Health-care workers and union leaders gathered in Ottawa on Feb. 24 and 25 to organize against health-care cuts and privatization.
“Supporting Canadians through our health-care system is what we should be doing,” Siobhán Vipond, executive vice-president of the Canadian Labour Congress, told a crowd on Feb. 25.
Vipond addressed attendees at the SOS Medicare 3.0 Conference, an event organized by the Canadian Labour Congress, to fight against privatization of Canadian health care.
Speakers and audience members railed against conservative politicians, warning a federal Conservative government would bring health-care cuts. Some told stories about how cuts under previous federal or provincial Conservative governments had made finding health care for family members difficult.
Health-care workers from across Canada spoke about how private staffing agencies are being used to address a shortage of public health-care workers, particularly in rural areas. Some warned Canada is heading toward a two-tier system of health care and damaging public health care.
“We can’t afford the cuts, and we need to see the investment,” Vipond said.
Canadian Labour Congress staff stressed their main election priorities: making life more affordable, strengthening public care and supporting workers. The union cited polling they had done that showed Canadians of all political persuasions are concerned about health care, and that the majority support pharmacare. “People are on our side on this issue,” Vipond said.
Minority governments
Several speakers warned a federal Conservative government would create an American-style health-care system, where people pay for medical services. But that was not the only American danger conference speakers highlighted.
Donald Trump’s open hostility toward Canada was surprising, said Brent Farrington, the national director of political action and communications with the labour congress. But it may benefit the labour movement by lessening support for Pierre Poilievre and the Conservatives, he said.
Poilievre’s dominant polling lead during the fall was impressive, Farrington told attendees, although it made him “very nervous.”
Before Trump was elected, Poilievre succeeded in uniting many Canadians around the idea of Canada being broken. But the outpouring of public patriotism and unity since Trump’s tariff threats has “decimated” this idea, he said.
Some polls still indicate that if an election were held today, the Conservatives would win a small majority.
But an Ipsos poll released Feb. 25 put the Liberals ahead in the polls with 38 per cent of decided voters, followed by the Conservatives with 36 per cent of decided voters.
Campaigns can change public perceptions, Farrington said. A Conservative majority “is not as locked up as people would believe.”
A minority government would be the best option to protect publicly funded health care, Farrington said. “We’ve seen incredible gains by forcing parties to work together.” Pharmacare and the national dental plan were only achieved because the NDPs and Liberals worked together, he said.
Pharmacare updates
But not everyone says the relationship between the Liberals and NDP is harmonious.
In a speech on Feb. 24, NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said his party “fought and forced” the government to create a national dental program for eligible Canadians.
Singh said the party did the same for pharmacare, which so far only commits Ottawa to covering the costs of insulin, birth control and other contraceptives. He critiqued the government’s progress, saying that, in his opinion, Ottawa should already be signing pharmacare agreements with the provinces.
“At every turn, the Liberals said ‘no’ to us,” he said.
Singh’s comments came shortly after federal Minister of Health Mark Holland told the conference Ottawa is “very close” to signing the first pharmacare deals. Holland did not say which provinces he expects to first sign onto the program.
“We don’t do this just because it is socially just,” he said. “We do it because it is fiscally insane to do anything else.”
But he acknowledged that the prorogation of Parliament, and a likely early election, had hampered the government’s progress on pharmacare.
Leadership pitches
In his speech, Singh presented himself as a leader for health-care workers. “I choose you,” he told the friendly crowd. “I choose nurses, I choose doctors and a public, universal health-care system that I want to defend.”
Singh said that if he were elected prime minister, he would ensure that everyone can access a family doctor. He would also address health-care staffing shortages by training and recruiting more health-care workers and making it easier for health-care workers who trained in other countries to work in Canada.
He spoke to American health-care workers directly, saying those fearful about performing abortions could come to Canada.
Holland acknowledged the frustration many health-care workers feel with the system.
“I attack myself as much as others attack me,” he said, reflecting on the stories he hears from exhausted health-care workers. “I want to see progress and I want to see transformation and I want to see it happen as fast as we possibly can make it.”
In a question-and-answer period, Holland also acknowledged the mental health struggles many experience. “I don’t know if you could be a human being in this world right now and not be having a mental health challenge,” he told the crowd. “If you’re telling me you got no mental health challenges, that worries me.”
Yet he warned against individuals only caring for themselves, or believing that those with the most power are right. “We’re only as happy as our most vulnerable people,” he said.
