Ottawa (10 April 2008) ... In the lead-up to National Medical Laboratory Week, Canadas largest organization of health science professionals is sounding alarm bells that accessible and high quality patient care is threatened by an escalating shortage of medical laboratory technologists across the country.
Just hours after Health Minister George Abbott tabled controversial amendments to the Medicare Protection Act on April 8, more than 200 people attended a public talk by physicians and international policy experts about the dangers of continued health care privatization in B.C.
Dr. Michael Klein ... physician, researcher and founding member of the Canadian Doctors for Medicare ... reasserted that health care funding has remained stable as a percentage of both the B.C. and Canadian economies over the past decades.
'We can't stand still. We can either go back or we can go forward. The choice we make today will decide the future of medicare in Canada.' - Tommy Douglas
Ottawa (3 Apr. 2008) - The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has issued two new public education tools as part of its ongoing campaign to defend and expand Canada's public medicare system.
NUPGE releases new leaflet on renewing community-based social services
Ottawa (20 March 2008) - The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) has released a new leaflet calling for a re-investment in our communities. It is called,
No way to show we care: Renewed funding for community-based social services.
The BC Health Coalition presents "Choices that Matter - True Stories from Behind the Curtain of Private Health Care" featuring:
Rights, Not Wrongs, a conference focussing on emerging human rights issues, featuring leading BC human rights specialists in Aboriginal, peace, antipoverty, women's rights, antiracism, international issues and more, is being organized by the BC Teachers' Federation Committee for Action on Social Justice and the BC Federation of Labour.
The conference will be held April 3 to 5 at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, and will feature keynote speaker Stephen Lewis, the former UN special envoy for HIV/AIDS on Friday, April 4 at 7 p.m.
NUPGE among supporters of new website
Ottawa (11 March 2008) - StraightGoods.ca is pleased to announce the addition of a new member to its family of websites: www.PublicValues.ca .
The site is an online magazine presenting news about privatization and the fight to preserve public services, resources, spaces and enterprise. It will be updated frequently. Readers are encouraged to submit ideas and articles.
On March 8, International Women's Day, the Canadian Labour Congress is launching a women's economic equality campaign ... -Equality! Once and For All!" An exciting year-long campaign, the CLC will use every opportunity to raise awareness about the lack of attention paid by politicians, employers and the media to the growing economic inequality of women, through the use of creative and innovative tactics.
Three quarters of adults will fill a prescription this year, at a cost of nearly $25 billion. The use and cost of medicines may increase significantly if manufacturers are allowed to advertise prescription drugs directly to consumers as they do in the United States.
What Finance Minister Jim Flaherty calls a budget of -focus, prudence, and discipline" is actually -feeble, paltry and disappointing," says Larry Brown, secretary-treasurer of the National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE).
