Canada’s Health Care System Under Attack

They claim that the lack of timely access to provincially insured health care services and the restrictions on access to private care amounted to a violation of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. To date, this argument has been rejected in two lower courts in Quebec but a group of ten senators are pushing this agenda in support of this case. The senators are led by Michael Kirby, and a group of for-profit health corporations. The senators asking for the legislation governing Medicare to be struck down are Michael Kirby, Marjorie Lebreton, Catherine Callbeck, Joan Cook, Jane Cordy, Joyce Fairbairn, Wilburt Keon, Lucie Pépin, Brenda Robertson, and Douglas Roche.

If the Supreme Court of Canada grants the appeal it will mean that the legislation governing public health insurance and the hospital system is unconstitutional. This will then allow for two-tier, for-profit health care and invites private for-profit and foreign investors into our health care system. This will be the death of Medicare in Canada. It is interesting to note that Senator Michael Kirby is also the Director of Extendicare Inc., which is a for-profit nursing home chain. As a director, he has a fiduciary obligation to act in the company’s best interest. This is clearly a conflict of interest with his position as Senator and all of these senators are acting in a way that is clearly not in the best interest of all Canadians. The survival of Medicare is the most serious issue facing Canadians today and it is absolutely important that everyone get involved with this issue to ensure that this does not happen.

What to do? Write letters to these senators demanding their resignation.(The mailing address is the "Senate of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A4). What you also must do is write letters to your politicians at every level, federal, provincial and municipal, demanding that they protect Canadians and our Medicare system. If you do not act we will lose one of Canada’s most valuable assets that we as Canadians have. We will lose this not only for ourselves, but for our children and our grandchildren. You must act and you must act now.

International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, AFL-CIO, CLC

© Copyright 2007 IBEW.  IBEW is a registered trademark.  All rights reserved.  Material from this Web site may not be used on any non-union Web site or publication without expressed permission from the IBEW.  Links from this Web site do not necessarily indicate an endorsement.