Local CUPE members 'Sound the Alarm' as part of the Canadian Health Coalition National Day of Action to mark the end of the ten year Health Accord.
Today local CUPE members joined in the in Canadian Health Coalition National Day of Action to mark the end of the ten year Health Accord between the federal government, provinces and territories that has provided stable funding and set national standards for health care.
Labour activists rallied or as they called it “Sound the Alarm” to alert Canadians that the Harper government is not providing leadership in health care a that will consequently lead to drastic changes to the system Canadians currently enjoy.
“Letting the health Accord expire will hurt Ontario patients most. Thousands of nurses and health care workers will be cut. Patient care will suffer. Ontarians value Medicare far too much to let that happen,” says Henri Giroux President North Bay and District CUPE Council outside MP Jay Aspin’s office.
The team passed out buttons talking to people on the street advising them on what that the expiration of the Health Accord means to them and the harm this will cause to our public health care system.
Giroux says Harper has flatly refused to renegotiate a new accord which will be hit the provinces and territories with a $36 billion cut in health transfers.
He says unlike the federal government, Ontarians value Medicare and see the federal government walking away from the health Accord as a betrayal of universal health care they hold dear.
He MP Jay Aspin was in Ottawa and unavailable for comment.
