School District No. 5 board of trustees May 13 agreed to have a letter sent to Prime Minister Stephen Harper, urging him to renegotiate a new Health Care Accord and increase funding to education.

“As you are aware, on April 1, the current Health Care Accord – the deal that sets funding and health care service delivery agreements between the federal and provincial and territorial governments – expired,” the board’s letter opens.

“We understand that your government has, at present, no intention to renegotiate this important Accord and that $36 billion worth of health care transfer payment cuts to provinces and territories is expected to come into effect after the next federal election in 2015,” it continued.

“Therefore, in April, the School District No. 5 (SD5) Board of Education, Southeast Kootenay, B.C. adopted the following motion: M/S that the board write to Prime Minister Harper urging his government to renegotiate a new Health Care Accord and to maintain or increase existing funding to the provinces/territories and that this letter be copied to all federal Shadow Cabinet Ministers, our local MP, the Premier, health and education ministers of B.C., our local MLA, presidents of the BC School Trustees’ Association (BCSTA), BC Teachers’ Federation (BCTF), Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), BC Confederation of Parent Advisory Councils (BCCPAC)(for distribution to their members), their local association chairs/presidents and to media.”

The letter continues: “Our board believes that this Accord must be renegotiated and that funding must be –at a minimum—maintained. Without adequate funding our most vulnerable students will be at further risk for increased poverty due to health related costs and/or suffer from untreated health issues. In either case, such outcomes can seriously impede a child’s ability to learn effectively.

“Canada is a rich nation with an abundance of resources, including our most valuable resource, human potential. Providing children with safe, healthy environments enables them to better learn, increasing the likelihood that they will grow up to become healthy, contributing adults of a thriving Canadian economy.

“Adequate, sustainable funding for health care is vital to supporting both the physical and economic health of our country for the long term. We urge your government to reconsider your position on the Health Care Accord and health care funding. The health of our nation depends upon it,” the letter, signed by Board Chair Frank Lento, concludes.

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