 | |||||
 |  |  | |||
 | |||||
 | | | | | |
 | ||
| | |
 | ||
| | |
| | |
2010 BC FORUM Annual General Meeting
Resolution #1 (Health care composite)
Improving health care for British Columbians
Background:
• The availability of high quality health care for all who need it is an important measure of the quality of our society.
• More and more health care services are being compromised to benefit for-profit corporate entities whose priority is the bottom-line, not the quality of care:
- Residential and long-term care for seniors, along with home support services, are being cut and contracted out to corporate providers.
- The majority of outpatient rehabilitation services are now for-profit and increasingly provided by large corporations at great cost to patients.
- While the government has failed to provide community health centres, the number of private for-profit clinics is growing significantly. The Seaton Commission said community health centres “have the potential to reduce hospitalization and increase the quality of care available at the community level” at lower cost than acute care facilities.
- The Therapeutics Initiative, which provides independent advice on the benefits, harms and cost of prescription medicines, is under attack from a provincial task force with ties to the pharmaceutical industry.
Therefore be it resolved that the B.C. Federation of Retired Union Members:
• Oppose contracting out long-term care and home support to for-profit providers.
• Call on the B.C. government to initiate a public consultation with rehabilitation providers, the disability rights community, seniors’ and women’s health organizations and unions to develop a strategy to bring rehabilitation services back into the publicly-funded, non-profit sector.
• Call on the B.C. government to develop multi-disciplinary, non-profit and publicly-funded community health centres throughout the province.
• Urge the B.C. government to maintain the structure and funding levels of the Therapeutics Initiative to help ensure British Columbians receive the safest, most effective and affordable prescription medicines.
• Affirm that all health care and rehabilitation services, whether provided in the home, the community or the acute care sector should be universally available, and that all user fees and other financial barriers to care should be removed.
Resolution #2
Improving pensions for working people
Background:
• More than 70 percent of private sector workers in B.C. have no pension other than the Canada Pension Plan.
• Most private sector pensions and voluntary contribution plans have no inflation protection.
• The federal government is proposing to increase the penalty paid by workers who choose early retirement under the CPP.
• Young workers, many of whom change jobs frequently, need a pension plan that is fully portable. The CPP fits the bill.
• Federal and provincial ministers have been meeting to discuss possible changes to Canada’s retirement income system. They met in Whitehorse in December. They will meet again June 13 and 14 in Prince Edward Island.
• The Globe and Mail (April, 2010) reported that Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty seems to be leaning towards “a private sector solution” to address the shortcomings of Canada’s re-tirement system. This is not a solution. It is part of the prob-lem.
• Private sector retirement plans are, almost without exception, defined contribution plans. They are designed to protect the profits of financial institutions, and leave the retirement in-comes of workers to the vagaries of the market.
• Household debt is at record levels. Families struggling to meet their current living expenses do not have extra money to set aside for retirement.
Therefore be it resolved that the B.C. Federation of Retired Union Members:
• Endorse the Canadian Labour Congress proposals to phase in improvements to the Canada Pension Plan so younger workers can have a secure retirement.
• Reject private sector pension solutions which force individual workers to carry all the risks while banks and financial institutions collect guaranteed management fees and profits.
• Call on the federal government to withdraw its proposal to reduce CPP payments by 36%, up from the current 30%, for workers who retire at age 60.