialists, surgical Kaizen specialists, communication specialists, “Kanban” specialists, conference administrators, standard work and replication specialists, measurement specialists and certification and training specialists.
Govind Rao

Governments across the country brace for looming crunch, political dilemmas - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246199|ntgm|20150513|220371781

from heather funding budget accord medicare

shared by Govind Rao on 13 May 15 - No Cached
  • he Globe and Mail Wed May 13 2015
  • Canadian governments are bracing for rising debtservicing costs, attempting to lock in low interest rates before the inevitable rise forces unpopular decisions on spending and taxes. After years of deficit spending, Ottawa and some provinces are just starting to climb back into annual surpluses. Now, the country must grapple with hundreds of billions in accumulated government debt. This year's budget season revealed governments are taking steps to lock in current low interest rates. The question is whether they are doing enough.
  • Since the recession hit in 2008, Ottawa has added more than $150-billion to the national debt. Provinces piled on a further $217-billion. The federal government is currently weighing whether to issue another round of 50-year bonds. It started that practice last year, raising $3.5-billion with yields below 3 per cent. Meanwhile Canada's two most indebted provinces - Quebec and Ontario - are stretching out the average length of maturity of their debt. The average maturity of Ontario's debt is now 14 years, up from eight years prior to the recession. Nova Scotia now has more than half of its debt maturing in 15 years or more.
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  • In dollar terms, the size of all of that post-recession debt is staggering. Some fear that when interest rates return to normal, governments will face crippling debt-servicing costs. But the scope of the problem is a matter of significant debate in policy circles. Experts do agree that whether or not government debt is a serious problem depends on where you live. Government books in Western Canada are relatively healthy. East of Manitoba however, debt is already forcing hard choices. Political debate over government finances is typically focused on the annual bottom line, which shows whether there is a annual surplus or a deficit.
  • Economists say the often overlooked - but far more important figure - is the size of government debt in relation to the size of the economy. As a percentage of gross domestic product, the net debt of all provinces and territories has grown to 28.6 per cent in 201314 from 20.5 per cent in 2007-08. The federal debt grew to a peak of 33.3 per cent in 2012-13 from 29.2 per cent in 2007-08. That's nowhere near the 67.1 per cent debt levels reached by Ottawa in 1995-96, when The Wall Street Journal warned that Canada was at risk of hitting the "debt wall." The size of the federal debt has already started to decline, reaching 32.3 per cent in 2013-14. The 2015 budget forecast that the federal debt-to-GDP ratio will reach prerecession levels by 2017 and decline further to 25 per cent by 2021. The debt picture among the provinces varies dramatically.
  • Alberta and Saskatchewan are currently facing hard times owing to low oil prices, but they are the darlings of Confederation when it comes to low debt. Alberta had no debt at all as of last year. The real debt troubles can be found in Central and Atlantic Canada. Quebec's net debt is the largest, at 50 per cent of GDP, followed by Ontario, at 38.4 per cent, and Nova Scotia at 37.7 per cent, using figures for 201314. While Quebec announced a balanced budget this year, Ontario's deficit was up slightly to $10.9-billion last year. Ontario insists the deficit will be erased by 2017-18.
  • Provincial governments are responsible for programs such as education and health care that can affect people more directly than federal programs. Spending restraint is easier said than done. The 2015 budget season has coincided with student protests in Quebec, New Brunswick and Nova Scotia, while Ontario is dealing with labour unrest from teachers' unions. Many provinces have also been negatively affected by a recent change to the federal health-transfers formula. The move to per-capita funding won out over arguments that the average age of provincial populations should be factored into the equation. Some of the most indebted provinces also face the most challenging demographics, with a shrinking ratio of younger workers to cover the costs of growing numbers of older citizens. The Parliamentary Budget Officer has said that while federal finances are sustainable over the long term, the provinces are facing structural shortfalls that will demand spending cuts, higher taxes or both. University of New Brunswick economics professor David Murrell said the return to surpluses in Ottawa will likely rekindle pressure from the provinces for more generous transfers. Shrinking deficits, growing debt
  • Provincial finance ministers are quick to pat themselves on the back over shrinking deficits and balanced budgets, but economists urge Canadians to view these claims with a bit of skepticism. Accounting methods vary across the country, making comparisons difficult. Unlike the federal government, provinces generally present two sets of books: an operational budget and a capital budget. Boasts of balanced budgets are in reference to operational spending. A province's overall debt could still be rising on the capital side even though the government is in an operational surplus. Supporters of this accounting method - including Calgary Mayor Naheed Nenshi - argue that it separates good debt from bad debt: Using debt to build public assets such as roads and bridges is better than slipping into the red to pay for public service salaries and other operational costs.
  • Critics such as tax-policy expert Jack Mintz have warned this approach allows provinces to play "hide the deficit." Charles Lammam, director of fiscal studies with the Fraser Institute, a conservative think tank that regularly warns about the dangers of mounting government debt, agrees that claims of improving budget balances can be misleading. "This is a real problem in places like British Columbia and Ontario," he said. "It doesn't seem like the growth in government debt will let up." Mr. Lammam's research found that Canadian governments - including municipalities - spend more than $60-billion a year servicing debt, which is about the same as the entire cost of providing primary and secondary education across the country. Ontario's recent budget said a one-point increase in interest rates would cost the government $400-million. "There's a real risk that provinces like Ontario, provinces like Quebec, can be subject to this very negative situation where they're paying even more to service their outstanding debt," he said. The new debt debate
Govind Rao

Harper, Mulcair share views ; In wake of Statistics Canada data, NDP and Conservative l... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|242663|pedb|20150903|228479780

from heather federal election ndp budget

shared by Govind Rao on 03 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • The Pembroke Observer Thu Sep 3 2015
  • OTTAWA -- Stephen Harper and Tom Mulcair found themselves in unfamiliar economic territory Wednesday -- sharing the same page on when they think it is acceptable to plunge the country into a deficit. The Conservative and New Democrat leaders, along with their Liberal counterpart Justin Trudeau, still expressed sharp differences on the economic way forward following Statistics Canada's recession pronouncement a day earlier.
  • The three federal leaders attempted to put a bit more flesh on the bones of their respective economic positions after the agency reported on Tuesday that the economy had contracted for a second straight quarter--the technical definition of a recession. But as they dealt with the fallout from the data, it was Harper and Mulcair who found themselves occupying the same position on an important, related question: When is it OK to run a deficit?
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  • Both leaders are opposed to them, and are promising balanced budgets if elected. But when asked about deficits, separately, on the campaign trail Wednesday, they gave strikingly similar answers. Harper and Mulcair both agreed on the need for stimulus following the Great Recession of 2008-09.
  • "Back in 2008-2009, we faced two circumstances we do not face today, both of them are important," Harper said in North Bay, Ont., citing the drop in global output and the breakdown in the financial system. "We are nowhere near those kinds of circumstances today," he added. "I do not believe you would run a deficit on purpose if the economy is actually showing growth. Our economy will grow this year and that is why we will keep the budget in balance."
  • Speaking in Kamloops, B.C., Mulcair said: "We might recall back in 2008 when the worst financial crisis since the 1920s hit, it was obvious then that it was such a true head-on hit to the economy that spending was required and that's what was done." As for the current situation, Mulcair said: "Right now, we are in a recession that's been measured according to the definition accepted here, which is two consecutive quarters of negative growth." Trudeau, meanwhile, said Harper and Mulcair share the same future decision if they have any chance of honouring their balanced budget promises -- budget cuts.
  • "They want to cut programs and they hope in vain that the same plan that has been in place for the last 10 years will still work and will kick-start the economy," he said in Trois-Rivieres, Que. But the Liberal leader was also forced the defend the budget-cutting that his party undertook in the 1990s when Paul Martin served as former prime minister Jean Chretien's finance minister. Martin made the right decision when he cut provincial transfer payments back then because the Conservatives left the country's books in bad shape, Trudeau said.
  • "Right now, we have a very different situation where for 10 years, even though we have a very good debt-to-GDP ratio, we can't seem to create growth," Trudeau said. Trudeau said only his plan to run deficits to 2019 and increase infrastructure spending will spur real growth in a slackening economy. "Mr. Harper doesn't understand that in order to grow the economy in the 21st century we need to invest in people and give them the tools they need to succeed," he said.
  • "Confident, optimistic countries are always willing to invest in their own future rather than believe that cutting is somehow the path to growth and success." Harper and Mulcair disagreed, while still taking shots at each other.
  • "Proposing a deficit right now with economic growth is a recipe for permanent deficits," Harper said. "It's why we're not going to do it and why I think the country will reject that proposal from the other parties." Mulcair reiterated that the NDP will be able to deliver on its various spending promises by cutting some Conservative initiatives. "We have a plan for investing in infrastructure and housing, but it's all done within the framework of a balanced budget," he said. "Tommy Douglas balanced the budget 17 times in Saskatchewan and still brought in medicare in Canada for the first time."
  • NDP Leader Tom Mulcair plays street hockey during a federal election campaign stop in Kamloops, B.C.
Govind Rao

Patient funds covered real estate; MUHC diverted $5.3 million from operating budget - I... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|242663|mtgz|20151123|234280391

from heather quebec p3 hospital privatization

shared by Govind Rao on 24 Nov 15 - No Cached
  • Montreal Gazette Mon Nov 23 2015
  • The McGill University Health Centre used $5.3 million in public funds meant for patient care to cover the deficits of a money-losing real-estate venture, government auditors have found. In 2006, the Royal Victoria Hospital Foundation acquired a commercial office building at 5100 de Maisonneuve Blvd. for $40 million. The MUHC then signed a lease with the foundation to manage the property for 30 years and agreed to assume all risks involved with the building.
  • But for nearly a decade, much of the rental space in the building remained vacant, while the Royal Vic foundation had to pay offa mortgage that was worth 100 per cent of the purchase price of the property. As a result, the foundation accumulated deficits totalling $5.3 million. And since the MUHC was on the hook legally for any rental losses at 5100 de Maisonneuve, it ended up redirecting $5.3 million from the hospital network's operating budgets - money that is supposed to go to care for patients - to cover the foundation's deficits. "The MUHC ended up footing the bill to cover the shortfall in rental revenues in the building for many consecutive years, financing the operational deficits of a third party (the foundation) to the cumulative tune of $5.3 million," Johanne Beauvais, Health Minister Gaétan Barrette's press attaché, told the Montreal Gazette in an email Friday.
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  • Asked whether the MUHC siphoned funds from its operating budget to cover the rental losses at 5100 de Maisonneuve, Beauvais responded: "Indeed, operational budgets ended up covering for the loss of rental revenues, which is why the minister firmly requested this practice to end." Michel Bureau, a former deputy health minister, was appointed by the Quebec government in 2013 to scrutinize the MUHC's troubled finances. In April, Bureau produced a report that raised numerous questions about the property at 5100 de Maisonneuve, suggesting that the MUHC was using public funds to cover the foundation's deficits.
  • However, the Bureau report did not cite any figures. Barrette delved into the 5100 de Maisonneuve file after the Montreal Gazette published a series of articles about the property at the end of October. The articles examined why a private clinic staffed by MUHC doctors that opened in the building on Oct. 13 was charging the parents of children for blood tests that used to be covered under medicare at the former Montreal Children's Hospital location. Since the private Brunswick Medical Group started renting the space for the clinic from the MUHC, the foundation has not run any deficits.
  • The MUHC had also affixed its crest above the main entrance at 5100 de Maisonneuve. Barrette ordered the MUHC to remove the logo and the hospital network complied. The minister also re-examined the financial ramifications of the foundation's investment in the property. Beauvais noted that the MUHC signed the lease with the Royal Vic foundation under the orders of the late Arthur Porter, who was head of the MUHC at the time. At least two government reports faulted the MUHC for never obtaining the required prior authorization of the government to enter into the lease agreement with the foundation.
  • "The whole series of transactions (involving 5100 de Maisonneuve) were never necessary for the implementation of the clinical plan approved in 2007, were never authorized by the relevant authorities, and were initiated in great secrecy by the late Arthur Porter," Beauvais added. "The unauthorized lease is a legal problem the MUHC must extricate itself from, and the current board of directors agrees." On Nov. 6, Barrette sent a formal letter to the MUHC ordering it to cancel the lease "at the earliest opportune moment." Barrette also ordered the MUHC to report to the government about the property regularly, and "until such time as the lease is cancelled, no money can come out of the MUHC budget to cover rental fees or other payments in relation to that building."
  • The MUHC's Public Affairs Department, headed by Richard Fahey, refused repeated interview requests by the Montreal Gazette concerning 5100 de Maisonneuve. But the department did release the following statement: "Following the release of Dr. Bureau's report earlier this year, the MUHC discussed the property at 5100 de Maisonneuve with government officials. The MUHC has agreed to a deferred plan to discontinue its emphyteutic lease that will not impact financial results." Should the MUHC cancel the lease, it would have to pay a considerable penalty. And should the Royal Vic try to sell the building in today's market, it might lose money "since it's not certain (in today's real-estate market) that the actual value of the building is equivalent to the price paid in 2006," Bureau warned in his report.
  • The Royal Vic foundation purchased 5100 de Maisonneuve from Air Canada under orders by Porter. Four months after the acquisition, Porter was appointed to the board of directors of Air Canada. Porter died in jail in Panama on June 30 of complications from cancer as he fought extradition to Quebec to face criminal charges that he accepted $22.5 million in bribes to help engineering firm SNC-Lavalin win the contract to build the $1.3-billion superhospital. aderfel@montrealgazette.com Twitter.com/Aaron_Derfel
  • DAVE SIDAWAY, MONTREAL GAZETTE / In 2006, the Royal Victoria Hospital Foundation acquired a commercial office building at 5100 de Maisonneuve Blvd. for $40 million. But a lease arrangement, for which the MUHC was legally responsible, left deficits of $5.3 million over the next decade.
Govind Rao

The big lie - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|233683|sjet|20130810|175209518

from heather federal medicare accord ally union

shared by Govind Rao on 13 Aug 13 - No Cached
  • Govind Rao on 13 Aug 13
     
    The Telegram (St. John's) Sat Aug 10 2013 Page: A19 Section: Weekend Opinion Byline: Lana Payne Jim Flaherty, Stephen Harper's finance minister, has become a master storyteller. His latest tale, or at least the one his friends are spinning for him, is the deficit was caused by the great recession of 2009. Like every tale, there is a kernel of truth. This new version of history is necessary in order to perpetuate the falsehood that his government is a good manager of the economy. But this is not a deficit the government can blame on the great recession and the subsequent stimulus budget that followed. Rather, Canada's $18.7-billion deficit has it roots in failed economic policies, decisions made before the world financial crisis, including reckless corporate tax cuts. Remember, because the Conservatives would like us to forget, that this is a government that inherited $13 billion in surpluses. They quickly emptied the cupboard with one tax cut after another... We know that governments don't play hardball with big business. Indeed, our federal government saves all the hardball for the provinces. And the biggest piece of hardball is about to unfold over the next year as provinces tie themselves into knots trying to figure out how to pay for health care given the federal government edict. The current health accord ends in 2014 and Harper, with no consultations, has told the provinces to expect a lot less from Ottawa. After all, he has to pay for those corporate tax cuts. No money for health care, but lots for big business. Expect to be told that health care is unsustainable. That we can no longer afford it. Another big lie....
Govind Rao

Harper, Trudeau, Mulcair clash on budgets, deficits - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|242663|sjet|20150903|228473648

from heather NL federal election budget ndp

shared by Govind Rao on 03 Sep 15 - No Cached
  • The Telegram (St. John's) Thu Sep 3 2015
  • Stephen Harper, Justin Trudeau and Tom Mulcair duelled over deficits today in the wake of Statistics Canada's recession pronouncement. The three leaders offered sharp differences of opinion on the economic way forward after the agency reported on Tuesday that the economy contracted for a second straight quarter _ the technical definition of a recession. Trudeau said that both Harper and Mulcair will have to cut spending to honour their pledges of a balanced budget. "They want to cut programs and they hope in vain that the same plan that has been in place for the last 10 years will still work and will kick-start the economy," the Liberal leader said in Trois-Rivieres, Que.
  • Trudeau says only his plan to run deficits to 2019 and increase infrastructure spending will spur real growth in a slackening economy. "Mr. Harper doesn't understand that in order to grow the economy in the 21st century we need to invest in people and give them the tools they need to succeed," he said. "Confident, optimistic countries are always willing to invest in their own future rather than believe that cutting is somehow the path to growth and success."
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  • Harper said the economy is not doing badly and will grow later this year, so the budget must be balanced. "Proposing a deficit right now with economic growth is a recipe for permanent deficits," the prime minister said in North Bay, Ont. "It's why we're not going to do it and why I think the country will reject that proposal from the other parties." But Mulcair insisted his New Democrats won't run deficits either if they win power.
  • He reiterated that the NDP will be able to deliver on its various spending promises by cutting some Conservative initiatives. "We have a plan for investing in infrastructure and housing, but it's all done within the framework of a balanced budget," Mulcair said in Kamloops, B.C. "Tommy Douglas balanced the budget 17 times in Saskatchewan and still brought in medicare in Canada for the first time." © 2015 Transcontinental Media G.P. All rights reserved. Illustration: • NDP Leader Tom Mulcair plays street hockey during a federal election campaign stop in Kamloops, B.C., on Wednesday.
Govind Rao

Deficit Déjà Voodoo: Austerity Absurdity again in New Brunswick | Toby Sanger... - 0 views

citizenspress.org/...n-in-new-brunswick-toby-sanger

from heather NB budget

shared by Govind Rao on 24 Feb 15 - No Cached
  • Toby Sanger
  • by Graham H. Cox
  • "The deficit and debt was barely discussed during the provincial election in the fall, where the discussion was about jobs and growth, but now they’re heavily back at it again. In fact, while the province’s deficit for this year is now expected to be $255 million and be eliminated in a few years, they claim “the provincial government continues to face a $400 million structural deficit”. Really? How does that compute, when its economy is clearly operating below capacity with the unemployment rate in the province at 10% and the current deficit is considerably less than $400 million?"
Heather Farrow

Provincial supervisor for Brockville hospital a distraction for real problem of governm... - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|nxbg|20160922|256705516

cupe Ontario hospital admin cuts

shared by Heather Farrow on 23 Sep 16 - No Cached
  • BioMedReports Thu Sep 22 2016,
  • TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Sept. 22, 2016) - The appointment of a provincial supervisor for Brockville General Hospital (BGH), a Mike Harris strong-arm tactic that the Ontario Liberals once railed against, is a "surface distraction from the real problem; provincial underfunding of our hospitals, including BGH, that is causing deficits," the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) charged today.
  • Reports suggest that the hospital borrowed $5 million in addition to a $4 million deficit. "Suggesting that mismanagement is at the root of the hospital's deficit deflects blame from the culprit, a provincial government intent on starving hospitals of the funding they need to provide adequate patient care. Putting the hospital under administration is an optics exercise to distract from the significant provincial funding shortfall," says Michael Hurley, president of CUPE's Ontario Council of Hospital Unions. CUPE represents several hundred BGH front line staff.
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  • Ontario is among Canada's lowest provincial funders for hospital care. Based on the latest figures from the Canadian Institute for Health Information (CIHI), Ontario government funding for hospitals is $1,395.73 per capita. The rest of Canada, excluding Ontario, spends $1,749.69 per capita. In other words, provincial and territorial governments outside of Ontario spend $353.96 more per person on hospitals than Ontario does. That is a whopping 25.3 per cent more than Ontario. "BGH is not alone in racking up a deficit. Every hospital in Ontario is struggling because hospital funding is far too low," says Hurley. Research done by CUPE has found that average Ontario hospital funding for the population the size of Brockville in 2005/6 would have been about $1.04 million less than average funding for the same population outside of Ontario. But by 2015/16 the funding shortfall for a population the size of the City of Brockville would have exploded to $7.74 million.
  • "$7.74 million a year for the Brockville hospital would have them operating solidly in the black. This hospital is struggling valiantly to provide services through eight consecutive years of provincial funding cutbacks. The solution here isn't a supervisor and more cuts to care, staff and programs but to increase this hospital's funding," says Hurley.The views expressed in any and all content distributed by Newstex and its re-distributors (collectively, the "Newstex Authoritative Content") are solely those of the respective author(s) and not necessarily the views of Newstex or its re-distributors. Stories from such authors are provided "AS IS," with no warranties, and confer no rights. The material and information provided in Newstex Authoritative Content are for general information only and should not, in any respect, be relied on as professional
Cheryl Stadnichuk

Regina Qu'Appelle Health Region is missing surgical, emergency and fiscal targets | Reg... - 0 views

leaderpost.com/...l-emergency-and-fiscal-targets

deficits wait times surgeries

shared by Cheryl Stadnichuk on 17 Nov 16 - No Cached
  • The Regina Qu’Appelle Health Region (RQHR) is missing surgical, emergency room and financial targets, according to its second quarter report released Wednesday evening at the Regina Qu’Appelle Regional Health Authority’s board meeting.
  • The emergency department length of stay continues to be on an upward trend with the average patient staying for 13 hours instead of the 2016-17 target of 7.75 hours
  • The region’s population has grown by 47,000 people over the past decade and the population is aging — both contributing to longer ER waits, said Keith Dewar, CEO of the RQHR. “The growth in demand has resulted in significant volume pressures that have not been directly funded,” he said. “About a third of that growth and demand — both by population increase and by demographic changes — is funded.”
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  • As of Sept. 25, 2,859 patients had waited longer than three months for surgery — failing to meet the target of less than 1,934 waiting longer than three months. Based on the “current mismatch” between funded volumes and increasing demand, the region projects a minimum of 3,500 patients will wait longer than three months for surgery by the end of the fiscal year.
  • As of September, the region had a $6.6-million deficit. The overall deficit is projected to grow to around $13 million, but Dewar said the region continues to work hard to reduce that projection. The issues: In September, staff on the adult mental health unit at the General Hospital received layoff notices to align staffing with the needs of the unit. There will be more layoffs in the future, Dewar said.   Other measures to reduce the deficit include reducing sick time and overtime. That is hard to do if there continues to be overcapacity issues — when there are more patients waiting to be admitted than there
Irene Jansen

Flaherty on the Accord Dec 2010. Rein in deficits or risk EU-style crisis, Jim Flaherty... - 0 views

www.theglobeandmail.com/...article1844649

accord

shared by Irene Jansen on 23 Jan 12 - No Cached
  • Canada must avoid heading in the same direction as the European Union, where many countries are in the throes of a debt crisis, Finance Minister Jim Flaherty warns.
  • He kicked off a one-day meeting with provincial ministers in Kananaskis, Alta., on Monday by calling on them to eliminate their deficits by 2015. While most provinces now in deficit plan to balance their books within that time frame, Ontario will remain mired in red ink until 2018.
  • Mr. Flaherty said technology may actually lessen the demands on the public purse. Therefore, he said, it should not be assumed that the provinces will continue to need more health dollars at the rate of six per cent annual growth under a health accord that expires in 2013-14.
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  • “It’s not inevitable that health spending will continue to grow at the rate that it has been growing on average,” he said.
  • Mr. Flaherty insisted that he has made no decisions regarding transfer payments to the provinces once the Canada Health Transfer accord expires.
Irene Jansen

Demographic squeeze demands health-care reform (re Macdonald-Laurier Institute Looming ... - 0 views

www.calgaryherald.com/...story.html

sustainability demographics privatization neoliberalism

shared by Irene Jansen on 21 Feb 12 - No Cached
  • economist Christopher Ragan has calculated that, on cur-rent spending trends and tax rates, the public sec-tor deficit generated by aging would reach a little over four per cent of GDP in 2040, a figure over and above any deficits governments might run for other reasons. If we were running a deficit of that size today, it would be $67 billion.
  • health care in Canada is not underfunded, but is, rather, underperforming.
  • The Macdonald-Laurier Institute recently published five essays by leading Canadian thinkers on how best to deal with the looming demographic deficit.
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  • MacKinnon suggests diverting services away from traditional hospitals, which in her words, are "expensive, heavily unionized, and therefore difficult to manage efficiently." She believes services delivered by private clinics, focusing on specialty care, can deliver better ser-vices at a lower cost.
  • She also wants patients diverted from expensive and crowded emergency rooms and other costly facilities to primary health clinics where family doctors - on salary rather than fee for service - would work as part of a team, including physiotherapists, counsellors, nutritionists and others. Public-private partnerships should be used to build more long-term care facilities so that elderly patients can be cared for in less expensive purpose-built facilities.
  • Two contributors suggested making health-care services a taxable benefit. Another suggestion was to allow patient copayments for medical services.
  • Brian Lee Crowley and Jason Clemens are the editors of the Macdonald-Laurier Institute's recent publication, Canada's Looming Fiscal Squeeze: Collected Essays on Solutions, available at www. macdonaldlaurier.ca.
Govind Rao

Manitoba budget leads to deeper digs into rainy-day fund - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|246199|ntgm|20150501|219569974

from heather Manitoba budget

shared by Govind Rao on 01 May 15 - No Cached
  • The Globe and Mail Fri May 1 2015
  • Smokers and banks will pay more to help finance Manitoba's infrastructure spending in a deficit budget that comes close to draining its rainy-day fund. The governing NDP tabled a $15-billion budget Thursday that boosts tobacco taxes by $1 on a carton of cigarettes that costs $128. It also increases the capital tax on financial institutions to 6 per cent from 5 per cent. The budget - which includes a $422-million deficit - also increases tax credits for caregivers of vulnerable relatives at home and boosts rental assistance for welfare recipients by up to $271 a household. "We made a decision to invest in infrastructure. We made a decision to invest in health care. We made a decision to invest in education," Finance Minister Greg Dewar said Thursday. "Other provinces have taken a different route." The budget draws $105-million from Manitoba's rainy-day fund to pay down debt and support infrastructure spending. That leaves $115-million in a bank account that boasted $864-million in 2009.
  • That will be replenished at some point "as the economy grows," said Mr. Dewar, a longtime backbencher who took over the portfolio last fall after a partial caucus revolt against Premier Greg Selinger. The fiscal blueprint promises $1-billion in infrastructure spending as part of a five-year stimulus plan that was announced when the government raised the provincial sales tax in 2013. The budget also includes modest spending increases in health care and education. It records the latest in a string of deficits as the province delays balancing the books until 2019 - four years later than originally promised. Mr. Dewar disagreed with Statistics Canada's assessment that Manitoba's economy grew by 1.1 per cent last year. He suggested the province is "on track to have the strongest economy in Canada." But that's not enough to balance the books in the near future, he said. "We're starting to see good numbers now and we're anticipating that we shall return to surplus as long as we continue to spend less than we have coming in."
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  • That did little to quell critics who said the NDP has given up even the pretense of trying to rein in spending. Progressive Conservative Leader Brian Pallister said the government could have balanced the books this year if it had "just held the line on spending." "They are making promises with money they are taking from our children and grandchildren here," the Opposition leader said. "It took 109 years for us as a province to get about $18-billion into debt. It's taken six for the premier and the NDP to double that debt. Somebody's got to pay that back." Todd MacKay, prairie director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation, said the "overwhelmingly irresponsible budget" shows the New Democrats have a spending problem. "They promised to have this budget balanced. Instead, the deficit is going up," he said.
  • "Future generations are going to pay for this budget. It's completely irresponsible." The infrastructure spending wasn't enough to win over others. Winnipeg Mayor Brian Bowman said it will do little to help the province's largest city. "We need new money. The model is ... fundamentally broken in terms of how we fund our cities," he said. "We have an obligation to fix it." The NDP tries to leave behind internal turmoil that led to a leadership race in March which Mr. Selinger won by 33 votes. The Premier's top five cabinet ministers resigned last year after calling for him to step down in light of plummeting opinion polls following the provincial sales-tax increase. "The government has obviously been preoccupied with something else over the past eight months and has not been focused on governing," said Chuck Davidson, president of the Manitoba Chamber of Commerce. "This was a great opportunity to at least get us on a path ... to getting our economic house in order. They missed the mark."
Govind Rao

Health care sees biggest funding shift in Ontario budget - 0 views

www.ottawacommunitynews.com/...unding-shift-in-ontario-budget

from heather Ontario budget cuts home care

shared by Govind Rao on 01 May 15 - No Cached
  • Apr 30, 2015
  • Home care boosted, hospital funding frozen as Liberals seek deficit reduction
  • Shifting medical care from the hospital to the home emerged as a key piece of the 2015 Ontario budget, which aims to shrink the province’s hefty deficit and bring the province closer to fiscal balance. Released on April 23, the $131.9 billion budget represents a less-than inflationary increase over the previous year’s budget, with several sectors - especially health and education - seeing increased funding constraint. The health sector budget will rise only by 1.2 per cent this coming year, less than half of last year’s increase. This is all to slay a $10.9 billion deficit by 2017-18, something the provincial government has vowed to accomplish. The deficit by the end of this fiscal year is projected to be $8.5 billion, and $4.8 billion the year after. This year, the interest payment on the province’s $298.9 billion debt will be $11.4 billion, and $1 billion higher next year.
Govind Rao

Economic platitudes not enough - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|242663|kwrc|20150827|227972925

from heather federal election accord cuts

shared by Govind Rao on 27 Aug 15 - No Cached
  • Waterloo Region Record Thu Aug 27 2015
  • Canada's main political leaders have much to say about the ailing economy. None has yet produced a plausible plan to fix it. This week's stock market chaos served only to illustrate how ill-prepared the Conservatives, Liberals and New Democrats are when it comes to dealing with economic crisis. All responded with campaign bromides to the unsettling news that China, the world's No. 2 economy, is in trouble. Conservative Prime Minister Stephen Harper urged voters to stick with his recipe of tax cuts. Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau talked of the need to build the middle class.
  • New Democrat Leader Tom Mulcair, meanwhile, repeated his pledge to solve the crisis by lowering taxes for small business. These ideas aren't necessarily stupid. But in terms of dealing with an unusually stagnant economy, none of the parties' economic platforms - so far at least - is even remotely sufficient. First, look at where we are. The world economy has been weak since 2008. Europe and Japan are in trouble. The U.S. is only starting to pull out of its funk. For a while, China led the pack. But as this week's stock market scare demonstrated, China can be a slender reed to lean on. Former U.S. treasury secretary Larry Summers refers to what the world is going through now as "secular stagnation." It's as good a term as any.
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  • In practical terms, it means the economy is creating jobs - but not good ones. It means that consumers are relying on credit cards rather than wages to buy what they need. It means that entire sectors of the economy are out of whack. In Canada, this expresses itself as a reliance on notoriously volatile commodities such as oil. When oil and other commodity prices are up, Canada does OK. When they fall, as is happening now, the reverse occurs. In his stump speech, Mulcair rightly criticizes the Harper Conservatives for failing to pay enough attention to manufacturing. He is also correct when he says that too many of the jobs created are low wage and part time. But his solution to date - give tax breaks to small business and manufacturers - is singularly inadequate. Small businesses, almost by definition, require low-wage, part-time, non-union workers. Encouraging small business may create jobs. But most will be of the precarious variety that Mulcair decries.
  • Tax breaks to manufacturers, meanwhile, may encourage them to expand production - but only if they have customers willing to buy. As Mulcair correctly points out, too many corporations are refusing to reinvest their profits. Logically, that means government should take up the slack - even if this leads to fiscal deficits in the short term. But Mulcair pledged Tuesday that an NDP government would not run deficits. Trudeau is less categorical. He says a Liberal government would balance the books over the long haul. But, wisely, he has not ruled out deficit spending in the short run. Trudeau's real problem is that his solution to the crisis is also insufficient.
  • He says his Liberals would take money from the very-well-to-do and give it to those earning between roughly $50,000 and $200,000. Trudeau refers to this as helping the middle class. Making the rich pay is not a bad idea - although the economy would get more of a boost if the poor, who spend most of what they earn, received the money instead. But how would Trudeau lessen Canada's reliance on oil? How would he protect us from the kinds of shocks that roiled the world this week? How would he promote manufacturing or high-wage, new-technology industries? So far, the Liberals haven't said.
  • Finally, the Conservatives. Harper's party does not fit the cartoon stereotypes. It hasn't embraced the harsh austerity favoured in Europe. Rather, the Harper government has followed a kind of austerity-light regimen. It has penalized the unemployed but left welfare and medicare alone (although the Conservatives have said they will cut health spending if re-elected). Both opposition parties criticize the Conservatives for having run deficits since 2008. But given the weakness of the economy, it was the right thing to do. Arguably, Harper's real sin on this front was to move too quickly to balance the books. Still, the prime minister has much to answer for. One example: His government used the temporary worker program to suppress wages, relenting only when the politics became impossible. But his biggest mistake was to rely on oil. When petroleum prices were high and China booming, this was sufficient to hide the economy's fatal flaws. Now it is not. Thomas Walkom's columns appear in Torstar newspapers.
Govind Rao

CUPE says it will fight spending cuts - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|frdg|20151222|236364406

from heather NB cuts

shared by Govind Rao on 22 Dec 15 - No Cached
  • The Daily Gleaner (Fredericton) Tue Dec 22 2015
  • The province's largest public sector union says it will consult with its members in an effort to put a halt to the government's upcoming spending cuts. Odette Robichaud, the vice-president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) NB, said Monday that her group is ready to mobilize in an effort to fight the Liberal government's strategic review document.
  • "We are ready to pull out all the stops to save the social fabric of New Brunswick," Robichaud said at a news conference. The government strategic review document is designed to find upwards of $500 million in cuts and new revenues with the goal of eventually balancing the budget.
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  • Late last month, the province, which is projecting a $453-million budgetary deficit, released information that contained around $1 billion in options, pledging to deliver on about half of the list of new revenue measures and spending cuts. Highlighting the package are a two percentage point hike in the HST, highway tolls in eight places across the province, an increase in class sizes in schools, performance-based funding for universities, and the potential sale of the province's parks headline the report.
  • The government wants the public to mull over the list with the province being prepared to move on the choices in the months ahead. In an interview, Victor Boudreau, minister responsible for the Strategic Program Review, said CUPE is quick to say what it wouldn't do but not so fast to say what they would.
  • This has been a very long process," the minister said. "We started this process back in January. We toured the province extensively. We had meetings with New Brunswickers. We had meetings with stakeholders. We have had a lot of meetings internally within government. Every department was asked to take a close look at their budget line by line and try to identify some opportunities." At Monday's news conference, which included leaders from several unions, Robichaud said CUPE had been to every round-table and public forum.
  • "Nobody came to the microphone to say you should close my hospital because I don't mind travelling an extra hour to receive health care or increase the size of that classrooms the teacher will have less time to spend with my child and, on top of that, lay off education assistants," Robichaud said. "We didn't hear any New Brunswickers come forward and say you should close my school in my community and privatize road maintenance and custodial services in the school, so my neighbours or family members would lose their jobs." Boudreau said all the suggestions presented in the Choices Report were either from the public, the stakeholders or the civil service, he said. "Now, we are at the point where we have to take some decisions," Boudreau said. "We want it to be very straightforward and put all the choices out that are being considered."
  • Robichaud said CUPE is considering rallies, demonstrations and meetings. CUPE said it wants to know why the minister is using the deficit figure for the second quarter of 2015-2016, which is $453 million, instead of the deficit figure for 2014-2015 which stands at $388.6 million and includes a one-time expense of $229.7 million for the reform of the New Brunswick Teachers Pension Plan. Boudreau said it's well documented that the province has a structural deficit in the hundreds of millions.
  • "With an austerity budget, there can be some decisions that will have a short term negative impact on the economy. That's why we're accounting for more to be able to get to the actual number which is about $450 million. There's no doubt that from one year to the next, there are always adjustments."
Cheryl Stadnichuk

If amalgamation is in the cards, Florizone wants to mitigate risks | Saskatoon StarPhoenix - 0 views

thestarphoenix.com/...return-of-florizone

SK health restructuring

shared by Cheryl Stadnichuk on 20 May 16 - No Cached
  • With the Saskatchewan Party government foreshadowing changes in health care administration, returning Saskatoon Health Region CEO Dan Florizone said lessons can be learned from the Alberta Health Service model. “These are interesting questions, and what I would want to do is collect the analysis,” he said. Florizone returned to work Wednesday after going on personal health leave in November, with 3S Health CEO Andrew Will filling in. Florizone received the medical all-clear on Monday and debriefed with Will on Tuesday night.
  • “We are just over 1.1 million people and so we’re going to look at whether or not we have the right governance structure for a system of that size in terms of the number of people we do serve,” Health Minister Dustin Duncan said Wednesday. The process won’t happen overnight and won’t be driven top-down by government, he said. “This is really trying to set the stage for not just the next year or two. This is really looking at some of the fundamental drivers of the system. We have to be prepared for the next 20 and 30 years.” Florizone, who as assistant deputy health minister ran the previous amalgamation to 12 health regions, said people can “look forward to, if not amalgamation, certainly more by way of shared services, shared programs, shared administration, where we look at ourselves in broader geographic terms.”
  • In 2008, the Alberta Health Service (AHS) brought together 12 formerly separate health entities, including three health authorities. Florizone said the first step is to understand the outcomes in Alberta. As with any organizational change, there was a “traumatic period” for administration and staff, he said. Florizone suggested the AHS is the biggest corporation in Canada.  “With big bureaucracy comes complexity and I would like to understand the benefits — and there are benefits. I’d like to understand the risks, and any problems that they encountered. “So if there was a suggestion by the government that we move to one, what we’d want to do is learn from others — Alberta — and mitigate any risks that exist.”
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  • An injection of $10 million from the health ministry has been helpful, he said, noting the latest financial statements show a year-end deficit of about $35.7 million, which could have been as high as $48 million. “It’s a deep, deep worry of the administration, of the organization, of the board; we can’t continue to run deficits. We’ve got to be able to bring our budget into balance,” Florizone said. The health region is implementing a sustainability plan, which in the short term has focused on reducing paid hours, the largest driver of the deficit. Florizone said he hopes job losses can be avoided as much as possible. Board chair Mike Stensrud said the more waste that can be eliminated, the fewer jobs that will be cut. Despite the financial crunch, the health region will never fail to make its payroll, he said.
Heather Farrow

N.S. tables budget with surplus - Infomart - 0 views

www.fpinfomart.ca/doc/doc_display.php?key=pr|245142|cbpo|20160420|245174210

NS budget

shared by Heather Farrow on 20 Apr 16 - No Cached
  • Cape Breton Post Wed Apr 20 2016
  • While severe cost-cutting measures aimed at reducing bloated deficits have dominated budgets in Atlantic Canada and elsewhere in the country, Nova Scotia's 2016-17 budget tabled Tuesday featured what's become a rarity - a razor-thin surplus of $17.1 million. The province's Liberal government was largely able to pull it off by holding the line on departmental spending while reaping the benefit of a $234 million increase in tax revenue collected mostly through personal income taxes, a 2.6 per cent jump in revenue over last year. In a budget with $10.1 billion in spending, the new surplus figure is an improvement on the $241.2 million deficit forecast in December. Finance Minister Randy Delorey highlighted the budgetary good fortune, but cautioned things could change quickly because the province is "not immune" to global economic slowdowns and shocks.
  • We know economic ups and downs will continue," Delorey said in his address to the legislature. "We also know we are not powerless. We can grow our surplus so we can become a source of stability in this region." Progressive Conservative Leader Jamie Baillie scoffed at the surplus, calling it "bogus" and the product of rosy projections for tax revenue. "It's like money is going to rain down into the pockets of Nova Scotians in the coming year and they can tax it," said Baillie. "This budget is going to fall apart the moment the day it hits the real world." Baillie said he doubts the surplus will grow given that employment has decreased over the last three years and added an opportunity was missed to lower the tax burden for Nova Scotians.
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  • NDP Leader Gary Burrill called the budget a "surplus of words." In particular, Burrill was critical of the lack of help for post secondary students and said the government should have moved as New Brunswick did last week to provide more up-front financial assistance. When asked why there had been such a significant swing from deficit projections in December, when Delorey blamed softened government revenues on a drop in tax revenue and offshore royalties, the minister said it was because of a combination of things including more tax information from the federal government.
  • Revenue did soften within departments," he said. "What you will also see though is that through the decisions we made and good management we have reduced our expenses more than the revenue has softened, which has enabled us to improve our position." The budget promises include modest amounts for a series of spending initiatives, many of which were previously announced, while continuing promised multi-year spending in education.
  • There is $6.6 million to improve a childcare system which a recent report said employs the lowest paid early childhood educators in Canada. The government says the money would be used to improve wages and subsidies to parents, although the amount of the increases won't be released until Education Minister Karen Casey gives her official response to her department's report within the next week. Delorey didn't reveal any details either, but did say the funding would push pay for daycare workers "closer to the national average."
  • CUPE Nova Scotia president Dianne Frittenburg said the overall funding figure falls short of what workers in the sector expect. She compared the figure to the $10.2 million included to refloat the ferry from Yarmouth, N.S., to Portland, Maine. "I'm not saying the Yarmouth ferry isn't important but it (early childhood education) should have equal footing," said Frittenburg. In a completely new measure, the budget allocates $7.5 million towards increasing income assistance by $20 a month beginning May 1 for up to 25,000 eligible people.
  • Other spending measures include $3.6 million to help children with autism access specialized therapy and a 25 per cent refundable food bank tax credit for farmers that will cost $300,000. Education will get $21 million as part of a four-year $65 million government pledge. The money includes $6.4 million to cap class sizes up to Grade 6 and $7.5 million to help improve literacy and math skills.
  • The only tax increase in the budget hits smokers, with cigarettes going up two cents each or 50 cents a pack and the tax rate on cigars going up by four per cent at midnight. The moves are expected to bring $15.8 million to provincial coffers. Health spending, at $4.1 billion, takes up 40 per cent of the overall budget. It includes $14.4 million for home care, including home support and nursing. As previously announced there is $3.7 million earmarked for the redesign of the decrepit Victoria General Hospital in Halifax, but no money to replace it.
  • However, in an accounting measure, the government said it was taking a one-time $110 million payment from Ottawa and the Halifax Regional Municipality for the city's new convention centre and applying it to the debt.
  • Officials said the payment on the debt would free up money in the future to launch a multi-year redevelopment of the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Centre.
  • HALIFAXHighlights of the Nova Scotia budget introduced Tuesday: ° Surplus of $17.1 million is projected on a spending program of about $10 billion. ° Net debt of $15.2 billion in 2016-17. ° Budget provides $6.6 million for childcare with money to increase the parent subsidy and to increase wages for early childhood educators. ° Education will get $21 million, with $6.4 million going toward class cap sizes extended up to Grade 6 and $7.5 million to help improve literacy and math skills. ° There will be $7.5 million for boosting income assistance by $20 a month for people eligible. ° Tobacco tax increased by two cents a cigarette or 50 cents a pack, $4 dollars per carton. ° Government will introduce a new 25 per cent refundable food bank tax credit for farmers at a cost of $300,000. ° $3.6 million for the Early Intensive Behavioural Intervention Program to ensure children with autism access a specialized therapy.
Heather Farrow

Alberta's sky-high health care costs make deficits hard to shake: report - Calgary - CB... - 0 views

www.cbc.ca/...are-spending-deficit-1.3645646

Alberta privatization spending

shared by Heather Farrow on 22 Jun 16 - No Cached
  • Per-capita spending is 33% above national average, Conference Board of Canada says
  • Jun 21, 2016
  • Alberta spends more money on health care per capita than any other province and demand is only going to increase, making it difficult for the province to meet its modest deficit-reduction targets, according to the Conference Board of Canada.
Govind Rao

Hospital in deficit; others privatizing services | North Bay Nugget - 0 views

www.nugget.ca/...it-others-privatizing-services

from heather Ontario p3 hospital privatization cuts

shared by Govind Rao on 22 Jun 15 - No Cached
  • By JENNIFER HAMILTON-MCCHARLES, The Nugget Thursday, June 11, 2015
  • The North Bay Regional Health Centre is forecasting a deficit this year, but what the impact will be to staff or patients isn't yet known. “We do not have specifics as we are finalizing the impact of health system funding reform on the hospital's specific situation,” stated Kathy Stackelberg, senior communications specialist at the hospital in a prepared statement from senior administration.
  • In January, 75 positions were eliminated, which is part of a three-year plan. The plan also includes the closure of 59 beds and other measures to achieve $30 million in savings. This year is the second year of the process. As of January, 100 jobs have been eliminated and 36 bed closures.
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