Vancouver to Halifax: Nation-wide demonstrations against Alberta’s two-tier health-care bill

Public health care advocates staged rallies at the offices of Liberal MPs, urging the federal government to quash a controversial bill in Alberta.

From frontline health-care workers to concerned seniors, advocates for Canada’s public health-care system held demonstrations at the offices of members of parliament across the country, including in downtown Vancouver.

Related: N.S. Health Coalition concerned Alberta has paved the way for two-tiered health system

Dozens of people showed up outside Hedy Fry’s office, some with signs or union banners, to urge the long-time MP to have her governing Liberal Party step in to quash Bill 11 in Alberta, which clears the way for some doctors to provide both public and private care.

“The fight is not just about Alberta, it is about the future of Medicare in this country,” said Barb Nederpel, president of the B.C. Health Employees Union.

The sentiment was echoed by B.C. Health Coalition spokesperson Cheryl Cameron, who told attendees “access to health care should be based on need, not the ability to pay.”

Similar fears across country

Friends of Medicare organized the national “day of action,” which included rallies in Alberta, voicing deep concern the province’s move to open the door to “queue-jumping” for those with deep pockets would both undermine the public system, while opening the floodgates to American health insurance providers.

Related: ‘More expensive for everyone:’ Calgarians protest Alberta’s ‘dual practice’ health plan

Andy Longhurst, a senior researcher with the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, says there have been multiple studies in different countries that found that allowing the well-heeled to skip to the front of the line didn’t make the wait any shorter for anyone else, and wasn’t any more cost-effective.

“In the United States, a system where you have private health insurance, you have entire billing departments dedicated to billing multiple insurance plans,” he said. “We have none of that and that makes our system efficient.”

A doctor-advocate in parliament

Fry, who was a family doctor in Vancouver for two decades and is one of the longest-seated parliamentarians in the Commonwealth, was pleased to see the strong turnout and urged attendees and others to make their support for universal health care known to their representatives.

In responding to concerns of rally-goers, she revealed federal Liberals are in talks with Alberta’s government to try and get them to back off Bill 11 and come into compliance with the Canada Health Act, which prohibits Canadians from paying for surgical or medical services in their home province.

Fry also warned that there are consequences for facilitating rule-breaking.

“Each province that actually broke components of the Canada Health Act, money from the (federal transfer payments) is being withheld from them,” she said. “If they change their bad behavior, they get the money back.”