August 1, 2007 (Oshawa) - Freedom Party leader Paul McKeever today is condemning John Tory's election promise to "use the information gathered through [medical patient history and care] records to improve healthcare delivery, forecasting and planning in Ontario".  Tory's election plank was announced yesterday in a media release.

"The fact that Mr. Smith is Bipolar, or that Ms. Brown suffers from chronic urinary tract infections is not something that John Tory or any government has any right to know", says McKeever.  "Mr. Tory is going to send chills down the spine of any Ontarian who hears about his proposal.  It's downright Orwellian.

"None of this is surprising, however.  A centrally planned economy is an inherently flawed idea.  In a capitalist economy, decentralized, personal decision-making by patients and their physicians ensures economic efficiency.  Politicians who seek to centrally plan the economy erroneously think that the efficiency inherent in a free market can be mimicked by centralizing private information about every aspect of every person's body and conduct.  As their efforts to centrally plan the economy continue to fail, they typically make the further error of believing that all of their problems could be solved if they just had more invasive information, more frequently updated information, 'real time' information, et cetera.  In the end, their efforts lead to the sort of unnecessary suffering and death currently being inflicted by Ontario's socialist system of centrally-planned, rationed health care.

"A Freedom Party government will end the ban on private health insurance, and restore every Ontarian's freedom to choose among public health insurance, private health insurance, and paying-as-they-go.  Right now, approximately 59% of all provincial tax revenues are spent on health care, and we propose making the tax cuts necessary to put all of that money back into the pockets of those who pay it so that people will have the money they need to pay for health care in the manner they choose. 

"A Freedom Party government will start by repealing the provincial income tax, which the Progressive Conservative government of John P. Robarts imposed in 1969 to finance the socialist health insurance monopoly that his government created that year (OHIP). 

"Seven U.S. states - including Florida, Nevada, Texas, and Washington - have no state income tax.  It's time for Ontario to join the club of low-tax jurisdictions."