Dr. Profit-president of BC Doctors - by ONE VOTE!!!

[Oscar]

Private health-care lobbyist elected president of B.C. doctors -- by a single vote

[ http://rabble.ca/blogs/bloggers/council ... -doctors-s ]

By Michael Butler | May 27, 2015

It's a sad day for health care in British Columbia as Doctor Profit (Brain Day) was elected president of the Doctors of B.C. When the ballots were counted up, Dr Day won by a single vote (Dr. Alan Ruddiman, a rural family physician in Oliver, garnered just one vote less -- 945 -- and Dr. Lloyd Oppel, an emergency medicine physician at the University of B.C. Hospital, got 285 votes). [ http://www.vancouversun.com/health/Priv ... z3bIai32S2 ]

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While Canadians have the tendency to deify doctors, historically it has often been the case that doctors are against expanding more equitable health care if it affects their profits. For example, on July 1, 1962, it was Saskatchewan's doctors who went on strike [ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6-bBkpWDs68 ] and were the largest obstacle against the new universal public health system being brought in by the Tommy Douglas government.

To be fair, this is not to say that all doctors are greedy or without conscience. Groups like Canadian Doctors for Medicare [ http://www.canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca/ ] and their members continue to put patients' wellbeing and the universal public health system in front of austerity hysteria and two-tiered profiteering. [ https://www.jacobinmag.com/2014/09/the- ... ian-model/ ] Further, a one vote margin of victory is not a clear mandate to force an American-style health-care system on the people of B.C.

With all this being said, there may be a silver lining in the cloud. It has always been ordinary Canadians who have been the vanguard of our public health system and the ones who have brought about change. Undeniably, it was regular Canadians who demanded our medicare system in the first place and applied the political pressure to make it a reality. Now it falls upon us once again to protect, strengthen and expand our public medicare system. Canadians know that our health care MUST be based on need, not the ability to pay

[Oscar]

By a Razor Thin Margin: Brian Day's single-vote election is a loss for Medicare

[ http://us9.campaign-archive2.com/?u=e17 ... 71b26a770d ]

May 28, 2015

This past Tuesday, Dr. Brian Day became President-elect of Doctors of BC by the margin of a single vote.

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(NOTE: 10,000 BC Doctors eligible to vote. 2,200 voted! Ed.)

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For those of us committed to public and equitable health care for all Canadians, this is a significant loss.

As you may already know, Dr. Day is co-owner of the Cambie Surgeries Corporation, a BC clinic found guilty of unlawfully billing patients over $491,000 in a 30 day period, and filing over $66,000 in overlapping claims, where both the patient and the province are charged. Day is embroiled in a controversial court case with the BC government over the legality of Cambie's practices, and is arguing that BC's Medicare Protection Act should be struck down in favour of a two-tier system where the wealthy can que-jump their way to preferential treatment.

This is the person who will now act as the voice of practicing physicians in BC.

But Day's razor thin victory is a far cry from unanimity. With low voter turnout, he received support from less than 10% of physicians eligible to cast ballots, and only a single vote more than a pro-public health care physician, Dr. Alan Ruddiman. Here's a breakdown of what that looks like: (See CHART onlilne))

Unfortunately, Day will now be able to leverage a new slate of resources that can be used to serve the for-profit agenda that he's been pushing for over a decade, including the court case he's mounting against Medicare.

To combat this, I hope you'll consider supporting or continuing to support Canadian Doctors for Medicare. We're do everything we can to shine a light on Day's agenda, to make the case for public Medicare in BC, and to highlight the profound dangers of his court case and this new presidency -- but we need your support to do more.

If you're able, please consider donating to CDM by clicking the donate button below:
[ http://www.canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca/donate.html ]

Thank-you so much for all your support.

Dr. Monika Dutt
Chair, Canadian Doctors for Medicare
340 Harbord Street
Toronto, ON M6G 1H4
Phone: (416) 351-3300 /Toll free: 1-877-276-4128
info@canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca
http://www.canadiandoctorsformedicare.ca
Twitter: @CdnDrs4Medicare Facebook Twitter Website