[OHC] Town Halls across-Ont. & Ottawa urgent meeting: Now is our moment, either we fight for it or we lose public health care
Please come out and please share this information widely:
Ottawa
Ottawa- it is your moment.
Come to this critically important organizing meeting TOMORROW Wednesday October 28 at 6:30 pm Jim Robillard Union Center, 1505 Carling Ave, Ottawa
We are organizing a massive On-To-Ottawa Trek. Trains, car caravans, buses are coming. We must organize en masse to get friends, colleagues, co-workers, NGOs, non-profits, faith communities, unions, health professionals, doctors and patients out. Every person who cares about public health care matters in this. Please do not sit on your hands. Please come out and help mount the fightback of our lives.
Sault Ste Marie – Tuesday November 3 at 7 pm, Moose Lodge, 543 Trunk Rd, Sault Ste Marie
Zoom registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/9L4wyv_VR06eyc3v4hWduA
Grey Bruce – Wednesday November 4 at 7 pm, Harry Lumley Bayshore Community Centre, 1900 3rd Ave E, Owen Sound
Zoom registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/Fhuii7K4SM6s9Q9lK14kqg
Mississauga – Thursday November 5 at 6 pm, Mississauga Valley Community Centre LC Taylor Auditorium, 1275 Mississauga Vly Blvd, Mississauga
Registration link: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/mississauga-health-coalition-town-hall-the-state-of-healthcare-tickets-2003660396182
St Catharines – Thursday November 5 at 6:30 pm, Ruby Carroll Hall, Trillium Church, 415 Linwell Rd, St. Catharines
Zoom registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/yO4amnbqQbeecIy_e3yz2A
Welland – Tuesday November 10 at 6:30 pm, LIV Community Room, Welland Arena, 501 King St, Welland
Zoom registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/MYluuVPRSvG9aQPgXrXKKw
London – Tuesday November 10 at 7 pm, Landon Branch Library London Public Library, 167 Wortley Rd, London
Zoom registration link: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/8pVGktogS0qhNI1wSgUL0w
Waterloo – Wednesday November 11 at 6:30 pm, Waterloo Public Library, 35 Albert St., Waterloo
Zoom registration link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/4nYBDiSnTzqyBV9FLaQ7BA
Grimsby – Friday November 13 at 6:30 pm, Major Refrigeration Peach King Centre, Multi-purpose community room, 162 Livingston Ave, Grimsby
Zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/yfueoYTOTsWhw8phc-m7Pw
What’s happening
For the first time since the introduction of Public Medicare in Canada, a privatization-pushing provincial government has attacked the core tenets of the Canada Health Act:
- Bill 11: Alberta’s Health Statutes Amendment Act, allows doctors to charge patients unlimited fees at for-profit clinics for surgeries & diagnostic tests.
- It throws wide open the door to for-profit health insurance, including giant U.S. companies.
- It takes doctors away from public health care.
- People & employers will be pressured to pay for private health insurance or pay directly. Those who pay will jump the queue. Those who cannot afford it go into debt or wait longer.
Ontario & Quebec too
While not quite as draconian as Alberta’s new law, Ontario & Quebec patients also face user fees for needed health care that should never be allowed under the Canada Health Act. Doug Ford is allowing user fees in the thousands of dollars for surgeries & diagnostic tests. He is privatizing primary care with pay-as-you-go nurse practitioner clinics that are owned by private businessmen, some with sketchy connections, and charges for online doctors through private companies. The richest patients are buying faster access to care while wait times for the majority are worse & costs are much higher.
In Ontario Ford has forced hospitals into deficit by purposely setting the funding rate below what is needed to maintain services, forcing them into deficits. Then, they are requiring them to make cuts to eliminate their deficits. At the same time, they are shunting literally hundreds of millions of dollars to private/for-profit clinics to privatize their services.
Don’t lose hope! We are slowing them down dramatically
Alberta’s Danielle Smith has had to delay implementation of her bill twice. In researching our latest private clinics report, I realized that Ford has been throwing money at private clinics but has been trying to open the same ones since 2023. We have slowed them down dramatically. Now we need to stop them.
Why it matters for all Canadians
Our entire public health care system – built on the principle of medical care based on need, not wealth – is in peril.
If Alberta’s law stands, private insurance companies will not stop at the Alberta border. Public health care will be at greater risk from U.S. trade challenges.
Other privatization-pushing provincial governments will be emboldened. Once in the door, getting the for-profit giants back out is extremely difficult.
Polling shows the majority of Albertans oppose this. Albertans are calling on Prime Minister Mark Carney & Health Minister Marjorie Michel to help, to speak out clearly & show leadership.
We need to mount enough public pressure not just to slow down Doug Ford’s privatization, but to stop it.
The federal government must uphold & enforce the Canada Health Act before it’s too late.
—
Natalie Mehra
Executive Director
Ontario Health Coalition
PO Box 113
North York ON M3C 2R6
To contact the office please email info@OntarioHC.ca or phone 416-441-2502.
