Carney refuses to commit to enforcing the Canada Health Act to stop Smith’s privatization « Canada’s NDP

Today, Mark Carney was asked if he’d enforce the Canada Health Act to stop Danielle Smith’s push for more American-style private healthcare in Alberta.

Carney avoided condemning Smith’s privatization and refused to commit to enforcing the Canada Health Act. He said only that he’s planning on “working with the provinces” on healthcare.

The Canada Health Act empowers the federal government to penalize provinces that violate the Act.

On April 1st, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh directly called out Smith’s privatization agenda and committed to enforcing the Canada Health Act:

“I’ve talked about how we had to fight to bring in healthcare – we have to fight to defend it. Right now in Alberta is ground zero for the privatization of healthcare, for the cuts to healthcare, for the Americanization of healthcare. It’s happening right here in Alberta with a Conservative Premier Danielle Smith.” (Video)

“We’re going to do something that the Liberals, and Mark Carney is part of the same tradition sadly, that they were not able to, and they didn’t desire to, enforce the Canada Health Act. We’ve got a strong law that says you can’t privatize, tou can’t have cash for care. But they haven’t used that. We are going to enforce the Canada Health Act to end privatization in our country.” (Video)