Attached is a recent POLLARA national opinion survey of
1,200 Canadians on their opinions towards accountability in health funding.
Considering the posturing of several provincial premiers in advance of the
First Ministers' meeting beginning February 4th, these premiers are clearly
out of touch with their constituents. There has developed a substantial
consensus among Canadians, following the Romanow Commission report as which
way to proceed on reforming health care that several provincial premiers are
completely off-board on.
- 77% of Canadians believe that federal and provincial
governments are doing either a poor or very poor job of ensuring that funds
raised by taxation for health care are actually spent on health care, and
reporting these results to Canadians.
- 96% of Canadians believe that both levels of
government should do a better job of making sure that funds raised by taxation
for health care are actually spent on health care, and reporting these results
to Canadians.
- 92% of Canadians agree that the First Ministers
should agree to specifically earmark federal funds for health care.
- 81% of Canadians agree that as a condition of
receiving more federal money, provincial leaders should guarantee all federal
funds will be spent on health care and agree to provide clear and timely
reports on their spending. Only 16% of Canadians agree that health is a
provincial matter and the provinces should not have any string attached to
federal health dollars they receive. In other words, Klein, Eves and others
represent a small minority of Canadians in demanding no strings or
accountability for new federal health dollars.
- 77%, or three-quarters of Canadians surveyed would
advise the First Ministers to earmark federal health dollars exclusively for
public, not-for-profit health care.