Support for public Medicare is the order of the day at public hearings as the Romanow Commission travels the country conducting consultations into the future of public health care in Canada. By far, the majority of presenters has expressed support for a revitalized public non-profit system that remains true to the values upon which Medicare is formed.In city after city with passion and eloquence seniors, scholars, patients, unions and workers have spoken out in favour of progressive reform and an extension of the principles of Medicare.

A few presenters - mainly representing their own for-profit health corporations and the insurance industry -- have suggested different ways to privatize and curtail public health services. Often claiming that we "can't afford" public Medicare these groups are calling for a raft of measures that ironically would increase individual and total costs. Their favorite proposals include user fees, medical savings accounts, private public partnerships, and delisting. In Vancouver, the Fraser Institute was roundly booed by the overflow crowd.

Romanow has now visited major urban centres across Western Canada and in Quebec. He will be in Ontario in early April before heading to the East Coast and completing his journey in the North. Noon-hour mass appeals are planned for Romanow's three stops in Ontario: in Toronto on April 2, in Ottawa on April 4 and in Sudbury on April 11. People are planning car-pools, vans and buses from surrounding communities to join in the mass gatherings. Romanow's final report is scheduled to be released in November.

For more information on the Ontario mass gatherings at the Romanow Hearings, call us at 416-441-2502.

Welland City Council is first to proclaim support for Public Medicare as the Ontario Health Coalition gears up for massive door-to-door campaign. Watch for upcoming announcements of May 15 National Medicare Day activities across the country.