Newfoundland and Labrador’s Medical Care Plan (MCP) pays for all our health services. It is the fundamental financial component on which our health care system is based – equal, free access to healthcare for everyone.
Our health care system requires every dollar we can spare – and dollars that have been allocated for MCP should not be reallocated for other purposes.
Premier Wakeham, on the other hand, has hired a PC Party insider, Dr. Des Whelan, to work in his Premier’s Office to provide partisan political advice to the Premier with a salary of $275,000 – more than a quarter of a million dollars – to work part-time at only 28 hours per week.
And Premier Wakeham is making MCP pick up the tab.
Let’s be very clear: doctors who work for the Department of Health or for NL Health Services are employed to give their expert medical advice. But there has never been a doctor paid by MCP to work in the Premier’s office to provide political advice.
This is wrong, and it needs to be addressed. Full stop.
If you agree that MCP is for healthcare, not politicians, sign our petition today!
WHEREAS public funds allocated under the Medical Care Plan (MCP) are allocated exclusively to support the delivery of insured health services to residents of Newfoundland and Labrador;
AND WHEREAS serious concerns have arisen around the reallocation of MCP funds to compensate an individual serving in a political advisory role within the Office of the Premier;
THEREFORE we petition the House of Assembly as follows:
Premier Wakeham must immediately stop using MCP funds to pay for any member of his political support staff, and to apologize to Newfoundlanders and Labradorians for this abuse of public funds for partisan political purposes.