Public services and privatization

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The Supreme Court’s recent decision favouring private health insurance didn’t sound the death knell for Medicare, but it did grease the skids for a faster slide into a two-tier system. Ralph Klein and other neo-con provincial politicians rightly see it as condoning their privatization policies. The big U.S. health insurance companies are slavering at the prospect of fattening their profits in Canada. The wealthy expect to get prompt access to the best medical care, while the rest of us keep trying to cope with a decaying public system.
When the Ontario government passed electricity restructuring legislation at the end of last year, it was bowing to Washington’s trade liberalization pressures by moving to conform the province’s electricity program to that of neighbouring American states. The McGuinty government’s proposed new electricity system, which will be open to private ownership, could activate the free trade agreements Canada has entered into with the U.S. It could force us into bidding against American consumers to buy our own provincially-produced power.
At one level the current parliamentary furor is partisan politics at its worst.  Stephen Harper is taking advantage of the scandal to boost the fortunes of the Conservatives while Paul Martin clings to power by promoting a budget not of the Liberals own making.  These theatrics in Ottawa are diverting our attention away from how public programs and services are being undermined. 
BC’s economy is a lot like a rollercoaster ride. Commodity prices for our resource exports (like energy, forest and mining products) go up and down over the years, and our economic fortunes lurch along for the ride. This is especially true in BC’s “heartlands”. While the current economic upswing masks differences, BC actually has two economies: the diversified and populous Greater Vancouver and Victoria areas, and the rest of the province, which continues to be highly vulnerable to the resource rollercoaster’s ups and downs.
Guess who does the cooking and cleaning in BC hospitals and nursing homes?If you answered “mostly women,” you would be right. It’s not exactly news that service jobs in Canada are usually done by women. In the Lower Mainland, many of the cleaners and food service workers in our health facilities are immigrant women from Asia and other countries of the south. Most have children at home and are also supporting family members overseas.
This study builds on analysis originally published in Bleeding the Hinterland: A Regional Analysis of BC's Tax and Spending Cuts.
(Vancouver) Provincial taxation and spending policies have worsened the gap between BC’s two economies — the diversified Lower Mainland and Victoria areas, and the more resource-dependent ‘hinterland’ regions. Soutwestern BC received a skewed share of income tax cuts, while subsequent tax increases and spending cuts have hit harder in the regions. For most communities, the value of income tax cuts has been largely offset, or eliminated altogether, by tax increases and lost income from government downsizing.
A companion piece to this paper, The Hidden Costs of Health Care Wage Cuts in BC by Marc Lee and Marcy Cohen, looks at the personal, family and organizational impacts of wage cuts in the health care sector.