Thanks to all of you that agreed to participate in the national health care lobby week! We have over 20 meetings with MPs scheduled and more being planned now! We also have several communities that have written letters to their MPs, opinion editorials to the newspaper, letters to the newspaper, or are meeting with MLAs/MPPs and provincial health ministers.

Meeting with our MPs in their constituency offices gives us an opportunity to drive home the point that medicare matters. We have well-rounded lobby teams of patients, health professionals, and individuals who care about universal health care and have incredible knowledge, experience and passion!

Last week the Nova Scotia Association of Social Workers held a lunch and learn on Defending Social Programs for a Stronger Canada through activism. Megan Leslie, Halifax's MP was invited to speak and what she had to say was something I wish you all could have heard:

MPs are just members of your community. We don't have more power than you, we have different power. We have the privilege of presenting your concerns to the House of Commons. But we have so many balls in the air at one time that we can't be experts on everything. We need you to keep us informed. MPs rely on their community to keep them up to date.

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Last week, Postmedia News reported, “Canada’s 13 premiers convene in Halifax this week (November 22-23) for a key meeting on the state of the national and global economies — a gathering they say should have included Prime Minister Stephen Harper.” The article adds, “All provinces are concerned about the federal government’s decision a year ago to scale back the size of increases in annual federal health transfers, Ontario Finance Minister Dwight Duncan said…”

To highlight Harper’s absence from these talks and the need for his government to support public health care in Canada: