Wednesday, December 21, 2011  Kevin Falcon the Fall Guy for Jim
Flaherty - BC loses billions in health care funding, HST
repayment - but Falcon fails to get it  Ex-Premier Gordon
Campbell & Finance Minister Kevin Falcon - asleep at the switch
BC Liberal Finance Minister Kevin Falcon must have had that
falling feeling Monday when he praised federal Conservative
Finance Minister Jim Flaherty's new plan to reduce health care
funding increases - then watched as most of his provincial
counterparts denounced Flaherty.  Why?  Because the federal
Conservatives just pulled the rug out from under BC and other
provinces' funding, six ways from Sunday.  Flaherty surprised
provincial finance ministers by unilaterally announcing that
Ottawa will end current health care funding increases of 6% a
year by 2017, despite rising costs, leaving the provinces to
make up the difference.  The new plan will also reduce BC's per
capita health care funding because Ottawa's funding formula
doesn't deal with our aging population's hire c