About 5,000 people marched and rallied in Toronto on Thursday, calling for an end to the privatization of health care by Doug Ford's government.
Protesters gathered at Nathan Phillips Square for a rally, then marched to Queen's Park and demonstrated on the lawn of the Ontario Legislature. Protesters included community members, health care advocates and frontline workers.
The Ontario Health Coalition, an umbrella group that organized the march and rally, said it opposed hospital closures and the provincial government's plans to expand the number of surgeries and medical services that private and for-profit clinics can provide.
Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, said the government is not properly funding health care in Ontario.
“It's never been this bad before. The health care system is really collapsing,” she said.
“The situation is devastating right now. Entire hospitals are closed and on the brink of closure. Literally millions of people can't see their family doctor and instead we have for-profit primary care that people have to pay for,” she said.
The coalition accuses the Ford government of allowing the privatization of health care at the expense of hospitals. The coalition says the province is giving hundreds of millions of dollars of public money to for-profit companies, privatizing what used to be public services. At the same time, the coalition says local public hospitals are losing their emergency departments, some of which are at risk of closure.
Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner and Deputy Leader Aislinn Clancy also joined the protest, calling on the government to stop privatizing health care.
“Healthcare should be about people, not profit,” Schreiner said.
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“It takes people power and worker power to protect our health-care system from Doug Ford. We will fight to the end to ensure our public health-care system is publicly funded and publicly delivered.”
Ontario Health Coalition 2
Protesters took to the streets downtown on Thursday carrying flags as they took part in a demonstration and rally organized by the Ontario Health Coalition. (CBC)
Asked about the protests, Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones said, “I think there are some organisations that are complacent, but frankly, our government is not.”
“We want to expand access in Ontario, and we want to make sure that people who want access to primary care clinicians have the opportunity to do so,” Jones added.
Jones said the state has taken several steps to improve access to health care.
“We're expanding within our hospital system, but we're also expanding locally because we want people to have access to care close to home, and we'll continue to do that. I don't think the status quo is an option,” Jones said.
The Ontario Health Coalition, which represents more than 500 member organizations, says its primary goal is to protect and improve the public health care system and that it works to respect and reinforce the principles of the Canada Health Act.
