Brita Park and Dr. Alan Ruddiman talk about health care cuts during a rally in front of MP Alex Atamanenko’s office on Fairview Road last week.
Lyonel Doherty photo
Local residents who attended a recent rally in Oliver fear that public health care may soon be privatized.
About a dozen residents with placards rallied in front of MP Alex Atamanenko’s office on March 31 to oppose the federal government’s $36 billion cuts in health care transfer payments.
According to the Hospital Employees’ Union, BC is losing $5 billion in funding.
Last week’s National Day of Action called for the Harper government to negotiate a new Health Accord to protect people’s access to health care services.
Advocates fear that the government’s cuts will lead to a privatized system where only people with money will have access to health care.
Stefan Cieslik from the BC Retired Teachers’ Association said access to public health care began eroding with the cancellation of the Health Accord last year.
“I’m here (at the rally) for my grandchildren . . . for you and your kids,” he noted.
Cieslik said his worry is that these cuts will trickle down to small communities like Oliver, which could lose its hospital.
Local physicians Dr. Alan Ruddiman and Dr. Peter Entwistle also attended the rally.
Ruddiman said he truly believes in a publicly-funded health care system and is calling for an enquiry to identify what isn’t working and how to make it better. He said privatization should not be a topic of conversation.
Local teachers’ union president Sylvia Slater said losing public health care to a privatization model frankly “scares the hell out of me.”
She worries there may not be affordable health care for retirees when they need it.
“If we lose our health care, we will drown.”
Slater said people with money should not get better health care than those who don’t have money.
Slater acknowledged that a lot of people can’t fathom losing their health care because it’s not on their radar. They are too busy struggling to survive, she pointed out.
Atamanenko said it is alarming to watch Prime Minister Stephen Harper lay the groundwork for increased privatization and the “eventual dismantling of our medical system.”
The MP said the New Democrats will fight to ensure that the Conservatives’ regressive goal is brought to a “dead halt.”
Atamanenko stated that a publicly funded system is the best, most affordable way to provide health care to Canadians.
Lyonel Doherty
Oliver Chronicle
