The giant teddy bear is 7-feet tall and 4 1/2 foot-wide: a much-loved and friendly prop to help educate our communities about the threat of health care privatization. Private for-profit clinics are trying to take over services from our local public non-profit hospitals. They charge user fees amounting to hundreds or even thousands of dollars for diagnostic tests and surgeries, in violation of Canada’s medicare laws. The private clinics have even launched a court challenge to bring down the laws the protect patients from such user fees. The slogan is We Can’t “Bear” to Lose Medicare – is a warning about the threat posed by privatization. We will be holding a media conference in each community and we will have information leaflets available to the public. We will raise funds along the way to cover the cost of the tour and to help the B.C. Health Coalition intervene in the legal challenge brought by the private clinics. All are welcome to join.
