National Delegate Conference 17-20 June
2008
Public services define a country
 by
Jane Aitchison
James Clancy, President of Canadian public services union NUPGE
(National Union of Public and General Employees) highlighted the
ongoing struggle against privatisation in his country.
NUPGE has members across a whole range of public services. About
one fifth of its membership are in privatised services. Privatision
is one of the key challenges for his union representing about 340,000
workers.
Canada was hit hard when its Government tried to follow the examples
set by Thatcher and Reagan in the 1980s. The pressure to privatise
public services has never let up since then. A significant area
of the union's representation is in Medicare, which is a public
health care system much like the NHS
There is tremendous pressure to privatise this service and open
it up to market forces.The influences from the neighbouring United
States and cross border media don't help with the hard sell on private
health insurance and private health services delivery.
According to James, public services define a country and its communities
and that is evidenced in the way that Canada has developed as opposed
to the United States - the provision of a universal public health
care system makes for a more humane country.
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