Download the Report Press Release Financing Canada's Hospitals: Public Alternatives to P3s	Public-Private Partnerships (P3s) Reality Check >> P3s do not save governments money and in fact may cost more. (1) >> P3s do not improve care or provide better service. (2) >> P3s will put Canada's public health care system in grave danger from Free Trade Agreements like NAFTA and GATS. (3,4,5) >> P3s are not a neutral financing mechanism - it is a source of borrowing which has to be repaid! -- either out of the public purse or by giving the private sector a concession (e.g. allowing the company to charge user fees). (6) >> P3s have enormous implications for public life and profound constitutional and democratic implications. >> P3s in hospitals, clinics and health insurance have all been abysmal failures in the United States. Public-Private Partnerships promote unfairness and exploitation. It's not a partnership -- it's an oxymoron. The public pays while the private sector profits. That's not a partnership. (7) >> There has been no public or parliamentary debate on the critical issue of P3 schemes in Canada. >> Canadian governments (federal, provincial, territorial and municipal) should not enter into P3s in the field of health care. Instead, the federal government should re-commit to providing stable, long-term funding for Canada's Public Health Care system. Footnotes: (1) Dr. Allyson Pollock, physician and academic: "Experts Tell Romanow Public Private Partnerships are not the answer", May 2002 http://www.healthcoalition.ca/ppp.pdf. Dr. Allyson Pollock is head of the Heath Services and Health Policy Research Unit at the School of Public Policy, University College London, and Director of Research and Development at University College Hospitals Trust, in London, England. Dr. Pollock trained in medicine in Scotland and worked in hospitals in Edinburgh and Leeds before specializing in public health. (2) Dr. Allyson Pollock, "Experts Tell Romanow Public Private Partnerships are not the answer", May 2002 http://www.healthcoalition.ca/ppp.pdf (3) Steve Shrybman is a partner in the law firm of Sack, Goldblatt and Mithchell and practices international trade and public interest law in Ottawa. Mr. Shrybman is the former Executive Director of the West Coast Environmental Law Association. (4) Reckless Abandon: Canada, the GATS and the future of Health Care, Matthew Sanger, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. (5) GATS: How the World Trade Organization's new "services" negotiations threaten democracy, Scott Sinclair, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives. (6) Dr. Allyson Pollock, "Experts Tell Romanow Public Private Partnerships are not the answer", May 2002. http://www.healthcoalition.ca/ppp.pdf (7) Dr. Arnold S. Relman, Professor Emeritus of Medicine and Social Medicine at Harvard Medical School, and Emeritus Editor-in-Chief of the New England Journal of Medicine. Read the report by Allyson Pollack: Public-Private Partnerships Are Not The Answer __________________________________________________ More on Public-Private Partnerships: Documents expose flaws in cost comparison of P3 hospital financing: coalition P3 Hospitals Threaten Medicare: Economists Full Report  |  Open Letter  |  Release & Backgrounder Talking Notes of Canadian Health Coalition Chair Kathleen Connors, RN, at the Global Health is a Right Forum in Ottawa (May 21-22, 2003) : Public Private Partnerships or Private Exploitation of the Public Read the article by Murray Dobbin: Warning - The P3s Are Coming! Read the report by CUPE P3s: Issues Raised by Public Private Partnerships in Ontario's Hospital Sector Report Prepared for UNISON (UK) by John Lister The PFI Experience: Voices from the Frontline P3 Watch The new website dedicated to monitoring public-private 'partnerships' Downsizing of Acute Inpatient Beds Associated with Private Finance Initiative: Scotland's Case Study British Medical Journal Study Sweden bans privatization of hospitals British Medical Journal MORE REALITY CHECKS Public funds are for patients, not profits!