New CMA president-elect pushing back against federal tax changes

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This article was published 25/08/2017 (3104 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Winnipeg doctor elected to one of the Canadian Medical Association’s top positions says she’s paying careful attention to the overhaul of health-care delivery in her city.

Dr. Gigi Osler has worked as an ear, nose and throat surgeon in Winnipeg for nearly two decades. She says she shares concern around possible cuts to frontline staff and is particularly attentive to the impact hospital consolidation will have on the waitlist for patients who need hearing tests.

“I can only see it getting longer,” Osler says, “so I’m watching it closely.”

Still, the regional overhaul won’t actually factor into Osler’s work with the CMA — that will be left to its provincial arm, Doctors Manitoba.

The CMA is focusing its efforts on solutions to the national opioid epidemic and planning around the impending legalization of marijuana.

“In health care it’s a challenging time,” she says.

Osler formally stepped into the role of president-elect earlier this week, marking the start of a three-year term. Typically, CMA presidents serve one year as president-elect, one year as president, and one year as past president before stepping down.

“To me this is a service… I’m giving back my time and my energy to an organization that supports physicians,” Osler says. “I understand it is politics, but I look at it as good work that needs to be done to support doctors and patients.”

But first up is a dose of politics. The CMA is one of several groups pushing back against federal plans to close tax loopholes that allow some Canadians, including doctors, to pay less taxes.

Federal Finance Minister Bill Morneau announced the new measures last month, pending a 75-day public consultation period. In effect, it will mean doctors who incorporate to prevent some of their income from being taxed will no longer be able to do so.

The number of people who are self-employed and incorporate nearly doubled between 2000 and 2016, according to the federal finance department.

“Part of what we’re understanding more as our tax experts look into it is that it seems like the implications (of the plan) run deeper and there may be more unintended consequences than perhaps was initially thought,” Osler says.

Osler argued against the plan during the CMA’s annual meeting in Quebec City this week, noting the changes could deeply impact private practice doctors who don’t have pensions or get benefits.

“We assume the risks of establishing offices and clinics, employing staff and purchasing equipment,” Osler told Federal Health Minister Jane Philpott at the delegation. “Many of us do not have access to paid sick leave benefits or retirement pensions.”

Speaking with the Free Press on Friday, she says she continues to have concerns about the timeline for consultations.

“A 75-day consultation period throughout summer… for something this large that could impact millions of Canadian small businesses and professionals?” Osler says, “It seems a bit rushed.”

Despite the changes happening federally and those happening regionally in Winnipeg, Osler says she wants patients to remember most that their doctors are deeply concerned with their care.

“Despite all the changes and all the concerns that people have for the health care system in general, doctors care deeply about patients,” she says, “that’s why we went into medicine.”

The next annual CMA meeting will be August 2018 in Winnipeg.

— with files from The Canadian Press

jane.gerster@freepress.mb.ca