SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Northern United Place was the setting for an important discussion April 16 regarding the potential demise of public health care in Canada.

Wendell Potter, left, an activist for the Canadian Health Coalition and Kyla Cherwaty, a social work student at Aurora College, were two of about 20 people who took part in a workshop hosted by Potter and his colleague Mike McBane teaching Yellowknifers about the consequences to public health care, brought on by the expiry of the 2004 Canada Health Accord. - Candace Thomson/NNSL photo

Wendell Potter and Mike McBane, both with the Canadian Health Coalition (CHC), were in Yellowknife to hold a workshop and public presentation spreading their message about the March 31 expiry of the 2004 Canada Health Accord.

The Canada Health Accord is a $41-billion funding plan for public health care negotiated in 2004 and spread over 10 years. It outlined lump sums of funding the federal government provided each year to the provinces and territories, who in turn would spend the money on improving the public health care system.

According to the CHC and other activist groups, the end of the accord could eventually lead to the privatization of health care in Canada.

"It will lead to a system of greater inequality from province to province because it will replace the current funding with a new scheme in which the largest, fastest growing provinces will get more money going forward," Potter said. "Funding will be based on economy, so those (provinces) that aren’t growing very rapidly may get nothing in terms of additional support from the government."

Switching sides

Originally an insurance broker in Pennsylvania, Potter said he was driven to activism after seeing the suffering of Americans who couldn't afford private health care.

"We have one of the most expensive health care systems in the world (in the U.S.) and also the most inequitable," Potter said. "Once you have the private pharmaceutical companies involved in health care, they don’t want to give up on it, and they’re extremely involved in Washington. All of that makes it extremely difficult to bring about a reform."

Whileselling health insurance, Potter said he would often try and scare people out of wanting a public health system like Canada's.

"For many years, I would try to get people to fear a Canadian-style health care system. I spent quite a bit of time regrettably misinforming people about the health care system here," he said.

"What I’m doing now in many ways is making amends and apologizing, quite frankly, for the role I played in misinforming people."

Kyla Cherwaty, a social work student at Aurora College, was one of nearly 20 people who registered for the workshop.

“For me being involved in social work and social justice, I am status quo. It’s not about equality, it’s about equity,” Cherwaty said. “Equity means everyone should get what they need and that’s how it should be.”