Economic update: all that for what!
“After cutting over a billion dollars from the health network’s budget, after impoverishing families and the middle class for years, now, one year away from the election, our good old Liberal government is embarking on a campaign of spreading electoral fairy dust. The Finance Minister is presenting his economic update as if it were something amazing. Now, if only the government would at least give back everything it took from the population. But no. They really take us for fools! That was FIQ President Régine Laurent’s reaction to Finance Minister Carlos J. Leitão’s economic update today.
The FIQ sees it as a typical cynical operation. They make cut after cut to the budget at the beginning of their term and then the surpluses arrive just before the elections to finance the party’s promises.
“Patient care and services have been reduced. Accessibility has not improved and I won’t even start on our seniors’ lamentable situation. Healthcare professionals are constantly struggling under an excessive workload. The budget the government announced today for health care won’t even cover what it cut over the last few years. And if the past is any indicator of the future then the lion’s share of the budget will yet again go toward doctors’ salary increases. You see why we are not jumping for joy and why we have every reason to be skeptical,” said Régine Laurent.