Good morning and welcome. My name is Audrey Cormack. I’m president of the Alberta Federation of Labour and I’ve been chosen as one of three people to speak on behalf of our Medicare Coalition.

The coalition is a loose association of individuals and organizations who have been meeting periodically over the past several months to discuss concerns about health care in Alberta.

With me today are Liz Reid, from the group Friends of Medicare, and Phyllis Matousek, from the Seniors Action Liaison Team.

This morning, each of us will speak for two or three minutes and explain why we’ve called this news conference. Following that, we’ll open the floor for questions.

But first, I’d like to I’ll kick things off by giving a little bit of background.

As many of you already know, a private, for-profit health care facility was opened was opened in Calgary last Fall – the first in Canada since Medicare was introduced. The hospital is located in the old Salvation Army Grace Hospital and is operated by a company called the Health Resources Group – HRG for short.

So far, HRG has been restricted in the kind of services they can offer. They can do some dental surgery, some cosmetic surgery and they’ve also been doing some rehab work. But they haven’t been allowed to do procedures that require overnight stays.

But HRG isn’t satisfied with their share of the pie – they want the right to keep patients overnight so they can divert even more patients away from the public system.

Today and tomorrow, the College of Physicians and Surgeons will be considering a formal request from HRG regarding overnight stays. Last December, the College refused HRG when they made the same request. But since that time, HRG has been busy lobbying members of the College. They’ve paid for legal opnions saying that saying the College has no legal right to refuse HRG’s request.

As a result of all the lobbying and pressure from HRG, the College has agreed to reconsider the request for overnight stays.

All of us at the AFL and in the Medicare Coalition are extremely concerned about this issue. Early next month an important decision is going to be made on this issue – a decision that may determine the future of HRG and private health care in Alberta. HRG is going to be asking If the College approves HRG’s request it will be a serious blow to Medicare. It will basically turn the HRG facility at the Grace into a full-fledged private hospital – which will compete with public hospitals for already scarce funding.

So we’re asking you and members of your union to get involved. We’d like you to write or call members of the College. Tell them to stand by their original decision. Tell them to say "No" to more private health care.

We’re also encouraging people to attend the College’s October 2 meeting, which is being held in Calgary at the Palliser Hotel (Canadian Pacific Room). It’s open to the public and the discussion on HRG is scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m.

We’d like to see as many people at the meeting as possible. What we want to do is fill the room and make it clear to the College that the public opposes HRG and the expansion of private health care in Alberta.

Thanks for taking the time to consider this request. If you do write letters, please fax them to individual College members directly (see attached fax list). I look forward to seeing you at the Palliser bright and early on October 2!

 Urge the Council to stand by its original decision: This will not be the first time the College has addressed the HRG’s plans to expand private health care in Alberta. In December 1997, HRG also requested permission to offer medical procedures that require overnight stays. At the time, the College rejected the request on the grounds that an expanded private hospital would not be in the public interest. In your letter, congratulate the College for standing up in defense of Medicare – and remind them that HRG still poses a threat. Rejecting HRG’s application for overnight stays was the right thing to do last year – and it still is.

Urge the Council not to be intimidated by veiled threats from HRG and its lawyers: Since the College rejected HRG’s request last year, the company has hired lawyers to review the decision. HRG’s lawyers are now saying that the College overstepped its authority by refusing to allow overnight stays. They have also suggested that individual college members might become the subjects of lawsuits for "interfering" with HRG’s business plans. But not everyone agrees with the way HRG’s lawyers have interpreted the law. A legal opinion commissioned by the New Democrats shows that the College clearly has the right to take actions in "defense of the public good." In your letter to College members, urge them not to be intimidated by the college. Remind them that HRG is simply motivated by a desire to improve its profits. The College’s job is to protect the public interest – and that means saying "no" to HRG.

Remind them why HRG poses a threat: The debate over HRG has become bogged down in legal arguments and counter arguments. In your letter, remind members of the College why they rejected HRG’s request in the first place. Remind them that an expanded HRG hospital will siphon scarce resources away from our already under-funded public hospitals. Remind them that an expanded HRG hospital would be the first step towards a two-tier health system – a system that would provide high quality care to the wealthy and a lower, inadequate standard of care to everyone else.