Workers In Canada Protest Private Health Care

Quebec, Canada (AHN) - Some 50,000 workers marched in Montreal Saturday for the annual May Day rally, this time to express vehement opposition against plans to introduce private health care options in the region.

Lina Bonamie, Quebec Nurses Federation president, shouted out this year's battlecry: "To (Health Minister Philippe) Couillard and company: Health care in Quebec is a right," The Montreal Gazette quoted Bonamie.

"We'll stand up to protect our rights. We'll block you at every turn if you want to turn health into a commodity," she added.

According to reports, this year's May Day rally is one of the largest held in Montreal since the annual march began in 1972. Organizers say workers came from far and wide out of concern for Quebec's health care system.

"The Charest government is allowing (the health care system) to slip slowly into the private sector," Michel Arsenault, president of the 600,000- strong Fédération des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec, told The Gazette.

Labor unions had rented buses to ferry participants to and from rally, which was described by police authorities as relatively peaceful. The protest was characterized by music and festive party atmosphere.

A week before, the Quebec-Canada-Ontario Health Coalition called on labor unions and cause-oriented groups to support the May Day rally and fight the proposed privation of health care in Quebec.

"Quebec is ground-zero for health care privatization. A recent Supreme Court decision along with new legislation, have opened the floodgates to private clinics and two-tiered care. For years now right-wing think tanks have targeted Quebec as the new testing ground for private health care and the province is facing a deep crisis within their system," the group's statement read.