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The Risk Ahead

We know from experience how much health care can suffer when the wrong party is in government. When Pierre Poilièvre was a key cabinet member in Stephen Harper’s government, he voted to cut $36 billion from health care, and now he’s having big ticket fundraising events with Canadian billionaires who own big private cash-for-care hospitals in the United States. This means health care workers will lose their jobs if he gets elected.

And the new Liberal Leader Mark Carney will cut spending to balance the budget, putting our critical health care funding at risk. In an interview in early February, he said he would cut funding to provinces, but just 10 days later when he was asked again, he flipflopped. He just can’t be trusted to protect public health care.

In B.C., New Democrats are running to protect and expand public health care against Conservative and Liberal plans for cuts. By getting out to vote, HEU members can be the difference in many ridings.

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From 2006 – 2015, the Conservative federal government, which included Pierre Poilievre and Stephen Harper, cut $36 billion from public health care funding, resulting in health care workers being laid off.

Conservative cuts

The federal Conservative government, which Pierre Poilievre was a key part of, slashed taxes for the wealthy and profitable corporations while cutting public health care funding and paving the way for privatization.

When Pierre Poilièvre was a leading cabinet minister in Stephen Harper’s government, they made it harder to organize a union and harder for unemployed people to collect employment insurance (EI) benefits. And he voted repeatedly against minimum wage increases.

Forced to take action

In 2022, the pressure from Canada’s NDP forced the Liberal government to create national dental and pharmacare programs, increase health care funding by $196 billion, and improve long-term care. But those hard-fought victories are at risk with Mark Carney’s promised spending cuts.

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Worker-friendly government

In 2022, Canada’s NDP signed an agreement to support the federal government, in exchange for creating national pharmacare and dental plans, and more funding for public health care. But there’s more to do. In this election, HEU members can make a real difference by helping to elect more New Democrats who will fight for health care in Ottawa.

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Because of the NDP’s leadership, the Trudeau Liberal government banned the use of replacement workers during strikes and reduced costs for working people with investments in child care and housing.

The NDP forced the Trudeau Liberal government to create a national pharmacare program that is supporting 3.8 million people with diabetes and 9 million people who use contraceptives, saving them hundreds of dollars every year.

The NDP drove the biggest expansion of public health care in Canada since Medicare was introduced in the 1960s when they pushed the Liberal government to add $196 billion to health care funding to support health care workers, and improve access to mental health care and safe long-term care.

This election is going to decide what happens in public health care for the next four years and HEU members can help make sure we elect MPs that will fight for our residents, patients, clients, and workers.

Whether it’s universal public health care or the new national pharmacare program, the federal government only acts when Canada’s NDP forces them to take action in support of working families during minority governments. The more New Democrats we elect, the stronger health care will be in Canada.