To:

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau: [email protected]
Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos: [email protected]
Premier Doug Ford: [email protected]
Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones: [email protected]

Keep health care public – Accessible, well-funded, with good jobs and high-quality care

Dear Prime Minister, Premier, and health ministers:

As you are aware, Canada’s health care system is in crisis.

This became even more evident during the pandemic. Hallways were overcrowded with patients, Intensive Care Units were full to capacity and many lost their lives in long-term care homes. Across the country hospital emergency rooms closed due to staffing shortages.

Now, a renewed push by provinces to privatize hospital services is threatening to worsen the crisis by pulling even more staff out of the public system, and putting patients’ access to care at risk – especially vulnerable communities.

Keeping health care public must be the goal. Public health care is centred on the profoundly important principle of equality and accessibility. That commitment to equality is what makes these public systems superior to any other, and worth fighting for.

As you head into the First Ministers’ meeting the message from Canadians is clear: resolving the crisis requires everyone to step up and put people over profits.

You can strengthen our health care system:

• Increase federal transfer funding to provinces and territories, with accountability measures to ensure all funding for health care is invested in public, not-for-profit delivery, and to ensure adherence to the Canada Health Act.
• Implement a comprehensive strategy to retain and recruit healthcare workers and end the staffing crisis. 
• Ensure funding is appropriately allocated and committed to fulfill the promises of creating national Pharmacare and dental programs.
• Phase out for-profit long-term care homes and transition toward community-based, publicly owned or non-profit homes.

I stand with frontline health care workers calling on you to support these demands. Canadians are relying on your leadership to negotiate this agreement.

The time to act is now.

Canadians deserve a high-quality health care system that is accessible, well-funded and adequately staffed.

I wish you a productive meeting and look forward to hearing from you.

Thank you!