Ontario health coalition

a crowd of people posing in front of a large wooden horse. the sign on the horse reads "stop privatization of hospital surgeries".

15-foot Trojan horse visits Kingston hospitals as advocates protest healthcare privatization across Ontario

November 13, 2024 by Christena Lawrie

On Thursday, a 15-foot wooden Trojan horse visited Kingston Health Sciences Centre, part of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE) and the Ontario Health Coalition’s rally against the privatization of health services in Ontario.

Sharon Richer, Secretary-Treasurer of OCHU, explained in an interview with CFRC, “They’re telling Ontarians that this is a gift that they’re bringing them because it’ll lower wait times, it’ll end the hallway medicine, the staffing crisis will be averted from the hospitals. And this is really not really true about what is happening.”

Hannah Jenner, spokesperson for the Minister of Health, responded by pointing to various actions that the Ford government has taken in healthcare, which they say includes increasing investment across the hospital sector by 4% for a record two years in a row, and getting shovels in the ground for over 50 hospital development projects across the province.

The Trojan horse will continue on its journey across the province throughout the rest of the month.

A picture of a small hospital in Kitchener/Waterloo. The building is a low rise, approximately 6-8 stories. The back part of the building is red brick with rows of windows. The front is white and grey with large windows across the front. The name "Grand River Hospital" is on the front of the building.

Waterloo Region Health Coalition Calls for Public Vote on Health Care Privatization

June 5, 2024 by M.P. Holmes

Waterloo Region Health Coalition has called for the Ontario government to hold a public vote on healthcare privatization in Ontario.

Jim Stewart of the Health Care Advocacy Group criticized the government’s privatization agenda, and the lack of clear communication both during the 2022 election and since, arguing privatization lacks public support and undermines the public system.

The Ontario Health Coalition highlights significant underfunding of public hospitals by the Ford administration, leading to increased wait times and operational challenges.

While Kitchener Conestoga MPP Mike Harris, Jr. defended the government’s health care spending (but provided no citations for his claims), Kitchener Centre MPP Aislinn Clancy argued the government has been underfunding the system, ultimately increasing the costs for taxpayers and creating a two-tier system.

Seven medical professionals dressed in blue scrubs and white lab coats walk down a blinding white hallway away from the camera

New report sounds alarm that Ontario taxpayers’ money is being diverted from public hospitals to private health care

February 27, 2024 by M.P. Holmes

Public hospitals in Ontario have been starved of billions of dollars under the Ford government while private health clinics have received a windfall of taxpayers’ funds, according to a new report by the Ontario Health Coalition.

“Robbing the Public to Build Private: the Ford Government’s Hospital Privatization Scheme” was released by the Waterloo Region Health Coalition, in part with the larger Ontario Health Coalition, at the Waterloo Public Library on Feb. 21.

According to the OHC report, over the last few years, private clinics in Ontario received a 212 per cent increase in funding in one year, rising from approximately $38 million in 2022-23 to over $120 million in 2023-24. At the same time, public hospitals received an increase of 0.5 per cent to their operating budgets. In Kitchener alone, this underfunding has manifested in 140 vacant RN positions due to lack of funding.

CKMS has more on the story.

15-foot Trojan horse visits Kingston hospitals as advocates protest healthcare privatization across Ontario

Waterloo Region Health Coalition Calls for Public Vote on Health Care Privatization

New report sounds alarm that Ontario taxpayers’ money is being diverted from public hospitals to private health care

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