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CUPEs ambulance tour to save Medicare has been generating
a great deal of interest and public support wherever its gone.
Since the tour was launched two weeks ago, one ambulance has
travelled through Nfld, Nova Scotia and PEI and its now on its way through
New Brunswick, soon to arrive in Quebec. Another began in Ontario, combed
Manitoba and is now in Saskatchewan, while the third began in BC and has already
reached Alberta.
In communities large and small, the ambulances emblazoned
with credit cards, slogans and flags have been warmly greeted by CUPE
members, seniors and local residents. Through visits to hospitals, town halls
and shopping malls, the ambulance crews have been raising awareness and
collecting an every larger number of postcards to Allan Rock demanding action to
strengthen Medicare.
Participating in the first leg of the Atlantic tour, Wayne
Lucas, president of the Newfoundland and Labrador division, delivered the key
message of the tour. “For-profit health care is a hazard,” he said.
“It means even longer waiting times, higher costs and a two-tier system
one system for the rich and the other for everyone else.
Media coverage has been excellent. Marlene Tartsch, a member
of CUPE 1629 and the Manitoba Provincial Health Care Council, “was pumped
at the sight of all this excitement” as reporters swarmed the ambulance
during a visit to Lloyd Axworthys constituency office in Winnipeg.
But its in the smaller communities that the reception has
been greatest. In BC, two members from HEU and a paramedic from CUPE 873
travelled to several communities in the interior before handing over the
ambulance to the Alberta crew in Dawson Creek. “Its been refreshing to
get out from under the big city media and have our message heard in communities
across BC,” they report. “It’s been a great experience. People really
do care about Medicare.”
For more information about the ambulance tour, including
daily reports from the ambulance crews, check out CUPEs web site at www.cupe.ca.