We are asking Albertans to do the following:
- Sign and share our online petition.
- Download a printable copy, have ten of your family members, friends, and neighbours sign it, and then mail it back to our office (our mailing address is printed on the bottom of the petition form).
Today, Friends of Medicare launched both an online and physical petition to urge Premier Rachel Notley, Minister of Health Sarah Hoffman, and the Legislative Assembly of Alberta to stop the further privatization of laboratory services in Edmonton and the surrounding area. Moreover, we are calling on the government to hold public consultations on the proposed privatization before further decisions are made.
Privatization of healthcare is not a solution to a public problem.
The previous government failed to provide Albertans with a business plan that would fully disclose all the economic justifications and arguments Alberta Health Services has used to support the privatization of hospital labs. Equally, the previous government had been neglecting our current public labs for years; they had been left without upgrades, and were understaffed and under-resourced to the point that privatization was presented as the only option.
Albertans deserve answers.
We have a right to know how it is that giving $3 billion of our healthcare budget to a private, for-profit corporation will benefit Albertans and our healthcare system, if at all.
We are asking Albertans to do the following:
- Sign and share our online petition.
- Download a printable copy, have ten of your family members, friends, and neighbours sign it, and then mail it back to our office (our mailing address is printed on the bottom of the petition form).
Together, we can make a difference. We can send a clear message to this government that Albertans expect them stand by their promise to stop the further privatization of our healthcare system.
Backgrounder on laboratory services:
https://fominfo.wordpress.com/2015/07/29/backgrounder-on-laboratory-services/