Recently, Ontario's conservative government announced plans for two for-profit hospitals and twenty-five for-profit MRI and CT Scan Clinics. Health Minister Tony Clement said this is just the beginning. These announcements signal the government's intention to hand over cornerstone Medicare services to for-profit corporations.

For-profit health care threatens the future of public Medicare. It puts profit reports to shareholders before patient care. It results in increased costs, user fees, bed and staffing cuts. And it violates the fundamental beliefs of Canadians - that health care is a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold for profit, that need should determine access, that Medicare should be based on equity, on inclusion, on humanity and on our common solidarity.

The Ontario Health Coalition is co-sponsoring a tour of 22 cities across the province featuring Maude Barlow and the authors of the study on increased deaths in for-profit hospitals. In each community, seniors groups, health coalitions, unions, community agencies and church groups are working together to organize forums.

Around the globe, communities are rising up to stop the handover of their public, non-profit hospitals to profit-seeking corporations. From England to New Zealand and from Argentina to Prince Edward Island, communities are gaining ground in the struggle to keep our health systems public. In this provincial election year we have our best chance to succeed.