By Pam Barrett, Leader, NDP

[EDMONTON] As many workers in the trade union movement know, standing up for what you believe in often means getting into a few fights with those who would oppose you. As a party of principles, the New Democrats have had many of the same experiences – it’s not always easy going to the wall to defend things such as public health care and education.

The NDP is currently going through exactly that kind of fight as the party and myself have been served with a lawsuit by Health Resources Group of Calgary. If the name sounds familiar, it’s probably because it’s been in the news so often as the private clinic that has doggedly tried to open up Alberta’s first private, for-profit hospital.

Despite what HRG claims, it’s clear to many Albertans that this tactic was designed with one purpose in mind – to clear the NDP and myself off the highway to private health care. However, we will not be moved off that highway without a fight.

And while this conflict tells me that we’ve been incredibly effective in protecting Alberta’s universal health care system, it’s unfortunate that Health Resource Group took this debate to the legal arena. This is an inherently political debate and it belongs in the Legislature.

After all, our quarrel has never been with HRG specifically; it’s always been with the provincial government that has consistently allowed private health care to creep into our province. We’ve always focussed on opposing legislation such as Bill 37, which would have allowed private health care to erode Medicare. And we’ve always opposed the government when it has tried to get private, for-profit hospitals approved by the back door of the College of Physicians and Surgeons.

Had there been other clinics that had so persistently tried to get approval to open a private, for-profit hospital, we would have criticized them as well.

No one ever really wants a lawsuit – least of all the New Democrats. However, we have felt from the beginning and still feel today that we can stand behind everything we’ve said on public health care - we have nothing to apologize for.

However, now that the lawsuit is reality, it’s important to assure Albertans that my party and I will vigorously defend our right to speak out and defend public health care. This issue is fundamental to our party, the broader social democratic movement and to all Albertans and Canadians.

Finally, Albertans can be assured that neither I nor the party have any plans to use public money for legal expenses. The New Democrats will soon be setting up a legal defence fund in order to raise the necessary money to carry this through to the end.

Like I said at the beginning, standing up for what you believe in isn’t always easy, but it is important. I’m prepared to see this fight through, and I’m confident the trade union movement will be right there behind me!