Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 13, 1979, Winnipeg, Manitoba 4 Winnipeg free March provinces could lose medicare Ottawa up health minister Monique begin said monday studies Are under Way to determine whether Federal health insurance payments should be withheld from any prov answering questions in the com the minister said her officials now Are consulting provinces and will prepare a report on barriers to reiterating the Federal position that Ottawa share Cost payments to provinces will be Cut if the universality and accessibility of medicare is she said we will seek out directly the in formation we need to decide yes or its time to withhold she expressed concern that the right of All canadians to have medi Cal insurance is being eroded and said the situation is very fragile right the minister expressed concern about the situation in where Many doctors Are opting out of the Ontario health insurance plan and where doctors Are charging a Premium for she was responding in the com Mons to new Democrat Paul Rae who asked what the government is going to do about the number of doctors who Are eroding the concept of equal Access to medical care by charging higher she said withholding medicare payments would be a Las resort the Federal government will net see eroded the benefits which canadians derive and enjoy under the National medicare begin said the government has observed different signs Over the last six months that the universality and accessibility guaranteed under the program have indeed been she said provincial Deputy minis ters were told last week the govern ment planned to study the it is surely very fragile right she said per cent of Ontario doctors have left the provincial plan and about 11 per cent Are charging extra Alberta doctors were charging up to 20 per cent More than the Provin Cial governments health insurance fee schedule about 133 Manitoba physicians also had opted some provinces also were consider deterrent threatening to charge extra for those who overuse health care begin could not say at what Point Federal payments would be we never envisaged the practical application of what criteria it could be because we never thought that it could begin said her department recently investigated Ontario increase in chronic care fees and found that the needy were not the government recently announced an additional per Day charge for those requiring chronic Hospital those unable to pay the fee Are compensated by she said the government would not take direct action without first deter mining if canadians Are not getting the medical care promised to we can withhold payments but were going to talk to each other with consultation and investigation the government will find out if Only a Small segment of a particular re Gion is affected by the number of doctors opting the problem May simply reflect a Lack of Competition in a certain re she but she warned the stakes would be High if payments had to be Cash paid to Ontario for medicare alone in 197778 amounted to the minister photo old cars and heavy construction equipment help to keep the Walls of a manmade Dike surrounding the Bradley farm near from collapsing but were unable to keep the water the thames River overflowed the Banks late last Ottawa to study rail Yard continued agreed on continued As one councillor said he would take the matter to the actor Ney generals department in an at tempt to Force the City to abide by the 3ct a delegation of about 40 people staunchly opposed the fuelling debate and being ruled out of Alice alleging an unsettled political situation at the fed eral said the committee approve funds for the signs until after the coming Federal elec either leave the signs alone or build larger doors to accommodate the signs of All the ethnic Richmond Doug a spokesman for the Canada gave the commit tee a lecture in Canadian history focusing on the Royal proclamation of 1763 which made English the offi Cial you mean to say you can find to put up signs that will help absolutely nobody in the City but cant find Money to help that Man an earlier delegation fix his Back Lane Ligertwood Harold Piercy attacked the clause of the Winnipeg act which stipulates that major informational signs in Central offices shall be in both English and Southern Manitoba hit by overnight snowstorm continued we can see the Northern Edge of it right now on our radar sets about 40 Miles he expect a pretty Windy but that will get rid of the pretty heavy Snow that falling and that should leave us with 10 to 12 centimetres of Snow everybody had a shot of heavy but its lasted longest Here at Winnipeg and at Portage and prob ably areas Down South of Winnipeg to the he nothing was Landing Here Dur ing the morning a weather office spokesman air Canada cancelled several of its flights in and out of the but was resuming Normal operations this other used the one Airport runway kept open during the night and Early ramp reported at 6 the Tran Canada Highway West was passable while Selkirk detachment said Highway 9 Between Selkirk and Winnipeg was particularly bad Al though most other roads were pass one person was injured seriously and 15 vehicles damaged in two Sepa rate collisions this overpass grew and councillors agreed they were willing to have a Federal government study done As Long As the City didst have to pay for although Lang would not say to what extent the Federal government would fund he i am being careful in this regard be cause i think there is some feeling that we would in an automatic Way finance future overpasses and that in a sense depends upon the successor programs to if we Are faced with rail relocation the Federal government will be faced with projecting ahead of the current five year Utah agreement As to what we plan to do with the Overall longer term in regard to a whole series of Urban transit prob lems including overpasses and Relo in that sense the Winnipeg situation will Force us to prep an the future and that will determine the kind of funds we will have Avail Able for other provinces and other projects As if the financing of rail relocation is not feasible the overpass would go ahead regardless of the results of the he Lang did not commit himself to funding the extra costs of the overpass caused by the the City and the railway should be prepared to pay the extra Cost or relocation should the study prove benefits would warrant the expend he if there Are major benefits in City development and planning from the alternative of rail relocation i think it May be reasonable to expect the City would put up a Little More at least than the simple Cost of the overpass which do not provide those he Lang said the study will not provide a decision on rail but will be available As further information and the final decision will primarily rest with the when asked whether the study was commissioned because a Federal election is in the Lang said that a statement that hard to Deal with and noted noting that accusation is made in the House of commons eight or 20 times in the House almost Ever time something it wears a Little thin after a Steens condition but stable Well wishers Call Hospital the Misericordia Hospital has received numerous get Well Tele phone Calls for mayor Robert who remained in critical but stable condition in Hospital Early tues was admitted to hos Pital last monday for what was said to be a severe Chest cold and on Manly medical director at revealed that Steens illness had been diagnosed As can at certain times during the last few Days the Hospital switchboard has been swamped with Telephone Calls from Winnipeg said a nursing supervisor adding that Many Flowers had been sent by friends and several fellow City councillors and close friends have been received As visitors at the Hospital in addition to the mayors immediate the mayors condition was listed As stable Over the weekend although deteriorating slightly on Steen is being treated by a team of physicians and was not on life support equipment Job vacancy picture unchanged during latest figures show Ottawa up there were 500 Job vacancies on average in All parts of the country last largely unchanged from vacancies in statistics Canada reported Mon the government Agency How that the number of Job vacancies on a seasonally adjusted basis jumped sharply in the third Quarter to this compared with Job vacancies in the third Quarter of in the second and in the the figures include both full and Par time Job openings in All Cate Gories of employment except the trap Ping and Domestic statistics Canada said that for every existing jobs in there were six vacancies in the final Quarter of on a seasonally adjusted up slightly from five per jobs in the first three the number of Job vacancies has shown a steady decline As the unemployment rate has increased since the latest report shows the number of Job vacancies bottomed out in the third Quarter of 1978 at on a seasonally adjusted the unemployment rate peaked in that period at per the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate in was per following Are the average number of Job vacancies in 1978 by province with 1977 numbers in brackets new 500 Nova 100 new 700 Sas British 100 Tariff cuts mean cheaper fruit and vegetable prices for reductions of Between two and 15 percentage Points on such products As vegetable Frozen raisins and Grapefruit other important food such As apples and oranges already enter the coun try duty free in Here Are a few examples of the Impact the new Tariff arrangements will have on grocery store d a 6viounce can of Frozen Orange juice imported from the United states will be about one cent the current Selling Price is about 60 which includes a five percent under the new the rate of duty will drop to three per d a cauliflower imported from the has been Selling for up to which includes a 10percent rate of continued under the new provisions the duty will be reduced to five per resulting in a saving of about seven Chretien announcement came less than an hour after colleague consumer affairs minister Warren Allmand hinted in the commons that important food announcements will come this statistics Canada figures show the Price of food went up by per cent during the last 12 Chretien Tariff reduction program is aimed directly at the High Cost of imported the finance minister gave no Indi cation How much Impact the Tariff reductions would have on general Price but predicted reductions in the monthly Rise in the consumer Price the Tariff revision program is a two stage during the when fresh prod uce has to be brought into the coun the tariffs on these goods will be lowering the final Selling Price of these on when Canadian producers put their fresh produce on the tariffs on imports which compete with the Domestic crop will be this will give Canadian Farmers an advantage in the Home Market and will affect Consumers Only marginally because they will be buying primarily Canadian fresh abortion review committee to be set up in Winnipeg device seeking help for preg Nancy she was told she would have to wait at least two weeks to obtain approval from the therapeutic abortion committee because of a backlog of at the same time she was told an additional six to eight weeks might be necessary in order to gain admission to realizing time was of the is for her own health and safety she chose to apply to grand Forks for a pregnancy on the evening before her departure she experienced vaginal when seen at the women there was no evidence that the pregnancy would terminate spontaneously and therefore no Legal Means were Avail Able to provide this woman with a pregnancy she was therefore discharged from the women Centre and told to go to North realizing the 125mile drive might be associated with further possibly life threaten ing continued the doctors say the proposed Centre for reproductive health utilize an abortion review committee representing physicians on the faculty of the University of All procedures relating to preg Nancy the doctors would be approved by this commit tee meeting As frequently As Neces sary to consider the request of Legal documents on the age and socioeconomic status of the patient would be confidentiality and anonymity of the patient would be preserved at All no abortions would be performed beyond the 12th week and written consent would be required from each woman prior to the under the heading philosophical they say women who express any ambivalence to wards pregnancy termination should be counselled on the values of carry ing the it should be kept in Howe that there Are significant Sociol and economic factors being birth of an unwanted child to an adolescent female can result in significant psychological impairment in later the doctors claim 617 women Are waiting for sterilization operations at the this list could be shortened if patients were willing to seek care from physicians other than those at tending the women there Are an additional the doctors wanting which could done within 14 Days if the clinic were in ;