[news] Campbell plans to sell MSP & Pharmacare to US

[ron]

The following information was placed in an ad in Times Colonist (March 
6, 2004) by the BCGEU.

   If you feel strongly about this issue, read further and
   then sign the petition.

   "The Gordon Campbell Liberals plan to sell off the Medical Services 
Plan and PharmaCare to either IBM or Maximus - both "American" 
multi-national corporations - by August 31.

   The government will give an American-owned corporation access to 
private records on every British Columbian. This includes health 
treatment, pharmacy, income tax, mental health and criminal records, as 
well as records from the ministries of Children and Family Development 
and Human Resources.

   A New York expert on the new USA Patriot Act says this could even 
give the FBI access to our private medical record.  The  Patriot Act 
allows the FBI to demand corporations secretly hand over medical records 
and other personal information of innocent people.

   And legal precedents suggest even if the information is held by a 
Canadian subsidiary, the American parent company could be required to 
hand it over.

   Our personal medical information should not be made available to 
private corporations that don't answer to our privacy laws.  It should 
remain in the care of public employees who are bound by an oath of 
office to keep it confidential.

   To sign the petition, go to:
   http://www.petitiononline.com/publicpc/

   To read more about BCGEU concerns & the court challenge regarding
privatization, then go to: http://www.nupge.ca/news_2004/n25fe04a.htm