U of T is playing host to multiple high-profile events around medicare next week, timed to coincide with the arrival of the Canadian Commission on the Future of Healthcare on April 2 and 3.
The commission, headed by former Saskatchewan premier Roy Romanow, is travelling across Canada to study and make recommendations on sustaining an accessible health system, culminating in a report in November 2002.
After the Council of Canadians (COC) was told they couldn’t be a part of the commission’s tour, they decided to travel alongside, holding alternative public consultations on public health care all across the country.
“Under the Liberal watch, healthcare has been programmed to fail,” said Maude Barlow, national chairperson for the Council of Canadians, in a public statement.
“The Romanow Commission will only be worth the effort if it calls for a fully public health program, and the prime minister has the political courage to stand up to those who seek to profit from illness,” she continued. Concern over the future of publicly-funded health care comes at a time when the Harris government has called for user fees and public-private partnerships to combat rising health costs. Barlow will be hosting an April 2 meeting at the Eastminister United Church to discuss her publication “Profit is Not a Cure,” and will be joined by U of T law professor Colleen Flood, who will be presenting a paper on “The Canada Health Act—is it a Barrier to a Good Health System?”
U of T will be hosting the final public forum April 5 at the Medical Sciences Building. Called “It’s Not Too Late to Save Medicare,” its panel will include Shirley Douglas, daughter of Tommy Douglas, the founder of medicare in Canada.
According to U of T anthropology and aboriginal studies student Susan Horsfall, who is helping organize the event, students can get involved in this campaign in various ways
“Concerned students can attend a rally outside the Romanow Commission (April 2 and 3) and express their concerns about the current health care system by joining in the health care campaigns being led by the Toronto and Ontario Health Coalitions.”
