Simcoe County Health Coalition taking part in Queen's Park protest

Coalition invites people to join rally May 30

Simcoe County Health Coalition board member and retired nurse Victoria Scott, Engage Barrie member and retired social services worker Anita Johnson-Ford, and Jenny Pilbeam-Harting, frst vice-president of the PCAC Barrie area council, carry signs showing their support of keeping Ontario's health-care system public in this file photo.Nikki Cole/BarrieToday

NEWS RELEASE
SIMCOE COUNTY HEALTH COALITION
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The Simcoe County Health Coalition is gearing up for a powerful demonstration to demand that the Ontario government addresses the health-care Crisis.

On Thursday, May 30, 2024, members of the coalition will be taking the GO train to join concerned citizens at a massive protest at Queen’s Park in Toronto.

Why we’re protesting: Ontario is suffering:

There is a severe staffing crisis at all levels of our health-care system, made worse by the privatization of health-care services by the Ford government.
Emergency rooms are closing or reducing their hours of operation all over Ontario, at unprecedented levels. Entire hospitals are being closed in rural areas. Many communities have to travel hours to access emergency care.
Hallway medicine is now the norm, not the exception. ER wait times are the highest ever and this is costing lives.
Millions of Ontarians can’t find a family doctor. Without access to primary care, the health of our province is declining, necessitating more visits to hospitals and acute care facilities.
Seniors are forced to go to long-term homes far away from their communities and support.
People are increasingly using their credit cards instead of their OHIP cards to access necessary medical procedures.
The wait lists for medically necessary procedures or specialist care keep growing longer.

In the meantime, the Ontario government:

Placed illegal caps on nurses’ and hospital workers’ salaries during the worst medical event (a global pandemic) we have faced in generations, through unconstitutional legislation like Bill 124, then compounded this by using thousands of dollars on legal action they ultimately lost.
Heavily funds for-profit long-term facilities with deadly track records. Some of these long-term facilities that received generous funding had the highest mortality rates during the pandemic.
Funds hospitals at the lowest rate in Canada while slowly privatizing hospital services like surgeries and diagnostics.
Pays two to four times more of our taxpayers’ money for surgical procedures at private clinics while refusing to fund operating rooms in public hospitals so they can expand their hours of operations.
Siphons funding and staff out of our public hospitals, forcing them to close services.
Allows predatory for-profit agencies to charge public hospitals up to 10 times more for nursing services in hospitals, instead of properly addressing the nursing shortage with a comprehensive attraction and retention plan.
Allows private clinics to charge for medically necessary procedures, which is unlawful under the Canada Health Act.
Allows private clinics to proliferate, overcharge, and upsell Ontarians desperate for medical services through legislation like Bill 60.

The time to act is now. Please join us in the fight to save our public health care.

We invite all concerned residents, health-care professionals, and supporters to join us on this journey to Queen’s Park on May 30. Let your voice be heard and help us defend our public health care.

If you are interested in joining us, please register by filling out the form here so we can contact you with more details or contact [email protected] or 647-835-7870 to reserve a spot on the GO Train.