Registered Nurses' Association of Ontario: Action Alert: Urge Tony Clement to keep Canada’s health-care system public

August 15, 2008

Background:

This weekend, doctors from across Canada will gather in Montreal for the Canadian Medical Association’s Annual General Meeting (Aug 17-20). Federal Minister of Health Tony Clement is one of the invited speakers.

At this meeting, outgoing CMA president, Dr. Brian Day, is a vocal proponent of privatization of our health-care system will pass the mantle to Dr. Robert Ouellet, a physician who owns a network of for-profit clinics. Please send Minister Clement a message urging him to stand up for Medicare and to reject any measures that would lead to more for-profit delivery of health-care in Canada. One of the sessions the CMA will be hosting is on "patient-focused funding." RNAO believes this funding formula is controversial because in countries where it has been adopted, it forces hospitals to compete for patients and the public dollars they bring with them.

What the RNAO has done

To view RNAO's open letter to Federal Health Minister Tony Clement, please click here

To view RNAO's federal pre-budget submission to the Standing Committee on Finance, please click here

What you can do

Write a letter to Minister Clement through our website. You can send our sample letter as is or modify it as you wish. Please make sure to sign your name and RN title at the bottom of the letter.

Website of interest

Canadian Doctors for Medicare

* Name:

* Email:

Message:

Dear Minister Clement,

I'm writing to you regarding your upcoming speech to the Canadian Medical Association’s (CMA) annual meeting and calling on you to stand up for Medicare.

As a registered nurse and as a Canadian, I am well aware of the deep and abiding attachment citizens of our country have for our health-care system and its guiding principle of universality. They like it because of its basic fairness and because it makes good economic sense. However, Medicare is under threat in this country. The current president of the CMA, Dr. Brian Day is a vocal proponent of privatization of our publicly funded system and the owner of a for-profit surgical facility in Vancouver. When physicians gather in Montreal from August 17-20, he will pass the mantle to Dr. Robert Ouellet, another physician who owns a network of for-profit diagnostic clinics.

Many physicians across the country are opposed to privatization but the CMA continues to advocate measures that would inevitably lead to more for-profit delivery in surgical centres, hospitals and clinics – and ultimately serve to dismantle Medicare.

Minister, I urge you and the Harper government to reject these measures because they will only lead to two-tier health care.

This country has built a system that provides all citizens with equal access to care.
To protect this cherished principle, you must strongly enforce the Canada Health Act. We also urge you to uphold Medicare by introducing policies that strengthen and expand our public health-care system.  Let’s increase access by developing a national, publicly-funded and controlled pharmacare program to cover the cost of essential drugs.   
Let’s invest in health human resources, improved access to primary health care, continuing care, and true interdisciplinary work to solve wait times. These are the solutions that will ensure our health-care system will be there for today and tomorrow’s generations.

I look forward to hearing your response.

* Indicates Response Required