Hey DellaVedova - health care is so on the radar!

Jonathan DellaVedova, the Saultite recently elected president of the Canadian Federation of Medical Students, was saying earlier this week that: "Our universal health care system has fallen off the radar with our federal government.

Back in February, Judy Wasylycia-Leis, the federal NDP health critic said that "Canadians deserve to hear from the minister about his plan to protect public health care."

In April, Sault MP Tony Martin said that the federal government's election promise of a comprehensive, consistent, national health plan has been forgotten by our government.

So what does Federal Health Minister Tony Clement have to say in response to all that?

Today, after making funding announcements at Sault College, Clement told SooToday.com that a national health strategy is very much on federal government radar.

And work on it is progressing well, the minister insisted.

"There was a 10-year health accord signed with all of the provinces and the federal government with an additional $41 billion going to health care over the next 10 years," Clement said. "We increased the health care budget transfers to the provinces by $1.2 billion this year alone."

Clement said that Paul Martin cut health care transfer payments to the provinces by 25 percent when he was finance minister, but the current government is increasing them.

"This is the first time our country has had a national cancer strategy or a mental health commission," he said. "We're adding to the provision of services and we're also focusing on things the federal government can do like protecting consumer product safety for instance."

Clement, who is also the minister responsible for FedNor, was in town today to address the Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities and to make $5.5 million worth of funding announcements.

He's seen with Sault Mayor John Rowswell just prior to making those announcements this afternoon.