Healthcare is a human right, not a privilege

Healthcare is a human right, not a privilege

The pandemic has brought into sharp focus the short-sightedness and anti-people actions of too many governments, including Canada, which have deprived necessary funding of healthcare, and weakened or undermined free universal and comprehensive healthcare, in favour of private, for-profit medicine available only to those with the ability to pay. Driven by neoliberal prescriptions, these actions have prioritized the vested interests of the few over the health and wellbeing of the majority. This must be reversed. Universal healthcare is a fundament human right!

People, not bombs

The pandemic should remind us of the absurdity of the arms race, and the drive to militarism, aggression and war. And remind us of the human, social and environmental costs that war preparations entail. Trillions of dollars are poured into weapons production – and into the coffers of the military-industrial-complex – while funding for education, healthcare, and vital social services are eroded, or dismantled completely.

The drive to militarism and war has many expressions – the expansion and modernization of nuclear arsenals, the militarization of space, and of the High Arctic, imperialist interventions and occupations, the promotion of ‘regime-change’, proxy wars, and the sophistication and use of economic, cyber- and psychological warfare. War is never an acceptable ‘solution’ to economic and social crisis; it only deepens the suffering of peoples. We demand that Canada, and all countries, abide by the UN Charter and the principles of international law, including respect for the equality and full sovereignty of all peoples and states.

Canadian military expenditures continue to rise, while spending on social programs, infrastructure, affordable and subsidized housing, poverty alleviation and environmental protection plummet. Enough is enough! We demand that the military budget be slashed, and public resources be diverted to peoples’ needs. Canada must get out of the aggressive NATO military alliance – the main factor driving up ‘defense’ spending – and pursue a truly independent foreign policy based on peace and disarmament, not militarism and war. Cut the military budget! Canada out of NATO!

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