A Foreword by Niagara At Large publisher Doug Draper
When Canada’s l premiers gather in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario later this July for their annual ‘Council of the Confederation meeting, they won’t be alone.
Canadian activist Maude Barlow will be leading speaker at citizens summit in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ontario. File photo courtesy of Council of Canadians
Along with the usual swarm of media and whoever else might want to show up in one of the country’s oldest towns for a glance at the provincial leaders, a host of citizen activists from across the country, including Council of Canadian leader Maude Barlow, will be gathering at Niagara-on-the-Lake’s St. Marks Anglican Church to hold a “shadow summit.”
The shadow summit, to take on Wednesday, July 24 and Thursday, July 25 at that historic church venue, is being organized by Barlow’s organization, along with the Ontario and Canadian Health Coalition, and you can register to attend it and participate in a mass rally that will follow the summit’s keynote speeches and workshops.
The summit is focused on ‘taking a stand for medicare’ in Canada and is being held within a few blocks from where the premiers are holding their 2013 gathering because this coming year, Canada’s National Health Accord expires. The expiration of the accord leaves the future of a medicare system going back to Tommy Douglas’s fight for universal, publicly funded health care hanging in the balance and the Council of Canadians and Health Coalitions want to send a strong message to the premiers, and to Canada’s prime minister Stephen Harper and his Conservative government, to keep the system that, for more than a half a century, has made Canada an envy of the world, be further destroyed through cost cutting and privatization.
“The reason we are holding the Shadow Summit and mass rally is because Canada is facing an important next step in our medicare history,” says a recent statement from the Ontario and Niagara Health Coalitions. “Last month (June), Stephen Harper’s Conservative government cancelled funding for the Health Council of Canada – a council created out of the Accord negotiations in 2004 to track progress and quality in health care. …
“This is just the latest step in the withdrawal of federal leadership on health care. In December 2011, the Harper government announced plans to cut $36 billion from federal money transfers to provinces for health care after the Accord expires. They also cut refugees’ and veterans’ health coverage in the last budget,” the citizens coalitions’ statement adds. “The signals are clear. The:Harper government has done nothing to uphold single-tier public Medicare, and now intends to retreat from a strong role in upholding national standards, improving coverage for drugs and home/community care, and ensuring stable and adequate funding for health care.”
You can get the details for this Shadow Sumiit and how you can register by cehcking out the information below.
Shadow Summit Wednesday July 24, 10:30 a.m. – 5 p.m. and Thursday July 25, 9 a.m. – 11 a.m.
Mass Rally Thursday July 25 11 a.m.
Gather for both events at St. Mark’s Anglican Church, 41 Byron St., Niagara-on-the-Lake
Tell Prime Minister Stephen Harper to Renew Canada’s Health Accord
The Harper government is retreating from a federal role in social programs and services that create equity and improve social progress. Key programs like health care are facing cuts, and national standards are being abandoned.
Wednesday July 24, 2013
Please choose your workshops and fill in the registration form below. Please return it as soon as possible to the Ontario Health Coalition at ohc@sympatico.ca
10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m. OPENING PLENARY with: Maude Barlow Voluntary Chairperson Council of Canadians
Alex Himmelfarb, former senior civil servant, director of the Glendon School of Public & International Affairs York University
Anita Khanna Ontario Campaign 2000
Michael McBane National Coordinator Canadian Health Coalition
Natalie Mehra Director Ontario Health Coalition
Dr. Robert Woodard Board Member Canadian Doctors for Medicare
11:30 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
Workshop 1. One Step Forward, Two Steps Back: what happened to the mental health strategy for Canada
Workshop 2. Health Care for Profit: private clinics and the privatization of primary care
Workshop 3. Get on Board the Health Accord: what it means if we lose it and how we can save it
Workshop 4. Losing Long-Term Care and Rehabilitation: how Medicare is shrinking
Workshop 5. Time to Take Action on Poverty: connecting the dots between health and wealth Workshop 6. Help to Create Floats and Visuals for the Mass Rally. Workshop 7. Cuts to Rural and Small Community Health Services
1:00 p.m. – 2:30 p.m. BROWN BAG LUNCH (we will provide it)
Harper’s Hatchet: Cuts to Medicare with: Dr. Ritika Goel Steering Committee Member Medical Reform Group
2:30 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. WORKSHOPS
Workshop 1. Re-Publicizing Medicare: Turning Around Privatization Across Canada featuring: reports on our successes from provinces across the country
Workshop 2. Pharmacare: Achieving Drug Coverage for All
Workshop 3. Home and Continuing Care: Expanding Medicare to Cover Patients Outside of Hospitals
Workshop 4. Help to Create Floats and Visuals for the Mass Rally
4:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. CLOSING PLENARY
with: Maude Barlow Voluntary Chairperson Council of Canadians
Wendell Potter Whistle-blower on American Health Insurance Industry, former key executive in U.S. Health Insurance company, contributing writer Huffington Post
Linda Silas President Canadian Federation of Nurses’ Unions
Ross Sutherland Chairperson, Ontario Health Coalition
Pauline Worsford Chairperson Canadian Health Coalition
7:00 p.m. – 9:00 p.m. MOVIE AND MAUDE
with: Maude Barlow, sponsored by the Council of Canadians
Thursday July 25, 2013
Shadow Summit and Mass Rally
9:00 a.m. – 11:00 a.m. ASSEMBLY
Cross-Country Round Up: Threats to Medicare & how we are working to save & strengthen health care for all
with: reports from Health Coalitions from across Canada
11:00 a.m. GATHER FOR RALLY
You can fill in a registration form, available by clicking on www.ontariohealthcoaltion.ca and email it to the Ontario Health Coalition at ohc@sympatico.ca
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