Friday, March 18, 2005

BC outsourcing fight not over yet

The BC union that kicked off the Canadian debate over privacy, outsourcing and the USA Patriot Act has taken their arguments to court, according to ITBusiness. The article doesn't really say what the legal basis of their attempt to derail the government's ousourcing plans are, particularly after the government amended the public sector privacy law:

ITBusiness.ca:

"The British Columbia Government and Service Employees' Union on Wednesday ended the third and final day of a Supreme Court case to block the outsourcing of its Medical Services Plan database management to a U.S. firm.

Union lawyers told the court that privatization of the Medical Services Plan (MSP) would violate the Canada Health Act and potentially jeopardize the privacy of patient data. The province has already signed a $324-million with Reston, Virginia-based Maximus Inc., which will deliver its services through two new Canadian subsidiaries, Maximus BC Health Inc. and Maximus BC Health Benefit Operations Inc. The BCGEU has asked for an injunction that would prevent the partnership from moving ahead until the broader issues in the case can be resolved. The Supreme Court had not made a decision at press time...."

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