‘We deserve better.’ Health coalitions call on premiers to protect public health care in the face of two-tier threat
Public health care advocates braved the wind and rain to rally outside the premiers’ Council of the Federation meeting on Wednesday, July 22 in Charlottetown. They demanded Canada’s premiers stop the spread of American-style, two-tier health care before it takes root in Alberta and spreads nationwide.
Alberta’s Bill 11, passed last December, is the heart of their concern. The law allows doctors to decide, patient by patient, whether to bill someone directly or bill the public system, thereby creating a parallel private tier where care depends on ability to pay rather than medical need. Health coalitions are clear this is a direct violation of the Canada Health Act, and if left unchallenged in Alberta, it will spread across Canada.
“Danielle Smith’s Bill 11 is a direct attack on public health care in Alberta and the rest of Canada and must be stopped. Premiers need to join us in telling Prime Minister Mark Carney to uphold the Canada Health Act that requires health care be provided based on medical need, not on the ability to pay. Bill 11 breaks this federal law. If allowed, it will lead to longer wait times and force people to pay twice for health care. Our health care system can be fixed with investments and accountability, not with cuts, privatization and profit-making,” said Jason MacLean, chair of the Canadian Health Coalition.
MacLean told Global that Prime Minister Mark Carney should prioritize health care as a crucial part of nation building. “The spending in health care hasn’t been keeping up with inflation year after year after year,” MacLean said.
Mary Boyd, chair of the PEI Health Coalition, said in a joint statement released for the rally that: “Roy Romanow reminded us that health care belongs to the people of Canada. We pay for it with our taxes. It seems the premiers of our provinces have not heard this. Instead, they listen to private investors who are in health care delivery for one thing only – profit.”
“We must end the practice of our premiers running to the private sector when problems arise in health care, instead of listening to the real owners of the system. Governments have been told many times that the best way to have a healthy health care system is to put the money into the public system where it belongs. Research shows that this is the best and only way to assure equality and accessibility,” added Boyd.
Canadian Labour Congress President Bea Bruske agreed with investing in the public system. As reported in P.E.I.’s The Guardian, she said, “We can’t afford a privatized system in this country. We are so proud as Canadians of our public health care system, and it deserves investment. It deserves proper staffing. It deserves innovation.”
The Canadian Health Coalition’s Steven Staples told the Toronto Star that the message to Ottawa is to ensure Alberta’s two-tier health care law “doesn’t inspire other provinces to follow suit.”
Jean-Claude Basque, co-chair of the New Brunswick Health Coalition, echoed the fear that Alberta’s two-tier health care will spread across Canada and erode Canada’s public health care system. He told Radio-Canada, “Who stands to lose out here? Obviously, it’s the people – the population as a whole – but certainly also low-wage workers and those on low incomes. This really marks the opening up of our public system, and that is worrying for the future.”
The harms of a chronically underfunded health care system left to further deteriorate in the hands of the private sector are already visible across the country: increased delivery of private delivery of health services, including cataract surgeries, and hundreds of long-term care beds added to private facilities in P.E.I.; hallway medicine and stalled long-term care projects in British Columbia; illegal private clinic fees in Nova Scotia; seniors in Ontario charged thousands of dollars out of pocket for cataract and joint replacement surgeries; and mounting pressure on public systems in other provinces and territories.
Chris Gallaway, executive director of Friends of Medicare, came from Alberta to deliver his message to the premiers: “By pushing forward with implementing Bill 11 our provincial government in Alberta is rapidly bringing two-tier American-style health care into Canada, including creating a private insurance market for medically necessary health care services. By September, Albertans will face a system of legislated queue-jumping for surgeries, in direct contravention of the Canada Health Act.”
“The urgency of addressing this threat to our universal Medicare cannot be overstated. There is no more time to waste. We need leadership from our federal government including a clear commitment that they will protect the right of Albertans – and all Canadians – to equitable access to universal, comprehensive, public health care,” added Gallaway.
“Public health care is one of Canada’s greatest achievements, and we cannot allow it to be eroded by privatization,” said Unifor Atlantic Regional Director Jennifer Murray to the crowd. “The answer to long wait times isn’t creating a two-tier system that pulls workers and resources out of our public hospitals. Governments need to invest in the public system, improve working conditions for health care workers, and ensure every Canadian has access to quality care based on need, not on their ability to pay.”
Murray evoked the legacy of Tommy Douglas, father of Medicare, in her speech.
Mark Hancock, national president of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), said he is tired of waiting for the problems facing health care workers and patients to be resolved, ending his speech with the rallying cry, “I believe that we will win!”
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Atlantic Presidents Ashley Clark (PEI), Sherry Hillier (Newfoundland and Labrador), and Alan Linkletter (Nova Scotia) were in attendance as were other union leaders and health care workers from across Canada.
Josée-Anne Spirito, Public Service Alliance of Canada’s Regional Executive Vice-President for the North, spoke about the importance of public health care investments in northern Canada.
The summer conferences of the premiers are a key time for the health coalitions to gather to ensure premiers don’t forget that public health care is a priority and as Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition said at the rally, “health care is the economy.”
Geneviève Lamarche, coordinator of the Coalition Solidarité Santé in Quebec, said in the health coalitions’ joint statement that, “Americans envy our health care system. Let’s not allow investors and speculators to turn illness into a market where health stands as an obstacle to their profits. We deserve better.”
Top left-to-right, clockwise: Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition, Josée-Anne Spirito, Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) North, Nik Barry-Shaw, Council of Canadians, and Geneviève Lamarche, Coalition Solidarité Santé. Photos by Parker Shahsavar.
Andrew Longhurst, senior researcher at the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, came from British Columbia to join Gallaway and other health coalitions at the rally and a public meeting on saving public health care the night before at St. Paul’s Hall. The public meeting was standing room only. Longhurst is clear about who benefits from Bill 11.
“Alberta’s Bill 11 opens the door to a large private health insurance market, including the U.S. insurance industry. If the federal government fails to defend the Canada Health Act from the onslaught of the private insurance industry, it not only spells the end of public Medicare as we know it, but it puts our Canadian sovereignty at risk. The private health insurance industry is one of the most powerful lobbying forces in the U.S., and it is responsible for that country having the highest health care spending with the worst health-related outcomes among high-income countries,” said Longhurst.
Gord Johns, NDP MP for Courtenay-Alberni, was the only known Member of Parliament to attend the rally. He said, “Medicare is one of Canada’s greatest achievements. Canadians don’t want an American-style, for-profit health care system where your credit card matters more than your health card.”
Craig Walsh, P.E.I. regional director of the United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), closed the rally by returning the focus on his small province and the impact of the private sector taking from the public system. As quoted in The Guardian, he said, “We’re a little province of 170,000 people, but they’re soaking tens and tens of millions of dollars out of the public system here. So you can only imagine the scale in the bigger provinces.”
Left-to-right: Craig Walsh, United Food and Commercial Workers (UFCW), Gord Johns, NDP MP, Courtenay-Alberni, and Andrew Longhurst, Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives at the rally against two-tier health care on July 22 in Charlottetown. Photos by Parker Shahsavar.
Rally goers can be heard voicing their views on health care on maritimepixiedreamgirl’s Instagram:
The health coalitions believe their mobilizations around the premiers’ meeting had an impact but they want more action from Carney and the premiers to protect public health care.
Included at the top of the premiers’ statement on July 22 was health care. While they did not specifically address two-tier health care, the premiers called on the federal government to renew health care funding agreements and to maintain the Canada Health Transfer. “Premiers are calling on the federal government to renew these funding agreements and commit to maintaining at minimum a 5 per cent CHT growth rate annually after March 31st, 2028.”
The health coalitions welcome the premiers fighting for more health care dollars but they also want guarantees that each health care dollar transferred from the federal government be invested in the public health care system.
During official media conferences, Manitoba NDP Premier Wab Kinew spoke up for public health care, later sharing his statements on his social media.
Earlier that day, the Canadian Health Coalition’s Jason MacLean and Steven Staples attended the annual breakfast with the premiers organized by the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. The nurses’ unions made sure the premiers heard that public health care is important.
The mobilizations for public health care at the premiers’ conference in Charlottetown made the media in Alberta, including CTV Your Morning Calgary.
Friends of Medicare’s Chris Gallaway told the Red Deer Advocate that the discussion with the premiers was very timely with the U.S. threat of new tariffs against Canada. “If we want to be serious about protecting our economy, we should protect our most treasured public program which also supports our economy and really is our economic advantage versus our neighbours to the south. I believe the premiers were receptive to that,” said Gallaway.
“By September, Albertans will face a system of legislated queue-jumping for surgeries, in direct contravention of the Canada Health Act. There is no more time to waste. We need leadership from our federal government including a clear commitment that they will protect the right of Albertans — and all Canadians – to equitable access to universal, comprehensive, public health care,” added Gallaway.
