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Medicare goes on trial in the Supreme Court of Canada
CLC
intervening to defend universal, public health care
 Ottawa
- Medicare is on trial again, this time at the Supreme Court of
Canada.
After enduring endless cutbacks and attacks over the past decade, the
country's national public health care system is now being challenged
in a case that essentially asks the courts to declare that people with
money have a right to buy their way to the front of the line.
Among groups appearing to defend the country's public, universal
medicare system is the Canadian Labour Congress, speaking on behalf of
the labour movement across the country.
The case involves a Quebec man, George Zeliotis, who waited more than
a year for a hip replacement, and Dr. Jacques Chaoulli, his physician.
The two are asking the court to declare that health care line-ups
infringe on rights guaranteed by the Charter of Rights and Freedoms
and that private clinics should be available to those who can afford
them.
The two men took their case to the top court after losing in Quebec,
where the collective rights of citizens to a universal,
publicly-funded system were ruled to outweigh individual rights when
health care system itself hangs in the balance.
The case is one of two before the courts that could affect the future
of universal medicare. Each case seeks to make health care a Charter
right, thus limiting the power of politicians to dictate health
policy.
Strikes at
the heart
The CLC says the Chaoulli case strikes at the heart of the country’s
public health care system.
“Chaoulli and his supporters want a second tier of private, for-profit
health care and they want it to be protected by the Charter of Rights
and Freedoms," says CLC president Ken Georgetti.
"What a perversion of basic equality and the values behind public
medicare - no way will we let this happen without a fight."
"What Chaoulli and all the groups who’ve taken his side and financed
this case are really arguing is that the Charter does not establish a
right to health care for all Canadians, but a system for those who can
afford to pay," the CLC says.
The congress represents 2.5 million Canadian workers, including
national and international unions, provincial and territorial labour
federations and 137 district labour councils.
Web posted by NUPGE:
10 June 2004
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