EDMONTON, AB — This week, organizations that have long advocated for more private, market-based US-style health care praised Prime Minister Mark Carney’s “openness” to Danielle Smith’s efforts to expand private two-tier health care in Alberta.

NDP MPs Heather McPherson (Edmonton Strathcona) and Gord Johns (Courtenay-Alberni) are warning that Carney’s refusal to enforce the Canada Health Act is opening the door to a two-tier health care system in Canada.

“In Canada, universal public health care is part of who we are,” said Johns, the NDP Health Critic. “The Prime Minister cannot simply stand by while it is dismantled province by province. The groups cheering the Prime Minister’s silence are not health care workers or everyday Canadians who rely on Medicare. They are organizations that have spent years pushing for more privatization and a greater role for profit in Canadian health care.”

Albertans are already seeing the consequences of policies that shift doctors, surgeries, and resources into for-profit delivery while making it harder for families to access timely public care. The federal government has a responsibility to uphold the Canada Health Act and ensure that every Canadian can access care based on their health needs, not their income.

“In Canada, a person’s income should never determine whether they get the care they need,” said McPherson. “The Prime Minister says he wants to work collaboratively with the provinces, but that collaboration cannot include supporting clear threats to the future of public health care.”

The support from privatization lobbyists with ties to US tobacco and pharmaceutical companies as well as the notorious Koch Brothers raises important questions about what’s motivating the Prime Minister’s refusal to defend Canadian health care.

“There’s a lot the federal government can and should be doing with the provinces to improve health care across Canada,” said Johns. “Instead of ushering in the end of universal public health care, the Prime Minister needs to increase health transfers and enforce the Canada Health Act.”