MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
August 18, 2006

Council of Canadians celebrates public health care in Charlottetown

Charlottetown - “Profit is not the cure!” This is the message Maude Barlow and the Council of Canadians are delivering to doctors attending the Canadian Medical Association meeting in Charlottetown from August 20 to the 23. At noon on Sunday August 20, at a public gathering outside the Delta Hotel, where the CMA meeting will take place, the Council of Canadians will bring together concerned citizens from PEI and across Canada to urge doctors to support public health care.

“We have never intervened at a CMA meeting before, but the results of this year’s meeting will affect the future of health care in Canada,” says Guy Caron, health campaigner for the Council of Canadians. “We want doctors to know Canadian citizens are watching.”

The organization is concerned in particular about the impending election of Brian Day, a staunch advocate of for-profit health care, as the next CMA president.

“Brian Day has clearly stated that he does not believe in the principles of the Canada Health Act,” says Maude Barlow, chairperson for the Council. “The president of the CMA will play an important role in shaping the future of public health care in Canada and Canadians do not want Day representing our doctors.”

Through activities like Sunday’s “Picnic for Public Health Care” the organization will mix education with fun as it endeavours to influence the health care debate at the CMA. On August 21, the Council will hold a “Ceilidh for Medicare” at the Holy Reedemer Parish at 7pm bringing together speakers from various Canadian organizations campaigning for public health care.

In addition to the election of the president, the organization will be monitoring a number of resolutions tabled at the meeting that will determine the CMA’s orientation.

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For more information, please contact:
Dylan Penner, Media Officer, Council of Canadians: (613) 233-4487, ext. 249; 1-800-387-7177, ext. 249; .