The Canadian Labour Congress and Hospital Employees' Union are calling on voters to make public health care an election priority, as the union warns that the Canada Health Act "is absolutely at risk this election."

The unions held a joint press conference outside Nanaimo Regional General Hospital on Monday, April 14, warning that "years of under-funding, privatization, and tax breaks for the wealthiest have left our universal public health-care system under-resourced and vulnerable."

Barb Nederpel, president of the Hospital EmployeesÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥™ Union, called this election a defining moment for public health care in Canada, which she said is "fundamentally" a part of Canadian identity. 

"This didn't start with COVID. Our public health-care system has been under strain years before the pandemic and our pandemic shone a light on all the gapsÏ㽶ÊÓƵֱ²¥¦" she said. "Privatization has crept in, especially in long-term care where the worst outcomes reflect in extreme gaps in working and caring conditions." 

As a result of conditions, including burnout and on-the-job injuries, Nederpel said more health-care workers are leaving than being recruited. The federal government, she said, has an important role to play.

She drew attention to  by the National Union of Public and General Employees, in which Health Sciences Association of B.C. union members participated. Results indicate 97 per cent of HSA health-care workers reported staffing shortages in their workplace, 86 per cent of workers felt they lacked the time and resources to perform their jobs effectively, and two in five health care professionals across the country were considering leaving public health care in the next three years.

"You cannot fix health care by cutting its funding," Nederpel said. "All that does is download the pain onto the provinces who too often turn to privatization in order to fill the gaps. That's not a solution, that's a sell-off, and when you sell off to the highest bidder, the most vulnerable are the ones who pay the price." 

In a privatized system, she warned that wages would be lower, wait times would be longer, and care would be limited to what satisfies stakeholders rather than individual needs. 

"We can protect it, or we can watch it crumble, and yet health care is not included in the only English national debate that is occurring," Nederpel said. "So we're calling on voters to ask the hard questions of our candidates, we're calling on leaders to show up with real answers and we're calling on all parties to defend public health care not just in words but in action."

Bea Bruske, Canadian Labour Congress president, stated that staff shortages are reaching "dangerous tipping points" throughout the system, with extreme wait times and seniors relying on "the size of their wallets" for long-term care home quality of care.

"This is a result of decades of under-funding, under-staffing, increased privatization and political choices," she said. "Deliberate choices put tax breaks for the wealthy ahead of accessible, publicly funded health care for the rest of us, and let us be clear, this is a choice our governments are making. This is a choice by politicians and big pharma to keep profiting while workers and their families are paying the price."