Plans Heating Up for
an Historic Week in Ottawa
It is an exciting week for the future of Public
Medicare. In anticipation of the First Ministers' meetings on
Tuesday and
Wednesday, a series of events are being planned. Local health
coalitions from across Southeastern Ontario are travelling to Ottawa on
Tuesday
to form a reception line for the First Ministers as they arrive for
dinner at
the Prime Minister's house. There, the First Ministers will be
greeted
with a "Medicare Menu" and the Prime Minister will be confronted
with
several large spinach cans to help him grow some strength of will.
On
Wednesday a red Medicare ribbon rally will be held outside
the First
Ministers' conference at noon. Thursday's event will focus on
stopping the banks and other for-profit corporations from taking over
our
hospitals in so-called public-private partnerships as proposed by
the Eves
government, among others. Friday is an all-day policy conference
followed
by an evening rally and cultural event. The national Peoples' Summit on
Healthcare will run through Saturday and Sunday. Finally, a mass
lobby is
planned for next Monday. Details of all events are listed
below.
Our message is
clear.
The peoples of Canada have spoken through the Romanow process. A
majority
want the recommendations of the Commission to be implemented. In
addition,
polling released last week is showing that a massive majority want
to stop
the for-profit takeover of the health system (see below). Our
opportunity
to push for progressive reform is here - improved health funding
with
targeting and real accountability, primary care reform, an
extension of
Medicare to cover home and pharmacare, improved democracy and
public
control in the health system, the roll back of privatization and
stopping of
for-profit healthcare, the protection of public healthcare from the
trade
agreements. For us, the First Ministers' conference is the
beginning of
the real struggle to make the most of the opportunities to affect public
policy
this year. It will be followed by likely seven provincial
elections - one
in Ontario expected in the spring - then the federal leadership race and
finally
a federal election.
Join in
the events in Ottawa if you can get there. Join in the Medicare
campaign
in your community by contacting your local health coalition (listed
below). Take this opportunity to be part of this momentous time,
to win
progressive change to save and strengthen Public
Medicare.
Summary of
Events Feb 4th - Feb 10th, 2003
Tuesday,
Feb 4th -
Greet The Premiers - Red-Light Action
We create a
strong visual and
send a message that Canadians are watching - won't stand for backroom
dealing
with our health care system. Deliver a Medicare Menu to the
First
Ministers and cans of spinach to Jean Chretien to help him grow some
muscle. Crowd speak-out. Media event.
Where: Prime
Ministers
Residence - 24 Sussex Drive
When: 5:30pm - 6:30pm
Wednesday,
Feb 5th - Rally at First Ministers' Meeting - Red-Ribbon Action
Where: Old
Ottawa City Hall,
111 Sussex Drive outside the First Ministers' Meeting
When: 12:00
noon -
1:00pm
Purpose: Send
message to
premiers, media and public. Speakers outline main points followed by
red-ribbon
action wrapping front of city hall in Medicare Ribbon. After First
Ministers'
agreement, message from media-spokespeople for each
organization.
Messaging:
Public doesn't
trust the political process, shouldn't be done behind closed doors,
Romanow,
public delivery.
Thursday, Feb 6th -
Ontario Council of Hospital Unions and CUPE Conference - Noon
Action
CUPE/OCHU
planning meeting to
include anti-privatization action.
Where: Bank of
Montreal -
Market - To Be Confirmed
When: Noon
Who: CUPE/OCHU delegates and
others -
Maude Barlow speaking immediately after the action.
Message: Stop Privatization
Friday,
Feb 7th -
Council of Canadians /CCPA Policy Forum
Major health
care policy forum
timed to put FM's agreement under scrutiny.
Where: Ottawa
Congress Centre
- Colonel By between Slater and Rideau
When: 9:00am -
5:00pm
Who:
Registered Participants. To register, contact the Council of
Canadians.
Purpose: Provide
national and
international expert analysis of First Ministers' Agreement relative to
Romanow's Recommendations and outlining consequences - forward looking
presentations.
Messaging: Health experts don't believe deal
fixes
health care problems - substantive arguments
Friday Feb. 7th
Romanow Luncheon
(to be confirmed)
Provide Romanow with first major
opportunity
to speak out on health care after a prolonged silence -attract
significant media
attention to the conference.
Where; Ottawa Congress
Centre
When:
1:45pm - 2:30pm
Who: Commissioner Roy Romanow
Main Organizer:
Council of
Canadians, CCPA
Purpose: Compel Mr. Romanow to
speak out
after the First Ministers deal and keep his recommendations for reform
in the
public mind.
Messaging: Our political leaders must heed the will of
Canadians
and institute true progressive reform
Saturday, Feb.
8th-
Sunday, Feb. 9th People's Summit on Health Care
Gather activists from different
sectors and
from across the country to plan and design action plan - designed
to get
commitments from different groups and strengthen
working relationships.
Where; Ottawa Congress
Centre
When:
9:00am - 5:00pm
Who: Health Care Activists from across the
country
To register contact the Council
of
Canadians, the Canadian Health Coalition or CUPE.
Feb.
10th Health
Care Lobby
Take the People's Summit Action
Plan to
Parliament.
Where: House of Commons
When:
9:00am -
1:15pm - Strategic meetings with Caucus chairs and influential MP's,
followed by
plenary where party's present positions and we hear from stakeholders
like the
CMA etc.
Main Organizers: CLC, CUPE, COC, CHC
Purpose: Pressure political
representatives
on issues and keep health care debate moving
forward.
Messaging: There
will be a political cost to supporting the dismantling of public health
care in
Canada.
Public Medicare
-- and Public
Accountability: Poll
Some of you will have seen or
heard media
reports about a poll that was released January 23. The
polling was
conducted by Pollara, the company that polls for the Liberal party,
commissioned
by CUPE, and provides useful evidence of public support for our position
that
federal health care dollars should go only to public, not-for-profit
health
care.
The poll found that Canadians overwhelmingly support (92
per cent)
the creation of a separate transfer for health care so that we know how
much
federal funding is allocated to health care and we can track its
use. As
well, eight in ten (81 per cent) believe the provinces should be
required to
guarantee that federal health care dollars are spent on health care as a
condition of receiving more federal funding. By a margin of
three to
one (77 per cent) Canadians want to ensure that federal health care
dollars are
spent exclusively on health care that is delivered by the public,
not-for-profit
sector.
OPSEU sets
first Hospital
Emergency Day of Action for Feb 13
Hospital professionals at 40
Ontario hospitals
are preparing a major day of protest Feb. 13. OPSEU’s
5,000 hospital professionals, who provide diagnostic, therapeutic and
rehabilitative services, have announced that date for their next phase
in a
series of escalating job actions to address the severe shortages in
their
professions, which are already hurting patient care.
Leah Casselman, President of the
Ontario
Public Service Employees Union, called on Premier Ernie Eves to get
involved to
head off the confrontation. "Premier, call your friends at the Ontario
Hospitals
Association and give them your assurance that the money is there to give
us an
acceptable central offer," she said. The union
says it
will not put patients at risk. "Our members
are
incredibly dedicated to their patients, " said OPSEU bargaining chair
Aimee
Axler, a laboratory technologist from Kingston. "But working conditions
are so
stressful due to staff shortages that we can no longer do our jobs
properly. We
need a much improved central contract now to keep our members working in
Ontario’s hospitals and to attract new people to our professions."
Central bargaining for OPSEU hospital professionals broke
down in
June. The central contract expired March 31.
OPSEU hospital professionals have worked alongside
the Ontario
Health Coalition to stop the for-profit MRI/CT clinics and to ban two
tier
Medicare. Support your local OPSEU hospital professionals next week
at the
day of action. More information will be sent out later this week.
Ontario Health Coalition
15 Gervais Drive, Suite 305
Toronto, Ontario M3C 1Y8
tel: 416-441-2502
fax: 416-441-4073