Five ways that political choices influence our working and living conditions

Here are five of the thousands of political choices that influence our working and living conditions:

Access

Focus the front line and services in the ER and family medicine groups (FMG).

This choice overwhelms hospital settings, privatizes the front line and prevents multidisciplinary teams from working.

Abortion

Recognize abortion as a healthcare service in Canada.

This choice avoids granting abortion a special status that would allow anti-choice groups to use it as a means of controlling women’s bodies.

Overload

Maintain a chronic shortage of resources within the health network and refuse to implement safe ratios.

This choice leads to work overloads for healthcare professionals who are constantly forced to do more with less.

Privatization

Increase the number of contracts with private healthcare companies and enable those who can afford it to access private health care more quickly.

These choices exacerbate social inequalities, enrich private companies and drain public resources.

Violence

Not provide any specific paid leave for victims of domestic violence.

This choice means that victims cannot take time off work without risking the loss of their income or their job. Breaking the cycle of violence takes time – time that is not provided for under the Act respecting labour standards.

Reminder: political decisions can have both positive and negative effects on our working and living conditions. We must remember that these are choices made by decision-makers and that, if they were truly willing to bring about change, it would be possible.

There are so many solutions!