Campaigns
Get involved in the following campaigns and take action today!
Get involved in the following campaigns and take action today!
Pharmacare legislation could be coming sooner than expected – as early as next week. We also heard disturbing indications the Liberal government could go back on their commitment to a drug plan that covers all Canadians, because they think voters don’t care. So the next couple days are absolutely critical for people like you and me to let the government know that we want universal pharmacare or bust!
Together we need to remind key government actors – cabinet members, and a few target MPs – that voters are paying attention, and if they introduce a pharmacare bill tailored to protect Big Pharma’s profits, rather than provide for people, it’s going to hurt them in the next election.
This is an all hands on deck moment — our movements have been fighting to bring coverage for medicines into our public health care system since Medicare was established more than 60 years ago, and your voice is needed, right now, to help get it across the finish line.
Having our voices heard now is so important. During my meetings with MPs in Ottawa this week, many told me they haven’t heard from their constituents about pharmacare, and that makes them feel like it’s not a priority issue. In these last few days before the legislation arrives, we need to make sure MPs know that you want to see universal pharmacare, and you expect them to live up to the promises made to deliver it.
Summary of the Pharmacare Check-in (recording link below)
Seniors’ care in B.C. has been improving recently. It’s because of a simple formula.
We have a government willing to listen and act. And a movement of seniors’ care supporters that won’t stop (that’s YOU). Now it’s time to take things to the next level.
The government has made important commitments to improving seniors’ care in the long term — and our seniors are counting on them to fulfill those promises.
With Budget 2024 coming up, we need to urge the Finance Minister, Katrine Conroy, to include a plan in her upcoming budget.
Diane, will you take a minute to help by signing a letter to the Finance Minister?
I know how busy you are. We’ve drafted a letter, so all you have to do is add your name.
The government has committed to do things like:
Seniors are counting on the Finance Minister to include a plan in her upcoming budget — a plan showing how and when these commitments will be achieved.
This could be a big year for seniors’ care in B.C. But it will take all of us, working together.
Don’t miss out on this opportunity to help today. Hurry — the budget comes out February 22.
https://carecantwait.ca/letsdothis/
Thank you!
Barb Nederpel
President
Hospital Employees’ Union
Calling all advocates of public health care – health care workers, patients, seniors, researchers, and the public – to stick together for health care solutions, not privatization.
Our health care system is in crisis. We’re in urgent need of reform, innovation, and brave conversations about what the future must look like for public health care.
We’re extremely concerned that the Canadian Medical Association (CMA) is sponsoring a cross-country conversation about the role of private health care. They’ll be in Vancouver on November 23rd, at a Globe & Mail hosted townhall focused on “new players” (read: for-profit companies) in the health care landscape. We can’t afford to revisit this old, tired argument about the role of private health care when we need urgent fixes for our public system.
We’re pushing back. Join us for an evening of learning and organizing, where we will examine the overwhelming evidence against growing the role of private for-profit providers. To be clear – this is not a debate. Public health care is the proven best way to ensure access to health care is based on need, not wealth.
We will hear from health care providers and experts on the many possibilities for improving access and quality of health care within the public system. We’ll make a plan together to organize a delegation to stick up for public health care solutions at the CMA townhall later that week.
We can’t afford to give up on our public system. It’s time to make our public system better and ensure it works for everyone.
Dear Seniors!
Yesterday at our Campaign Call to end profit in long-term care, we launched a post card action to make a show of support for the provincial government’s plan to create a new provincial funding model for long-term care operators. We need your help to sign up as many people as possible to send a postcard by our sign-up deadline on November 14.
There are a number of ways you can help:
BC’s long-term care (LTC) system is in trouble. COVID-19 worsened the system’s glaring deficiencies and weaknesses; however, the problems have resulted from decades of underfunding, failure to address serious systemic issues, and lack of oversight and monitoring of standards. With continued short staffing resident care and quality of life suffer and both staff and families feel powerless to change things.
Full-scale transformation from the ground up is necessary. Government’s efforts to address issues have been piecemeal while new national standards are at best guidelines. British Columbians are rightly concerned about the state of long-term care.
Your support can improve the lives of the vulnerable residents in LTC, their families and care providers.
Send a letter to the Premier David Eby, Minister of Health Adrian DIx, Parliamentary Secretary Harwinder Sandhu, Assistant Deputy Minster of Health Ross Hayward, and your MLA, asking the BC government to strike an advisory forum to develop and guide implementation of an action plan for system change, informed by those who live, visit, and work in facilities.
Your action today will benefit both the 30,000 residents in LTC today and those of us who may need care in the future.
News broke last week that the NDP has rejected the Trudeau government’s draft pharmacare bill which fell far short of the public, universal drug coverage that had been promised. Health Minister Mark Holland will have to go back to the drawing board and quickly come up with another draft – this is a chance to make our voices heard.
Our friends at the Council of Canadians are organizing an emergency online rally and phone blitz tomorrow to flood the Health Minister’s office with messages of support for public, universal pharmacare. Can you register now to join us on Thursday, October 12, at 4:00 pm PST?
You are invited to join this campaign from the BC Health Coalition:
Have you seen the latest report from the Office of the Seniors Advocate reviewing long-term care in BC? For-profit long-term care operators are making record profits while under-delivering care hours at alarming rates, and British Columbians – whether residents, family members of residents, or workers in long-term care homes – are paying for it.
Join us on October 31, 2023 from 2:00pm to 3:30pm on Zoom at a BC Health Coalition Campaign Call to hear directly from the BC Seniors Advocate, Isobel Mackenzie on her latest report.
British Columbians to mobilize a show of support for funding reform in long-term care. Minister of Health Adrian Dix has said the province is working on a new funding model, but for-profit companies will be lobbying hard to safeguard their publicly funded profits.
You can send a clear message: we support funding reform!
The current model incentivizes operators to spend less money on care hours, food, and maintenance because they get to turn anything they don’t spend into profit. Isobel Mackenzie stressed that “incremental reform is not going to be sufficient here”. One of the Seniors Advocate’s key recommendations is to improve accountability for taxpayer dollars and ensure funding for direct care is spent on care.
Join the BC Health Coalition’s campaign call to find out what you can do to support funding reform in long-term care.
Sign up for the Campaign Call on Zoom on October 31, 2023 from 2:00pm to 3:30pm PST.