The provincial budget is coming on May 18. But after months of repeated deficit-slaying rhetoric from the premier, the government is quietly ushering in P3 hospitals that will cost more than public hospitals and threaten the sustainability of medicare. Is there a doublecross in the works? The OHC is sponsoring a tour of economists and eminent scholars to take a closer look at this billion dollar boondoggle. Come and find out more:

Oshawa - May 4 - 7 pm - Royal Canadian Legion, 471 Simcoe St. South

Uxbridge - May 5 - 7:30 pm - Uxbridge Arena, 291 Brock St. W., Durham Rd, 8/Brock St. W.

Chatham - May 11 - 7 pm - Maple City for Older Adults, 20 Merritt Ave.

Oakville - May 13 - 7 pm - Oakville Public Library Auditorium, 120 Navy St.

Kenora - May 18 - 7 pm - Best Western Lakeside Inn, Cascade Rm., 470 1^st Ave.

London - May 19 - 7 pm - Kiwanis Seniors Community Ctre., 78 Riverside Dr. (S/E of Wharncliffe Rd. S.)

Timmins - May 20 - 7 pm - Timmins High and Vocational School, 451 Theriault Blvd.

Cornwall - May 25 - 7 pm - Cornwall Public Library, 45 Second Street E.

Kingston - May 26 - 7 pm - Kingston Public Library, 130 Johnson St. Wilson Rm.

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After last winter’s media expose of conditions in long term care facilities Health Minister George Smitherman promised a revolution.

So far, he has announced a 1-800 phoneline for complaints and unannounced inspections of facilities (we are unsure of how many facilities are covered by this and how frequently these inspections are done). He also appointed North Bay MPP Monique Smith to head an investigation and to make recommendations. Ms. Smith and Mr. Smitherman have been dropping in on facilities unannounced over the last few months.

The Ontario Health Coalition has met with both Health Minister George Smitherman and with MPP Monique Smith. We have learned that the government plans to announce their changes, including a new Act very soon. However, they have indicated that they do not intend to move in the near future on several critical issues such as ensuring that facilities spend funding on resident care rather than profit through restoring minimum staffing standards.

We are taking our concerns and questions to the road in a series of forums on long term care including homecare issues. All are welcome:

These are public consultations and we welcome written submissions and verbal summaries of your experiences and information on long term facility care and homecare. The list of forums is as follows:

North Bay, Tues April 20, 4-6 pm, Elk’s Lodge, 325 Elks’ Lane

Thunder Bay, Tues Apr 27, 7-9 pm, 55+ Centre, Multipurpose Room, 700 River Street

Sudbury, Sat May 15, 10 am, location TBA

Sarnia, Wed May 12, 4-6 pm, Our Lady of Mercy Church, 390 Christina Street North

Peterborough, Thurs May 6, 4-6pm, Peterborough Library, 345 Aylmer North Uptown)

Windsor, Mon May 10, 7 -9pm, Windsor Public Library, 850 Oullette Avenue

Ottawa, Wednesday May 26, 4-6 pm Sandy Hill Community Health Centre, 221 Nelson date to be confirmed (call Abe Rosenfeld 613 244-2817)

St. Catharines, Mon May 17, 4-6 pm, Howard Johnson on Lake Street

Orillia, Tues May 18, 4-6 pm, City Hall, Council Chambers, 50 Andrew Street South

Toronto, Wed May 19, 4-6 pm, Toronto Reference Library, 1 block north of Yonge and Bloor Sts.

Forums sponsored by: Ontario Health Coalition, Ontario Coalition of Senior Citizens’ Organizations, Concerned Friends of Ontario Citizens in Care Facilities, United Senior Citizens of Ontario and the unions representing workers, nurses and health professionals in care facilities and homecare.

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Leading world expert on P3 hospitals, Dr. Pollack has written a series of important articles in the British Medical Association Journal about the impact of P3s on Britain’s health system. Allyson is the head of the Health Services and Health Policy Research Unit at the School of Public Policy, University College London, and Director of Research and Development at University College London Hospitals Trust.

St. Catharines - May 31 - 7:30 pm, Sir Winston Churchill S.S., 101 Glen Morris Dr.

York University - June 1 - 1 pm details TBA

Brampton - June 1 - 5 pm - Peel Heritage Complex, 5 Wellington St. E.

Hamilton - June 1 - 8 pm - McMaster University, Medical Sciences Centre, Rm 1A6

Ottawa - June 2 - 7 pm - details TBA

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A man with cerebral palsy from Ottawa appealed the cut off of his home support services to the Health Services Appeal and Review Board. His case was heard in February and in March the Board ruled that, under the Long Term Care Act, the CCAC only had the authority to revise the man’s plan of service if his requirements changed. Since the man’s services were cut due to budget constraints and his requirements had not changed, the Appeal Board rescinded the CCACs plan to cut the man’s homemaking services and directed the CCAC to provide the services where possible and put the man on a waiting list for those services that were not immediately available.

In 2002 the Ottawa CCAC eliminated homemaking service such as light housekeeping and meal preparation. In April the agency planned to make a 20% cut to care provided by physiotherapists, speech pathologists, occupational therapists and other non-nursing health professionals. At the same time as the Ottawa CCAC is shrinking the number of its clients, it is increasing the number of its case managers. Like all CCACs, the former Conservative government replaced the elected Board of Directors with political appointees who operate with a great deal of secrecy. The province has ordered a review of the Ottawa CCAC after complaints from the city council. The review is ongoing. We will publish updates as information becomes available.

After losing contracts in the latest round of competitive bidding for homecare, the VON closed nursing and mental health services in Durham where they had provided services since 1914, and in Kingston where they provided community nursing for more than 100 years. The staff in Kingston took at 5% wage cut last June to help pull the VON from the brink of bankruptcy. The hundreds of laid of nurses and support staff will be forced to re-apply for their jobs with the new for-profit providers or leave the field. Thousands of patients will have their care disrupted. Join the call for an end to competitive bidding and the privatization of homecare.

Medicare is increasingly under attack by social and economic elites. An unprecedented threat is The Chaoulli case that will be heard by the Supreme Court of Canada on June 8, 2004, alleging Medicare is unconstitutional. Joining the case to ask the Supreme Court to open the door to a full-fledged private health insurance system in Canada is a group of 10 senators, led by Senator Michael Kirby (board member of Extendicare Corp.) and a group of for-profit health corporations.

The plaintiffs in the case are Jacques Chaoulli, a doctor, and George Zeliotis. They argue that they should have the right to jump the queue.

They allege that the lack of timely access to provincially insured health care services, coupled with restrictions on queue jumping for private care, amounted to a violation of section 7 of the Charter. This argument was rejected in two lower courts in Quebec. Two tier health care will deprive the public system of scarce resources making the waits for those who cannot afford to jump the queue longer and driving up costs. Ultimately, a bigger second tier will shrink public access to health services for the majority of Canadians.

A Supreme Court decision on this issue would apply to all jurisdictions in Canada. Some jurisdictions, including Alberta, British Columbia, Ontario & Quebec, are currently exploring options to establish a second tier of for-profit health care. Once the door is open, and a legislature invites in private for-profit and foreign investors in health care, the reservations and protection in the international trade agreements would be null and void. This would sound the death knell for Medicare.

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Pierre Pettigrew, appointed Health Minister by Paul Martin, mused last week about taking a softer approach to enforcement of the Canada Health Act with the provinces. Ralph Klein may be pleased, but Mr. Pettigrew’s comments bode ill for Canadians who rely on the federal government to ensure that provinces provide a universal one-tier health system.

For months, critics have been suggesting Martin's rise to power late last year could only spell bad news for Medicare. The first clue seemed to come within days of Martin's taking office in December.

The B.C. legislature had just recently passed a bill prohibiting private clinics from charging user fees. The bill was initially introduced because the province said it was being pressured by Health Canada to enforce the health act.

Then, in mid-December, Premier Gordon Campbell said it would not be necessary to proclaim the provincial bill -- which would have given it legal effect. Now that Martin was in power, he said, "it may well turn out that we don't need it at all."

Also disconcerting to critics was the fact that lobbyists in the Earnscliffe Strategy Group, the Ottawa-based lobbying firm with close links to the prime minister, are representing the private health care sector. And they reacted with alarm recently when Martin's government appointed an advocate of more health privatization to a senior post in the Finance Department. from the Ottawa Citizen by Mark Kennedy, April 27, 2004

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Last month the OHC held a sit in at the Ministry of Health to force the public disclosure of documents pertaining to the P3s planned in Brampton & Ottawa. Until that point everything about the deals was entirely secret, including the tender documents put out by the government (called the request for proposals). Despite repeated attempts by the coalition to win disclosure about how our public money is to be spent, the extent of the privatization, the incentives given to the private corporations etc., the former government and the current government refused to release anything. Through the sit in and the court case (sponsored by OHC, CUPE, SEIU, OPSEU) we were able to win some disclosure of documents regarding the Brampton hospital. However, the direct lenders agreement remains secret. There is still no public disclosure whatsoever from the government and hospital regarding the proposed Ottawa P3.

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Our court case, challenging that that P3s are unlawful as they do not follow Ontario’s Public Hospitals Act, is proceeding. The disclosed documents are being closely reviewed by lawyers and experts. We will provide more updates as we get closer to going to court.

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By attacking the Brampton Health Coalition's integrity and motives instead of dealing with our valid questions, The Brampton Guardian and Linda Jeffrey have failed the citizens they serve.

We do not claim to speak for all 360,000 people in Brampton. However, we do reflect the views of a majority of the 32 million people in Canada. A cross Canada poll taken by professional pollsters Ipsos-Reid at the end of last month found 84 per cent of Canadians agree "Canada's public services should be delivered by public sector workers accountable to elected representatives and the public, not by corporations accountable to shareholders."

To say we are wasting hospital money by questioning what we perceive, as a serious threat to our health care dollars is absurd. The court case Ms Jeffrey refers to asks the crucial question, "Does the Brampton hospital comply with the Public Hospitals Act?" Surely it is the duty of responsible citizens to oppose by all lawful means what we perceive as a serious threat to our entire public Medicare system.

Since the financial closure documents for the hospital deal have not been signed, there can be no financial penalties. In fact, it is our understanding, after reading the Project Agreement, The Health care Infrastructure Company of Canada may have to pay a penalty of $5 million for its failure to close the deal.

The Brampton Health Coalition has nothing to hide. Our regular monthly meetings are open to everyone and usually announced in The Brampton Guardian. Every meeting features a Treasurer's Report. We are a group of volunteers who do not charge our members to belong but we do accept donations.

Our e-mail and telephone list has approximately 400 individual contacts.

Many of these contacts represent, and speak on behalf of other organizations-- church groups, service clubs, professional organizations and unions.

We have collected 1,600 names on a petition submitted to the Ontario Legislature that called for a 100 per cent publicly owned, operated and delivered hospital in Brampton. Over 1,200 households displayed Brampton Health Coalition signs.

Our members live in Brampton. We know that a new hospital is desperately needed. Many of us have suffered personally from the overcrowding and inadequacies of our existing hospital. The Guardian and Ms Jeffrey's vitriolic attack on concerned citizens is an attempt to scapegoat our group for the corporate and political mishandling of our new hospital project.

If the former Conservative Government had not started down this P3 path we would be well on our way to having a new hospital. If the Liberals had kept their promise and canceled the P3 hospital we would not have lost the last six months.

Dora Jeffries, Co-Chair & Donna Robertson, Co-Chair

Brampton Health Coalition

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Ontario Health Coalition

15 Gervais Drive, Suite 305

Toronto, Ontario M3C 1Y8

tel: 416-441-2502

fax: 416-441-4073