By Gil McGowan, AFL Staff

If Albertans want to save Medicare, they will have to do more than protest the policies of the Klein government – they will also have to join the fight against globalization.

That was one of the messages delivered by Dr. Allyson Pollock, a top public policy researcher from Britain, when she spoke in Edmonton in October.

Pollock says conservative politicians like Ralph Klein act as the local advocates for private health care – but she says the real push for privatization is coming from huge private health corporations in the U.S.

"As it stands right now, spending on health and education represents about 20 percent of the economy in most countries," says Pollock. "In most cases these sectors are public – and private investors are kept out. But, increasingly, corporations are saying that they want a piece of the action."

Pollock says that western governments, led by the United States, are siding with private investors and pushing for new global trade rules that force governments to open their public services to "free market competition" – even if such competition is not in the public interest.

"The rich countries are saying that other countries can only participate in the world trade system if they open up things like health care," says Pollock, adding that she thinks western governments are actually "colluding against their own people."

Pollock predicts that black clouds will hang over the future of public health care in Canada and other countries as long as western governments and the World Trade Organization (WTO) continue to put the interests of investors ahead of the interests of citizens.

That’s why she says Medicare advocates can’t afford to ignore international trade negotiations.

Pollock says that activists may be able to win a few isolated battles by fighting policies at the provincial level. But the only way to really ensure a bright future for Medicare is to fight against international deals that undermine public services around the world.