March 31, 2020 1:47 PM
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Now more than ever we must fortify & expand our public health care
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The past few weeks have certainly been a difficult time for all of us, but as we look around the world and to each other, this pandemic has laid bare the importance of Canada’s universal public health care system. We have seen how vital it is that we do not allow this crisis to be used to dismantle universal, public health care in Canada. However, in Alberta we have seen our government, during one of the worst health crises we have ever faced, bully through a budget that was short-sighted, attacked public services, and set the course for the privatization of our health care.
“The true measure of a government's leadership will be made evident through the political choices they make as we deal with this world pandemic, and as we move forward to deal with the new political and economic reality that will face us after this is done,” says Sandra Azocar, Executive Director of Friends of Medicare.
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March 30, 2020 9:00 AM
March 30, 2020
EDMONTON

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Albertans' blood and plasma is not for sale
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While health care workers and communities are struggling to support each other through the COVID-19 crisis, private blood brokers are trying to profit off of this dire situation. The Alberta government lobbyist registry shows that a big pharma interest group that represents the private for-profit blood industry (Plasma Protein Therapeutics Association represented by Santis Health Inc), is attempting to persuade the government to repeal the Voluntary Blood Donation Act, which bans for-payment blood clinics in the province.
The Voluntary Blood Donation Act, passed in 2017, ensures that all blood and plasma collected in Alberta is used for patients in the province and across Canada. If repealed, it would ensure that tens of thousands of units of much needed blood plasma are shipped out of the province to global markets, putting the entire Canadian supply chain at risk. Ontario, Quebec and BC also have similar laws in place.
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