Protestors brave bitter cold to call on Feds to protect Medicare

Health coalitions from every province and territory sent messages of support.

Toronto (11 Feb. 2007) - About 200 protestors braved the bitter cold Feb. 9 to call upon federal health minister Tony Clement to stop privatization and respect the desire of Canadians to protect Medicare.

Clement was in Toronto to discuss wait times strategies with provincial health ministers.

Health coalitions from every province and territory sent messages of support to the rally, each highlighting their own battles to maintain publicly delivered health care.

Nancy Pridham, Region 5 Vice-President of OPSEU/NUPGE, spoke about Ontario’s battles against the privatization of hospital infrastructure. She stated that the McGuinty government’s public-private partnership program is “a way for corporations to get rich with your money. It’s public money – private profit.”

Serge Lalonde and Gabrielle Pelletier from the Coalition Solidarité Santé (Quebec Health Coalition) spoke about how Quebec’s Bill 30 was accelerating two-tier health care in that province.

Ontario Health Coalition director Natalie Mehra spoke about Tony Clement’s record as “Two-tier” Tony when he served as the province’s minister of health under the Mike Harris government.

Ontario Health Minister George Smitherman briefly came out of the waterfront hotel where the ministers were meeting to greet the demonstrators. NUPGE