@Cassiodorus @Cassiodorus

Canadians are known as a polite and dispassionate people. That is,
until something threatens the vitality and sanctity of our public, universal
health-care system ("Medicare"). In this light, it is not surprising that
the system should be called "one of Canada's finest achievements and a
powerful symbol of national identity"' or that Canadians take pride in our
public health-care system, seeing it as a reflection of national values that
distinguishes us from Americans.' In the last few years, at least, health
care has also tended to be among the biggest election issues, 3 as reflected
in the federal government's statement that "no issue touches Canadians
4
more deeply than health care" in a recent speech from the throne.
Despite Canadians' attachment to Medicare, we also appear to be
convinced that this public system is in continual peril. Worries of "two-
tier" health-care systems abound should the private sector appear to play
too large a role, with no politician wanting to be seen as advocating the
growth of a private sector role in health care. For instance, in the prelude
to the 2004 election campaign, then Health Minister Pierre Pettigrew
said that the federal government would not object if private companies
played a larger role in health-care delivery.

However, the fallout from this
comment was so severe that the Minister was forced to retract it just one
day later.'However, the fallout from this
comment was so severe that the Minister was forced to retract it just one
day later.'

(potentially destroying Canada's ability to have public free health care like has been happening in the UK, a British Official verified my suspicion around two years ago in writing. He had tracked down the official who wrote Article 1.3 c of GATS and he confirmed that it was the UK's intent that their healthcare was not exempt from GATS which means means testing is in NHS's near future.

Footnotes:

1. Canadian federal government lawyers quoted in CBC News, "Top Court Strikes Down Quebec
Private Health-Care Ban" CBC News.ca (9 June 2005), online: CBC News https://www.cmaj.ca/content/cmaj/173/2/139.2.full.pdf ALso see the Note from the WTO Secretariat.. from wto document S/C/W/50 which lays out what can be public,

Here https://www.wto.org/english/tratop_e/serv_e/w50.doc

and Scott Sinclair's WTO Public Forum video on YouTube.

2.
"Private Concerns" The Economist 375:8431 (18 June 2005) 51 at 51.
3.
Fistfuls of Health Dollars" The Economist 371:8378 (5 June 2004) 45 at 45. For example, in the
election in 2004, all 3 major national parties (the Liberals, NDP and Conservatives) agreed that a large
cash infusion to the Medicare system was how to improve it, with the size of the infusion being one
of the main sources of difference. See also Communications Canada, "Spring 2002 survey results,"
online: Communications Canada (date accessed: 28 March 2004).
Governor-General of Canada, Speech from the Throne to Open the Thirty-Seventh Parliament of
4.
Canada (2003), online: The Privy Council Office .
5.
Fistfuls of Health Dollars, supra note 3 at 45

S. Sinclair, GATS: How the World Trade Organization's New "Services"
Negotiations Threaten Democracy (Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2000); S.
Sinclair & J. Grieshaber-Otto, Facing the Facts: A Guide to the GATS Debate (Ottawa: Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2002); M. Sanger, Reckless Abandon: Canada, the GATS and the Future
of Health-Care (Ottawa: Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2001); A.S. Ostry, "International
Trade Regulation and Publicly Funded Health Care in Canada" (2001) 31 Int. J. Health Serv. 475;
and S. Shrybman, The World Trade Organization: A Citizen's Guide (Toronto: Lorimer and Canadian
Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2001).

Also The GATS and South Africa's National Health Act
A Cautionary Tale
AUTHOR(S):
Scott Sinclair

https://www.policyalternatives.ca/publications/reports/gats-and-south-af...

#1 Canada has not promptly abolished its Medicare system simply because some out-of-country corporation sued it for violations of GATS. And the solution to GATS is simple: withdraw from the WTO. Did a number of Google searches looking for the headline: "Canada abolishes healthcare system due to GATS." Maybe they can't expand it, but, like I said, they can always withdraw from the WTO.

It's really time we put an end to phony politics and focused upon getting something we need for our tax dollars. The rest is bullcrap.

@Cassiodorus This document is worth reading to understand the international situation. Basically we were able to bring the Urugyay Round to a close and get other countries to accept what we wanted in IP laws only by promising away potentially tens of millions of good service jobs to whatever bidder could do them the cheapest. This will probably be the Least Developed Nations. Read this: http://cornerhouse.icaap.org/briefings/23.html

This briefing was compiled by Sarah Sexton, The CornerHouse, drawing on the work and comments of the following to whom immense thanks are due: Meri Koivusalo, GASPP/STAKES; Allyson Pollock, University College London; David Price, University of Northumbria; Clare Joy and Petra Kjell, World Development Movement; Ellen Gould; Mike Rowson, MEDACT; Erik Wessilius, Adam Ma’anit and Olivier Hoedeman, Corporate Observatory Europe; Geof Rayner, UK Public Health Association; David Hall, Public Services International Research Unit; Caroline Lucas MEP; Kasturi Sen, University of Cambridge; Alexander Nunn, University of Manchester; and James Munro, HealthMatters.

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Amid the shouts of demonstrators, the protests of South-ern delegations and the disagreements between the US and European Union, the World Trade Organisation (WTO) failed to launch a comprehensive revision of international trade rules in November 1999 in Seattle, USA. But talks have since begun to change one of the 28 agreements overseen by the WTO -- the General Agreement on Trade in Services or GATS.1

The US, EU, Japan and Canada are trying to revise GATS so that it could be used to overturn almost any legislation governing services from national to local level. Domestic policy making, even on matters such as shop opening hours or the height and location of new buildings, could, in effect, be turned over to the WTO. All legislation would primarily be aimed at increasing trade.

Particularly under threat from GATS are public services -- health care, education, energy, water and sanitation, for instance. All of these are already coming under the control of the commercial sector as a result of privatisation, structural adjustment and reductions in public spending. A revised GATS could give the commercial sector further access and could make existing privatisations effectively irreversible. Experience in the United States and several Latin American countries, where health services have been run for profit over the past decade or so, suggests that the result will be a decline in accessibility to health care worldwide.

Most elected officials and civil servants, let along the general public, are not aware of GATS, nor of its implications. But several countries are demanding that a wide-ranging assessment of the impact of a free market in services be carried out before any more so-called trade barriers are removed. And non-government organisations (NGOs) and trade unions are demanding that services in the public interest be clearly exempt from GATS.

Rules governing international trade are certainly necessary. But such rules should place people before the entrenchment of corporate power.

This briefing outlines the growth in services in recent years, the main provisions of GATS, the proposed revisions to the Agreement, and some key corporate aims in extending it. It details how public services may not in fact be excluded from GATS and explores the implications for public health care. It also considers what may happen to publicly-provided and -funded health care services if private companies capture their most profitable components and the public money subsidising them.

#1 Canada has not promptly abolished its Medicare system simply because some out-of-country corporation sued it for violations of GATS. And the solution to GATS is simple: withdraw from the WTO. Did a number of Google searches looking for the headline: "Canada abolishes healthcare system due to GATS." Maybe they can't expand it, but, like I said, they can always withdraw from the WTO.

It's really time we put an end to phony politics and focused upon getting something we need for our tax dollars. The rest is bullcrap.

@Cassiodorus

#5 but at least we can choose which country will be victimized by for-profit warfare.

@Cassiodorus there is no real anti-war movement in this country.

Our local Peace vigil had to shut down because all our members had to retire due to age and poor health except for one man who 87 year old and myself. We tried to recruit people but no one was interested. When war does not directly affect people, they do not care even though every dollar spent on the military directly affects every one of us.

#5 but at least we can choose which country will be victimized by for-profit warfare.