Fight for healthcare gaat door
h - 02.05.2003 12:55
KWRU
www.kwru.org
Donelda McDonald, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
The Fight for Healthcare
I am pleased to be with you this evening to share with you the Canadian view of free trades and how they impact on our public services. In particular I hope you will have a better understanding of why Canadians are so concerned about privatization and trade agreements and their relation to our health care system.
First, let me tell you a little bit about CUPE, the Canadian Union of Public Employees.Our members deliver and use the services that keep our communities safe and healthy. We work in hospitals, schools and universities, on the ground with community-based services and in the skies as flight attendants. We provide safe water, clean streets, and reliable emergency services. We are the glue that holds communities together. We help make our world a better place.
But free trade agreements seriously threaten our world. If governments and corporate lobbyists at the unelected World Trade Organization get their way, the public services we depend on for our quality of life - health care, education, utilities and many other public services will be run as for-profit businesses.
The service-privatization component of the FTAA agenda is so strong that the Council of Canadians, a Canadian non-governmental organization representing civil society, recently concluded that if it were fully realized, all public services - at all levels of government - could be opened up for competition from foreign, for-profit service corporations. This makes the proposed FTAA the most threatening and expansive trade agreement in history.
The NAFTA goes beyond the WTO in giving new powers to trans-national corporations to challenge the laws, regulations and practices of our governments. The investor state mechanism in NAFTA cedes the power to sue our governments to foreign corporations - but no to citizens, or even to domestic firms - violating the most basic principles of democracy.
The expanded powers proposed for the FTAA, in combination with Chapter 11 of NAFTA, and the introduction of universal coverage of all service sectors pose a grave threat to Canada's social programs.
As a result our members, and indeed all Canadians, find themselves in one of the toughest fights of our lives. The public services which provide us with good paying jobs and a high quality of life are at risk.
According to Maude Barlow, of the Council of Canadians, Services is the fastest growing sector in international trade - and of all services health, education and water are shaping up to be the most potentially lucrative of all.
It is important to note that 75% of all jobs in Canada are in the service sector. We know that free trade agreements open up our public services to privatization and we are committed to fighting the privateers.
For instance, safe drinking water, a basic human right and one our politicians know we will fight to keep out of corporate control. So they've tried to reassure us with contracts that restrict the privateer's role. But in New Brunswick we saw what happened when you give corporations an inch - they take a mile!
Having secured a 20 year contract to provide drinking water treatment, Vivendi-owned US Filter tried to take advantage of an opening in its contract to propose that it take control of the city's entire water distribution system. It was an untendered, secret bid which had the support of the mayor and city manager - and it would have succeeded but for the vigilance - and the persistence of CUPE members and community opponents.
In Nova Scotia, when we raised concerns about the privatization of our waste water plants, we were told there was nothing to worry about - they were only finding out how much it would cost to have private corporations operate the plants - but in the end we were told the government couldn't back out now because the private sector had spent so much money preparing for the bid, that they could sue us. So they ignored our concerns about costs and control - environmental impacts and trade implications - and refused to back down from their road to privatization. As a result the water giant Suez won a major contract in Canada - and one the citizens of Halifax, Nova Scotia will be paying for for years to come.
But at the heart of the battle against free trade in Canada is the battle between public and private health care.
Our health care system is a clear reflection of Canadian values and one we hold very dear - it is not just a health care worker's issue - it's everyone's issue - our neighbours, our friends and our families.
The fundamental principle of the Canadian health care system is that all citizens have access to health care based on need - not the ability to pay. Medically necessary services are paid through public health insurance programs, or Medicare. Our Medicare system is a direct response to the high costs and inefficiencies of the private, for-profit health care system which was in existence in Canada forty years ago.
And we know that, if Medicare did not already exist in Canada today, Canada's current trade obligations would almost certainly make its creation far more difficult, if not impossible.
Our system is governed by the Canada Health Act and is based on five principles: Public Administration, Comprehensiveness, Universality, Portability and Accessibility; and our system is dependent on both the federal and provincial governments adhering to these principles and providing adequate funding.
Unfortunately, for years our federal government has been cutting its funding for public health care. These funding cuts and their negative impacts have fostered a climate of dissatisfaction which is undermining public confidence in our Medicare system. Preying on this discontent, for-profit corporations, using free trade agreements, are poised to sweep in the Canadian health care marked.
It is impossible to reconcile the reality of for-profit hospital care with the objectives and criteria of the Canada Health Act - mainly because public, not-for-profit hospitals are the bedrock upon which our public health system stands. If the objectives of the Act are to be achieved, hospitals must remain accountable to patients and communities, not shareholders and foreign investors.
Meanwhile, our federal trade officials assure us the our health care system is safe from attack under NAFTA and WTO.
Our analysis, however, reveals something quite different.
Jon R. Johnson, author of a discussion paper published by the Romanow Commission, confirms the concerns raised by the Canadian Health Coalition and CUPE over three years ago concerning the threat of hospital privatization on our health care system.
He clearly confirmed the two most important conclusions of those opinions, namely that
Canada's reservations for health care services under the NAFTA are not comprehensive and leave important public health care measures vulnerable to trade challenges, and more importantly, foreign investor claims under Chapter 11 of NAFTA.
The introduction of new private investment into the public health care system has two serious negative consequences:
It undermines the integrity of the exceptions and reservations for health care in both NAFTA and WTO agreements and;
It significantly increases the risk of foreign investors' claims.
By introducing foreign investment into areas of health care service delivery that were previously delivered on a not-for-profit basis by the public sector; private clinics and hospitals open the door to trade challenges and foreign investor claims. These could therefore result in profound impacts on the entire health care system in Canada. It is absolutely crucial, therefore, that no further private inroads be allowed into Canada's public system.
The government, rather than reducing private involvement in the delivery of health services in Canada, has held the door wide open to the provincial and territorial governments to privatize health services in their provinces.
In the province of Alberta we see legislation passed which allows for the creation of private hospitals. This government is also proceeding with the de-listing of medical services and the creation of medical savings accounts. Their agenda is clearly focussed on placing public funds in private pockets and not on strengthening or expanding public medicare.
In Ontario we have seen the introduction of a competitive bidding process in home care which ensures private sector participation in the delivery of this service. In addition, the majority of long-term care beds in Ontario have already been awarded to private corporations. Four provinces have created private MRI clinics and the threat of Public Private Partnership hospitals is rampant.
The allowance of provincial governments to enter into these agreements siphon precious health care dollars into private pockets and have the potential to open up Canadian health care services to corporate challenges under NAFTA.
These private ventures pose daunting challenges to the Canadian public. CUPE, working with other labour groups and our social partners have taken on this challenge.
We had an overwhelming impact on the public consultations on the future of health care in Canada, chaired by Roy Romanow. We mobilized our members and the Canadian public in general to voice their concerns through public presentations, on e-mail, in letters and faxes - not only to Romanow but to their elected officials as well.
As a result, the Romanow was clear that Canadians believe public health care is the clearest reflection of our values and one we are not willing to give up without a fight.
We believe it is an efficient, morally just and administratively superior way to deliver health care. Romanow's warning to governments was clear - don't subsidize private health care with public dollars or else you won't be able to protect it from international trade agreements.
Yet we continue to see examples of devastation to the public health care system in Canada through privatization and contracting out. The most severe example is in British Columbia where the government has launched an all-out attack on health support workers and collective bargaining in an attempt to clear the way for mass privatization of public health care. This agenda is a direct attack on the most vulnerable, including immigrant women, poor people, students, seniors, Aboriginal people, people of colour and people with disabilities. But CUPE members are fighting back.
We believe that Canada's health care system is still one of the best in the world and worth fighting to preserve. We will continue to build a common front - a massive movement to push the government to do what's right for health care.
We vow to continue to fight to ensure that not one penny of our public health dollars is directed to corporate profits.
While I've focussed on the implications of the Free Trade Agreements on health care in Canada - this struggle is not just about health care or Canadians. This is a global struggle and we believe that as Canada's largest union we have a special role to play in building global resistance to privatization and advancing an agenda that puts people first. Our success stories prove that we can make a difference.
In solidarity with our social and labour partners in Canada and around the world, we will send our governments a clear message - don't trade away our public services - you have no mandate to do so - our public services are not for sale!
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