Is the federal government about to force a health deal on the provinces that will be a back door to force provinces to create and impose digital identification on their people?
On January 25th, 2023, the Globe and Mail reported that “…Ottawa has signaled it is willing to negotiate a 10-year health funding deal that will see a hefty increase for both Canada Health Transfer, or CHT, and bilateral financial agreements with individual provinces and territories.
In exchange for billions in new money that provinces and territories have been requesting, they will have to agree to national accountability measures and reforms to improve their health care systems. Quebec and Ontario initially objected to Ottawa’s key demands, but last week agreed to accept the conditions, including the creation of a national health data system.” (Emphasis mine.)
Only two months ago, the federal government put out a Request for Proposal for a Digital Health Tech Platform (HT218-224061/A) which specifies ‘Proof of Vaccination Credentials (PVC)’ and;
…HC (Health Canada) is looking to enable and support verifiable standards and solutions for Canadian health credentials among the federal government, provinces and territories for domestic use cases and international travel.”
That RFP was put out less than a month after the Oct 30-31st G20 Summit where Canada signed on to “Support continued international dialogue and collaboration on the establishment of trusted global digital health networks as part of effort to strengthen prevention and response to future pandemics.”
Last March 2022, when I raised the issue of Digital ID in the Legislature, then Minister of SaskBuilds Jim Reiter stated that, “Sask Service Connect was in some very preliminary work…in an effort to improve quality of life and access to government programs for all citizens of the province.”
He also stated that the provincial RFP had not been awarded and that, “if we do decide to proceed with this, we’ll be extremely cautious to make sure that citizens’ privacy is protected.”
By March 31, 2022, the Regina Leader-Post reported that, “Saskatchewan is pausing the process to bring a new digital ID into the province after saying it’s heard concerns from residents.”
One question arises from these incredibly rapid developments.
On February 7th, 2023, will Premier Scott Moe honour the people of Saskatchewan’s concerns and refuse to drag them into a system that can easily morph into a China-style social credit tracking system?
Or, will he bow to coercion and say we have no choice; the federal government holds the purse strings of the Canada Health Transfer? (Money that belongs to taxpayers in the first place.)
This is Premier Moe’s moment to prove he is serious about Saskatchewan autonomy and protect this province from a federal government that appears to be intent on selling out our nation to a global agenda.
This is Premier Moe’s moment to show himself a true leader.
Please make time to let Premier Scott Moe ( premier@gov.sk.ca ) and your MLA know your thoughts today!
LINKS:
https://nadinewilson.ca/drip-drip-drip-normalizing-digital-id/
https://nadinewilson.ca/government-responses-to-written-questions/
