B.C. Liberals accuse NDP MLA of being ‘communist-infatuated’ after Cuba trip

Interviewer: So Mr. Brar, you had recently gone to Cuba on a personal trip. While there, what did you notice about the health care system and welfare system and what were your thoughts on them?

Brar: Based on my observations. The gap between rich and poor is not there or very minimal. Nor is there an individual who doesn't have a place to sleep or food to eat. Nor is there a child who goes to bed hungry.

Nor are there any extremely wealthy billionaires who don't have an idea of how much wealth they have and have numerous boats, planes or million dollar palaces. We traveled a lot, as I mentioned and met with many individuals whom I had the opportunity to speak with. The conversations I had with these individuals, I want to share those with you.

The first being on the issue of education. All the schools and education are totally free. There are no private schools. All schools are public schools. All the schools have uniforms. Even university and college education is free after finishing school, you have to write an exam. If you pass that exam, whichever degree you want to obtain, your admission is based on that. When you pass that exam, your university and college education is totally free. If you need to stay in a hostel all your room and board is covered. All your books are also free. In every province, they have erected three universities with lots of planning. One university is a medical college, for medical education; the second is for teachers and to train professors and the third is for general studies.

As for the topic of health care; um, I will say that despite us being a wealthy society, we have not yet been able to reduce university tuition fees. We are thousands of miles away from it, but over there it's free.

Interviewer: This is why there have been mass protests in Montreal.

Brar: Yes. As you know in Montreal, there have been student agitations for a long time. In BC as well, the highest debt for students are the student loans which they have taken. Health care, as well, Gurpreet ji, people tell me is all free. There are no private clinics in the entire country. All the medications, not just getting the prescription from the doctors, but all of the medication is also completely free. Dental care, care for teeth, is also completely free.

This is the reason why in our country, even though we are considered amongst the wealthy nations, dental care is not free. For average citizens it's a far gone situation but even for the poorest in our society we have not been able to provide free dental care. The wait time is very little compared to us.

When you go to your doctor, to see your doctor, after 5:00pm the doctors are closed but they have mega clinics where you can go and see a doctor and get any medication you need. In this essence, I touched upon it earlier, they have a government policy that no child there can go to sleep hungry. There, the government gives one litre of milk free to each child up to the age of seven. They ship the milk no matter where the child is.

Also I noticed all of the streets, the villages are very clean, Gurpreet ji, because in in the villages, they have removed all of the cattle and livestock and moved them to all of the outlying farms. All of the streets are clean and well cared for. The landscaping around the streets is well maintained. The landscaping is very nicely done, it is a very green country.

They have storms but there is no dirt or debris to be found anywhere. The people in the villages, their main transportation is by horse or bicycle. There are lots of people travelling by horseback or horse and buggy for some farmers or bicycles. The people are very beautiful, healthy and strong. People roam free in the streets whether in the cities or in the villages. I witnessed young women in the streets catching rides or waiting for the bus. A single woman can easily walk around the streets at 2:00 at night and no one bothers her.

This is the type of safe environment they have created. Whether it's the city or the village, everyone is dressed the same. They wear similar clothes. Even my guide, he had travelled out of Cuba extensively and had even visited Canada. He told me that the "rat race" that exists in our society, doesn't take place there. He said they enjoy their lives and live their lives to the fullest. That's the type of life there. And the crime there, Gurpreet ji, you just spoke, before me, with a reporter in New York. No citizen there can get a gun. Guns are only issued to soldiers or police personnel. Otherwise, you can't carry a gun or get a gun license under any circumstance.

In the same way, when it comes to drugs, especially in our country you have methadone or marijuana, they are so rare it's almost as if they don't have those drugs there. That's why when it comes to gangs based on the drug trade, there are very few there. You'll see there at night or day, there is no danger. You can safely walk the streets. As I said before, young girls walk the streets at night and there is no danger to anyone. When you compare it to our society, the Cubans don't have as much right to free speech and lack the freedom to travel outside the country. People here can go to other countries and travel, if they have the means. However there, peoples incomes are less there.

But each citizens basic needs are completely being met. Also the business community there as a percentage, compared to ours, is quite low. No person there can open a business and become a multi‐millionaire overnight or after two, or five years because their system is different.

The final thing I want to say is, Fidel Castro who has stayed as President and now his brother Raul Castro is the President. Throughout the entire country you will not find a statue or picture or poster of them anywhere. I had gone with the assumption I would see lots of pictures of the President or statues of him everywhere. The only statue or posters they have of anyone are those of the National Hero, I mentioned before. He came from Argentina. He was a qualified doctor who helped them fight for independence.

Afterwards they even made him a Minister. He was Minister of industry and also in charge of the National Bank. He left Cuba and went to other countries to help them revolt where he was killed. His statues are all over the country. Huge statues have been erected all over in his honor. There is also a big memorial in his honor.

The last thing I want to say is that as far as the average citizens daily life is concerned, two things are famous. The first is the rum from there. You can go to any store, any pub, any hotel, anyplace. The Havana Rum is available everywhere and is very cheap. The second thing is the cigars from there are very famous.

This is my brief observation that the gap between the rich and the poor does not exist. As in our country, the downtown eastside in Vancouver, which people say is one of the most beautiful cities in the world and is a city in a wealthy nation. What we see there in the downtown eastside, we don't see such a place in Cuba. It exists in a rich society but there, in Cuba, it is not. Because they have distributed their resources in a more fair way than us.