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(Halifax) A newly-released poll shows that Nova Scotians are firmly opposed to private sector ’solutions’ to our health care system.

The province-wide survey was commissioned by the Canadian Union of Public Employees. Among its key findings:
  • 65% of residents support reinvesting in public Medicare, as opposed to just 25% who support private clinics
  • 55% of residents say profit-making in health care should not be allowed
CUPE Nova Scotia President Betty Jean Sutherland says, While the poll was conducted before the Romanow Report was released, it confirms everything that Romanow said about publicly-delivered, single-tier health care.

Says Sutherland, These poll results go hand in hand with the results of another poll on health care released last week that showed the vast majority of Nova Scotians don’t believe the system has been fixed under the Tory government.

Our results suggest that part of the reason people are unhappy with the current government’s handling of health care is that they’ve allowed privatization to creep into the system here, says the CUPE president.

The poll was conducted by Lang Research and sampled 1,200 households across the province. The interviewing for the survey was conducted between October 2, 2002 and October 20, 2002. The margin of error is 2.8 percent.

For information:

Betty Jean Sutherland, President, CUPE Nova Scotia, (902) 396-5429
John McCracken, CUPE Communications Representative, (902) 455-4180 (o)