The aim is to keep Saskatchewan health care public and if a unified CUPE (Canadian Union of Public Employees) has anything to do with it, that will be the case.
On Monday activists across the country hosted events intended to educate Canadians about the current state of health care in Canada as well as to talk about the fact the federal government has yet to sign a new Accord.
"Ottawa has refused to meet with the premiers," says local CUPE rep Cindy McGregor. "Instead, the Federal Conservative Government plans to cut $36 billion from public health care. This will mean Saskatchewan will receive $100 million less every year for the next ten years for health care, which means less funding for quality patient care in Saskatchewan.
Picketers gathered in Yorkton for a brief period Monday in front of MP Garry Breitkreuz's office, who was away in Ottawa.
The Accord, says McGregor provides stable federal funding that sets national standards. The current Accord expired March 31 and that CUPE says, will mean a cut in health care dollars.
"Today, concerned citizens and health care providers are holding a national day of action to let Canadians know what the expiration of the health Accord means to them and the harm this will cause to our public health care system."
Over ten years it will mean a loss of $1.1 billion dollars in health care funding for Saskatchewan says McGregor. "That's equivalent to the loss of 3,349 hospital beds over ten years, over 73,000 joint replacement surgeries... and 393 family doctors... 17,565 long term care beds...
"Faced with massive cuts and without any plan of strengthening medicare, it will also mean more and more provinces will open up services for profit... and lead us further down the path of Americanized, private health care."
Rather than breaking down our current system, McGregor says we need to be building it to reflect the changing needs of Canadians.
"To strengthen medicare we need the federal government to show leadership to enforce the Canadian Health Care Act and protect our public health care system. We need them to come to the table to negotiate stable and sufficient health care funding..."
The federal government, says McGregor, expects to run a $3.6 billion budget surplus next year. "One billion of that surplus is a result of cuts to health care transfers to our provinces."
CUPE reps are urging the public to get involved by sending a letter to their elected officials at Canadians.org.
