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Thursday, May 22, 2014

A long term care facility should be a home. “It should be a safe place, a place that should be their home where seniors are supported nurtured and cared for,” said Kelly O’Sullivan from Canadian Union of Public Employee. Instead, she said the level of care provided to seniors falls short of even ensuring their safety, and in some cases seniors have been beaten to death by other long term care home residents. O’Sullivan was one of several speakers during a Ontario Health Coalition rally on King St. in Welland, Friday, using a 10-foot-tall rocking chair to raise awareness about levels of care long-term care homes across the province. She said the absolute minimum level of care for Ontario’s seniors should be four hours.

leaderpost.com Wed May 21 2014

Canada risks becoming a country of haves and havenots when it comes to health care, the president-elect of the Canadian Medical Association warns. Dr. Chris Simpson, the chief of cardiology at Queen's University and Kingston General Hospital who becomes head of the CMA this summer, is among the speakers at a town-hall meeting in Ottawa later this week about the just-expired Canada Health Accord. The end of the accord will be a blow to health equality across the country, said Simpson, who characterizes what he's seeing as a move away from a national leadership presence in health care.

Montreal Gazette Wed Jan 7 2015

But Dr. Gaétan Barrette, Quebec's health minister since April, seems to thrive offthe criticism as he pushes ahead with major reforms to the province's health-care system.

The big question, though, is whether the minister has the support of the public and the medical community to accomplish those reforms - already dubbed "la révolution Barrette" - when the National Assembly reconvenes on Feb. 10.

Trades, bargaining and regulationJoin us for a discussion of bargaining for trades and the impact of pay equity and regulation through the College of Trades. The conference registration will be on Sunday October 26th @ 6:00 p.m.- 7:00 p.m.

October 28 and 29, 2014Review the leading arbitration, human rights and court decisions concerning attendance management programs. Explore the rights of the employee in cases of innocent and culpable absenteeism. A top labour nominee to rights boards of arbitration and Canada’s leading labour law firm will resource this conference.

OCHU Health & Safety Conference - JAN. 12 - 14, 2015Tackling unresolved and emerging health and safety issues for health care workersThrough presentations from dynamic guestspeakers and panels of CUPE members you willexplore such critical issues as:

August 29, 2014

The group, representing health coalitions, unions and social advocates among others, marched through the streets of the capital city. A large puppet of Prime Minister Stephen Harper, the main recipient of the protesters' wrath, was also held high to flutter in the wind outside the P.E.I. Convention Centre where premiers were discussing the future of their provinces. A handful of speakers took turns stepping up on a large rock that served as a podium to sing the praises of medicare while denouncing the proposed Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between Canada and the European Union.

Jan. 15 '15 Creeping Privatization of Medicare: Speakers Panel and AGM @import url(../CSS/Default_RTE_Styles.css); Our Calgary Chapter is having their Annual General Meeting on January 15, 2015, at the Capitol Hill Community Association (1531 - 21st Ave NW, Calgary) at 7 PM.   Immediately following the short AGM will be a panel presentation entitled:   "Creeping Privatization of Medicare: Problems and Solutions"

Canadian Conference on Physician Leadership 2015 Dates: 24 – 25 Apr, 2015 Location: Vancouver, BC Address: Sheraton Wall Centre The sixth Canadian Conference on Physician Leadership, co-hosted by the CMA and the Canadian Society of Physician Executives (CSPE) is a must-do. Immerse yourself in our informative and inspiring conference to hear relevant keynote speakers and take away tools and techniques from a variety of interactive workshops (8 workshops run simultaneously both in the morning and afternoon over 2 days). Rub elbows and exchange ideas with your peers in the leadership community. For more information or to register visit the conference website:https://www.cma.ca/En/Pages/conferences.aspx. 

Apr. 8 '15 "Driving the Wrong Way: Ideology and Health Care in Canada" - Speaker & Lethbridge AGM

Colleen Fuller

Canadian doctors call to make health care for seniors a federal election issue. By Tom Sandborn, Today, TheTyee.ca

It is safe to assume that Brian Mulroney still remembers Solange Denis, and probably with some chagrin. The current prime minister should remember her too, particularly the painful lesson she taught his predecessor. Denis was the fiery 63 year old who confronted the then prime minister on Parliament Hill in 1985, calling him a liar because his health minister, Michael Wilson, had announced government intentions to de-index old age pensions, effectively allowing them to be eroded by inflation. Denis accused the PM of reversing campaign promises not to solve government budget problems by going after pensions.

The 14.4 per cent of us currently over 65 already consume half the nation's health care expenditures. The event, held at a senior friendly afternoon timing, featured speakers from the Canadian Medical Association, the BC Health Coalition, and the BC Centre for Elder Advocacy and Support, who all echoed the CMA's recent call for a coordinated national strategy to address what has been described as an ongoing crisis in care for seniors. A recently released CMA paper reads in part: "The CMA is concerned that Canada is ill-prepared for the demographic shift already underway... According to an Ipsos Reid poll commissioned by the CMA, a majority of respondents (83 per cent) said they were concerned about their health care in their retirement years. This poll found that nine out of 10 Canadians (93 per cent) believe Canada needs a national strategy for seniors health care that integrates home care, hospitals, hospices, and long-term care facilities into the continuum."

Adopting best practices in the interest of equity and public finances On November 6, the Union des consommateurs launched a new report (Les Impacts Économiques de l’instauration d’un Régime Public et Universel) that favours a universal drug plan for Quebec, featuring a number of leading speakers. The study was funded by CUPE-Quebec and the event was sponsored by Dr. Jean Rochon, public health physician and former minister of health.

Campbell River Courier-Islander October 15, 2014

The Campbell River chapter of the Council of Canadians says access proper health care will depend on where you live and your ability to pay. And they are holding a town hall meeting on Monday, Oct. 20 in Campbell River to discuss the future of health care in our community. The meeting will be held at the Maritime Heritage Centre, not the Campbell River Museum,  from 7 to 9 p.m. Speakers include Maude Barlow, National Chairperson of the Council of Canadians; Paul Moist, National President of the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), Lois Jarvis, Citizens for Quality Health Care and Barb Biley, Regional Vice President for the Health Employees Union. The Council of Canadians (COC) and the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) held a town hall meeting in Campbell River last October, six months before the federal/provincial health accord was due to expire. In that meeting, there was still optimism that the federal government would reverse its decision not to renew the Accord. That optimism turned to outrage when the government stuck to its position on March 31, when the Accord expired. The Health Accord was an agreement between the provinces, territories and federal government and provided the provinces with stable funding and set national standards for health care.

By Ella Bedard | February 10, 2015

"There is hard work ahead of us but it will pay dividends if we do it right and do it smart," said CLC president Hassan Yussuff, speaking to a packed house at the conference's Friday night reception in Toronto. Yussuff and the other speakers, including Ontario Federation of Labour President Sid Ryan and CLC Senior economist Angella MacEwen, emphasized that mobilization has to start within the rank and file if the labour movement wants to defeat Harper's Conservatives in this upcoming election.

Through speeches and conference material, the CLC has made clear what labour's priorities are for this election: Creating and protecting good, stable jobs; Providing quality, safe, and affordable child care; Protecting and improving our public health care system; Averting a retirement crisis and making retirement security available to everyone. Yussuff ended his speech with a call to action for the union activists, asking that every attendee make a pledge to engage their families, neighbours and co-workers in conversations about these issues.

4th Annual Students for a National Health Program (SNaHP) Summit Saturday, February 14th, 2015 University of Illinois - Chicago Click here to register now.

Featuring Keynote SpeakerLinda Rae Murray, MD, MPHDr. Linda Rae Murray is a leading voice for social justice and the urgency of defining health care as a basic human right. For more than 40 years, she has devoted her career to serving medically under served populations. She is the Chief Medical Officer at Cook County Department of Public Health and serves on the board of the Health and Medicine Policy Research Group. She is also a recent Past President of the American Public Health Association.

The 4th annual SNaHP Summit took place on Saturday, February 14, 2015, on the medical campus of the University of Illinois-Chicago. More than 170 medical and health professional students gathered to discuss and improve their single-payer activism, as well as discuss other issues of social justice within the medical profession.Click here to view presentations and handouts from the conference.Click here to view a collection of photos from the event. A full agenda of the day's events is also available here.

THE NATIONAL Thu Mar 19 2015,

WENDY MESLEY (HOST): All that medicine isn't cheap either. Canadians spent an estimated 22 billion dollars a year on prescriptions in 2013, almost twice what they spent in 2001. One in ten struggle to afford it. It's big business and big drug companies know it, spending billions marketing it right back to you. VOICE OF UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN (ANNOUNCER): (Advertisement) Ask your doctor if Lunesta is right for you. WENDY MESLEY (HOST):

So are we over- or under-medicated? Is the high cost of prescription drugs failing to help Canadians in need? And what should we be watching for next? So we'll start with that middle question, like, who is not covered? Who is falling through the cracks? You must all see this in your practices? Danielle, what are you seeing? DANIELLE MARTIN (FAMILY PHYSICIAN, WOMEN'S COLLEGE HOSPITAL): In fact, millions of Canadians have no drug coverage whatsoever and millions more don't have adequate coverage for their needs. In my practice I see it all the time among the self-employed, people who are working in small businesses, people who are working part-time and don't have employer-based coverage. It's the taxi drivers, it's the people who are working in a part-time job, but it's also middle-income people who are consultants or working in small businesses who don't have coverage. So this isn't just a problem for the poor. It's a problem for people across socioeconomic lines.

The New York Times Fri Mar 27 2015

WASHINGTON -- The House overwhelmingly approved sweeping changes to the Medicare program on Thursday in the most significant bipartisan policy legislation to pass through that chamber since Republicans regained a majority in 2011. The measure, which would establish a new formula for paying doctors, increase premiums for some Medicare beneficiaries and extend a popular health insurance program for children, has already been endorsed by President Obama and awaits a vote in the Senate. The legislation, approved in the House by a vote of 392 to 37, embodies a rare and significant agreement negotiated by Speaker John A. Boehner and the House Democratic leader, Representative Nancy Pelosi of California. Both saw the value in ending a problem that has bedeviled the nation's health care system for more than a decade, and in demonstrating that the nation's legislative branch could function. Mr. Obama called Mr. Boehner and Ms. Pelosi to congratulate them after the vote. "This is how Congress is supposed to work," Mr. Obama said, addressing students at a community college in Birmingham, Ala.

North Bay Nugget Mon Nov 16 2015

The cold front that blew into the region Friday is nothing like the cold shoulder that hundreds of people gave the provincial government. More than 600 health care workers and residents were at Friday's rally in Trenton's Centennial Park protesting cuts to health care. Bus loads of unionized health care workers from across central and eastern Ontario descended on the park to attend the first in a series of four Ontario Health Coalition rallies being held across the province.

The health coalition and Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are organizing a Take Back Our Hospital Rally for noon Nov. 30 at Lee Park in North Bay. Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, stated previously the public is concerned about cuts at the North Bay Regional Health Centre, where 158 full-time equivalent jobs are being eliminated. Mehra said the recent cuts are among the worst in Ontario. "This routine of unstable funding and continuous cuts has to be stopped," she said during a teleconference town hall last month in North Bay in which more than 4,300 people participated.

By Kris Dube / News Editor November 17, 2015

Shoshannah Bourgeois, a homecare worker from London, Ont., speaks with Premier Kathleen Wynne in Niagara Falls on Tuesday. (Bullet News photo by Kris Dube)

NIAGARA FALLS - Premier Kathleen Wynne says the union that represents more than 55,000 healthcare and community service workers across the province is “part of a movement that's changing society for the better.” Wynne visited Niagara Falls on Tuesday as the special guest at the Service Employees International Union Healthcare conference, an event that takes place once every four years. She was the keynote speaker, wrapping up the two-day meeting held at the Scotiabank Centre.

Financial Buzz Sat Dec 12 2015

NORTH BAY, ONTARIO--(Marketwired - Dec 12, 2015) - From hospital service cuts to workers locked out at Ontario Northland, skyrocketing hydro rates and a loss of good manufacturing jobs, North Bay is feeling the full force of the Liberal government's austerity agenda, CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn told the Unity for Our Community rally today in North Bay

"You can't cut your way to prosperity," said Hahn, president of Ontario's largest union. "Cuts to public services are devastating to communities. North Bay is witnessing this first-hand with huge service cuts and mass layoffs at the hospital. But Kathleen Wynne's unflinching support for austerity and privatization is hurting every corner of the community."

North Bay Nugget Tue Dec 1 2015

The size of your wallet should not determine the quality of health care you receive. That was the message delivered to close to 1,000 protesters calling for the provincial government to free up more money for hospitals in Northern Ontario - particularly the North Bay Regional Health Centre.

"In North Bay, and across Northern Ontario, we are seeing the most severe cuts," said Linda Silas, president of the Canadian Federation of Nurses Unions. The rally drew supporters from across the province to protest cuts across the province. This year, the North Bay Regional Health Centre announced it is cutting almost 160 positions and closing more than 30 beds in an attempt to stave off a flood of red ink. "Here you are looking at 100 layoffs every year" if the province does not end a freeze on healthcare spending, Silas said.

Says Gallant government attacking public service jobs and health care

Dec 01, 2015

The just-released list of possible ways the government could cut the deficit has union officials concerned.