With the Cambie Case getting so much coverage in recent weeks we need your help to counter the misinformation that is being spread. 

With the support of right wing think tank the Canadian Constitution Foundation (CCF) and allied columnists, CEO Brian Day has staged a dramatic PR campaign that has consistently distorted the intention and impact of the case. With the Cambie trial drawing to a close, it is now more important than ever to set the record straight and show our support for Universal Public Health Care.

Will you write a letter to the editor of your local newspaper and help us debunk Day? It is important for the public to understand what is at stake and letters from individuals are a powerful tool in raising public awareness.

Some media coverage has been so inaccurate that it prompted a rare public rebuke from the Chief Justice of British Columbia who said, in reference to an article written by a Vancouver Sun columnist, that “[it] inaccurately and unfairly misconstrues the procedural history and nature of the Cambie Surgeries trial, a complex constitutional case of considerable significance to Canadians and Canadian society.” 

Contrary to Day’s claims, this lawsuit could fundamentally change Canadians' ability to access health care based on need and not on ability to pay. The outcome will impact all provinces and territories because the rules the plaintiffs seek to strike down are central to the Canada Health Act and every provincial health care insurance plan.

That’s why we want to make sure that public health supporters from Newfoundland to the Yukon hear this message. Please help us make that happen.

We have an online tool at savemedicare.ca/letter_to_the_editor which will provide a template letter to the editor (our team of volunteers have created many examples so that outlets won’t receive duplicates), and will automatically send it to the closest newspapers to you. And of course, we also encourage you to edit or write your own. The key points that we want to communicate are that:

• Our public health care system should be based on need, not ability to pay. 
• We need public health care improved – not dismantled. The evidence has clearly shown that public solutions are the most effective way to decrease wait times for everyone.
• If Day gets his way, most people would wait longer for care. For-profit, privatized care drains resources from the public system and leaves the rest of us with longer wait times and declining care.
• This case is not about “patient rights”, the laws Cambie seeks to strike down are explicitly about increasing physician compensation and access to public subsidies.
• The very sick and the very vulnerable will be pushed to the back of the line. Private insurers select for the least complicated medical conditions because they are more profitable.

Together, let’s take back the narrative and show our support for public health care. We all deserve health care when we need it, without having to pay out of pocket.