Can the Loblaw empire be trusted with health care? The answer is no.
This week’s edition of who is saying what about public health care is compiled by Pat Van Horne.
Should the company found guilty of price-fixing bread be trusted with health care?
“My concern is, we’re going to have a company that was involved in a bread scandal and, not only that, is under some boycotts throughout the country because of the price gouging accusations that have come forward, and has been studied on Parliament Hill… They’re the same ones that we’re going to and trust to have our health care in their best interest? Their only interest is profit,” said Canadian Health Coalition Chair Jason MacLean to The Globe and Mail, August 9, 2024
“(Pharmacists) spend a significant amount of time dealing with the chemistry and how drugs interact, that’s their expertise… But that is not enough to fill the gap for families lacking primary care… Now you want to replace an emergency department with a pharmacist? That doesn’t make any sense,” added Alykhan Abdulla, family doctor in Manotick, Ontario.
Manitoba health care workers, lowest paid in Canada, to vote on contract
“Right now, they’re doing more with less, there’s just not enough of them to do the work . . . if we want a strong, robust public health-care system, we need workers to provide that service to Manitobans . . .We’re paying the same wages you could make working at McDonald’s… and those (health-care) jobs take special people, they’re going to take those easier jobs, because working in health care is hard,” said Kyle Ross, president of the Manitoba Government Employees Union, to the Winnipeg Free Press, August 12, 2024
Nurse says travel-nurse company turned his life upside down
“I can’t understand how a company can act that way in the health sector… It’s a question of values, of morals, for me. . . When you work in the health sector, you have to have ethics, you have to have values, because you’re helping people, people who are sick,” said nurse Youenn Siviniant, who was not told his contract had ended and hasn’t been paid since June, to CBC News, August 12, 2024
“It further demonstrates the depth of the problem that we’re facing with Canadian Health Labs, not just gouging the taxpayers with these exorbitant contracts but also with respect to the way it treats its own employees… That’s the problem with privatization,” added Liberal MLA and health critic Rob McKee.
Québec denies directive will limit health care to anglophones
“The Government of Quebec imposes absolutely no linguistic conditions in health-care settings before providing health care in English to anyone who requests it,” stated a letter signed by Jean-François Roberge, Minister of the French language; Eric Girard, Minister responsible for relations with English-speaking Quebecers; and Health Minister Christian Dubé and quoted in The Canadian Press, August 9, 2024
“It would be absurd and maybe amusing if it weren’t for the fact that people’s health and people’s lives and vulnerable people’s access to social services are put into question,” said Pearl Eliadis, a McGill University law professor, to Global News, August 9, 2024 on a new directive that would require patients present an eligibility certificate proving they have a right to receive health care in English because of their anglophone roots.
“Innovation” is code for privatization
“It’s more expensive and it offends me as a taxpayer why we should subsidize private, for-profit businesses. . .Why not save the taxpayers money and invest it in public hospitals?… You could build these private clinics, you could staff them, you could do these procedures. Will it reduce wait times in the public system? No. Will it save money? No. Will it provide better quality of care? No, ”said Dr. David Urbach, head of surgery at Women’s College Hospital to The Toronto Star, August 9, 2024
“Once publicly-funded care is handed over to for-profit organizations, they are motivated to maximize profits by finding ways to charge patients for care, often in ways that not-for-profit hospitals don’t,” added Dr. Danyaal Raza, Toronto family doctor, St. Michael’s Hospital.
Report sees underfunding, understaffing, deregulation and privatization putting strain on health workers
“There’s an irrefutable link between registered nurse burnout and poorer patient outcomes, and right now, we risk worsening shortages as faith in workplace support and commitment to fix the problem dwindles,” said Saskatchewan Union of Nurses president Tracy Zambory to CTV News, August 12, 2024
“The amount of people that are facing burnout and even depression and anxiety and stress, and of people taking medications and so on and so forth, and thinking of leaving the profession – that they can’t do it anymore – was just in almost every interview,” said Jim Brophy, researcher, to the Windsor Star, August 13, 2024
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