The co-chair of the Grey Bruce branch of the Ontario Health Coalition joined countless others at Queen's Park on Thursday, demanding medical care.
Brenda Scott said labor unions, senior citizens' groups, church groups and community groups all share concerns about privatization and the decline of smaller regional hospitals.
“I think people understand. We've been talking about this for a long time. I started by talking generally about small rural hospitals across the state,” she said, “but I also talked about Chesley because I'm from Chesley. Chesley is at the heart of these issues. We've had our emergency department open for almost four years now, and there's this growing fear that the hospital may close. That's a big issue.”
Scott added that opposition politicians also addressed the crowd.
“They were all saying the same thing, which is that they're going to fight the Ford government on the issue of privatization,” she explained, “and some of them mentioned the closure of a lot of small rural hospitals — either closing hospitals completely or cutting services in rural communities.”
Scott said he would like to see talk of an early election come to fruition.
“This could be the ultimate solution to the problems of small rural hospitals and other issues like privatization and private clinics that charge high fees and clinics that sell memberships and require you to become a member before you can see a doctor,” she revealed. “A lot of these issues will probably be resolved in the long run through elections.”
The Health Coalition plans to hold public hearings in 17 local councils to hear from people with health care issues. Scott said the committee, which will include politicians from across the political spectrum, health care workers and coalition members, is due to produce a report ahead of the autumn parliamentary session.
