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Under Bill 41, “there is no accountability and no responsibility to actual patients, even though the patients are supposed to be first." — Lucy Morton, Chair of OPSEU's Health Care Divisional Council and Community Health Division
Toronto (06 Jan. 2017) — On the January 4 show of TVO's The Agenda with Steve Paikin, Lucy Morton, Chair of OPSEU’s Health Care Divisional Council and Community Health Care Professionals Division, joined a panel discussing Bill 41, the Patients First Act.
The act, that became law in December, is set to overhaul Ontario’s health care system and eliminate Ontario’s 14 Community Care Access Centres (CCACs) which oversee publicly funded home care. Despite public hearings, dozens of submissions, and a host of recommendations, Bill 41 passed with virtually no changes.
OPSEU/NUPGE campaign supporting public services knocks down myths
The Ontario Public Service Employees Union (OPSEU/NUPGE) has raised red flags about the increased threat of health care privatization under Bill 41, and the concentration of power in the unaccountable Local Health Integration Networks (LHINs).
Under Bill 41, “there is no accountability and no responsibility to actual patients, even though the patients are supposed to be first,” said Morton.
Morton explained that it is patients and the public that pay for our health care system. We Own It is the new OPSEU/NUPGE campaign to activate people to stand up for public services against the rise of privatization. As taxpayers, we own public services. Privatization, which has been touted to save money, has actually cost more while providing less services for patients.
To view OPSEU’s full submission, including its 20 recommendations to strengthen Bill 41 in the public interest, click here. To watch the full program, you can click here.
NUPGE
The National Union of Public and General Employees (NUPGE) is one of Canada's largest labour organizations with over 370,000 members. Our mission is to improve the lives of working families and to build a stronger Canada by ensuring our common wealth is used for the common good. NUPGE