OTTAWA, ONTARIO - Following this week’s announcement of the Premiers’ meeting on January 23rd in Toronto and the First Ministers’ Conference in Ottawa on February 4th and 5th, the Council of Canadians is asking its 100,000 members to organize National Days of Action between these two meetings.

"Roy Romanow has done his part, Medicare's fate is now in our hands," says Maude Barlow, The Council’s National Chairperson. "We must not allow the premiers or the prime minister to think that Canadians will be satisfied with more cash and mere cosmetic changes," said Barlow. “Romanow laid out the groundwork for real reform including expanding Medicare and demanding accountability from the provinces. Canadians and our prime minister must not settle for less."

The plan outlined by the Council calls for rallies at the Toronto and Ottawa meetings, as well as a letter, phone and fax campaign to the premiers and prime minister. These will be followed by a policy conference organized by the Council of Canadians and the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives on February 7th and an activists’ summit on the 8th and 9th of February. At these events domestic and international experts will examine the federal-provincial plan and activists will mobilize to ensure public health care is strengthened and enhanced.

"Tens of thousands of Canadians supported the Romanow Commission’s work and the report reflects the values of Canadians," says Barlow. "The vast majority of Canadians support the recommendations of the Commission, politicians ignore them at their own peril."

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