Manitoba Health Coalition Statement On The Supreme Court of Canada’s Decision To Dismiss Cambie Surgeries Case

MHC Praises Decision; Calls for Medicare Protection Act in Manitoba

WINNIPEG, MB - TREATY 1 TERRITORY AND HOMELAND OF THE RED RIVER METIS - In response to the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision, Manitoba Health Coalition provincial director Thomas Linner made the following statement:

“Health care, in Manitoba and across Canada, is at a crossroads. Provincial governments across Canada have sought to cut public health care services, causing chaos for patients and families, only to sell privatization as a silver bullet.

Today’s decision by the Supreme Court of Canada brings to an end the Cambie Surgeries Corporation’s lengthy battle to undermine public health care through extra billing and allowing the wealthy to pay to jump the queue. Today is a good day for public health care in Canada, and Manitoba.

The Manitoba Health Coalition was established in 2018 to work for the preservation and expansion of universal, public health care. We are a leading voice in the fight against efforts to privatize health care in Manitoba. As such, we believe that there are significant lessons to be learned from this case for our province.

As noted by the BC Health Coalition and Canadian Doctors for Medicare in their statement this morning:

‘This decision marks the end of the corporation’s lengthy legal battle to overturn key provisions in the BC Medicare Protection Act that ensure equitable access to medically necessary services.

BC’s’ Act at the centre of this case aims to preserve a publicly-funded health care system where access to necessary medical care is based on patients’ needs and not their ability to pay.'