Protesting Ford's Privatization of Our Public Health Care

National Pensioners Federation > News > Long-Term Care Reform > Protesting Ford’s Privatization of Our Public Health Care

Seniors lifeline remains with local hospital services and are vital to all. Let’s protect that together!
Trish McAuliffe, NPF President and OHC Board Member

A Note from the Ontario Health Coalition

Thousands of people made a stand at protests across the province on May 30 to show the Ford government that Ontarians oppose the privatization of our public health care system. We made it loud and clear that we will keep building the fightback to protect and improve our public health care, ratcheting up the pressure on Ford. As lawn signs are distributed throughout Ontario this summer, we will keep pushing for the Ford govt to end this destructive privatization and restore our public health care. We extend an enormous thank you to all of you who devoted so much time and energy to creating this impactful show of strength. We could not do this without you!

Toronto
10,000 people marched along University Ave from Nathan Phillips Square to Queen’s Park, showing the Ford government that the fightback against their health care privatization is on. The march in Toronto was giant, with overhead videos showing the large scale of the event (see some clips on Facebook here or on Twitter here).

Public Medicare defenders from Toronto and buses all over the province came to make this massive show of strength. Patient advocates, health care workers, small and rural hospital advocates, long-term care advocates, labour leaders, faith leaders, and the three opposition parties spoke about the need to defend public health care against privatization.

To see a livestream, photo album, and more video clips, visit our Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/ontariohealth.
Photos and videos are also available on our Twitter account at: https://twitter.com/OntarioHealthC.

Sault Ste. Marie
200 public health care advocates gathered at Roberta Bondar Pavilion to push back against the privatization of Ontario’s public health care.

Thunder Bay
At mini Queen’s Park, 100 people came together to safeguard our public health care. You can watch the livestream at the Thunder Bay Health Coalition’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/thunderbayhealthcoalition/.

Dryden
Approximately 35 public Medicare defenders gathered outside of Conservative MPP Greg Rickford’s office, telling the Ford government to stop running our public health care into the ground.

North Bay
Outside of Conservative MPP Vic Fedeli’s office, about 30 advocates made a stand to restore our public health care and stop privatization.

Ottawa
200 people converged across the street from the Ottawa Hospital General Campus to show their support for public health care and the fightback against privatization. You can see photos at the Ottawa Health Coalition’s Facebook page here: https://www.facebook.com/ottawahealthco/.

Cornwall
Outside of Conservative MPP Nolan Quinn’s office, 35 public health care advocates came together to voice their opposition against Ford’s health care privatization.

The fightback to improve and protect our public health care has been built because of all of you who came out on May 30, organized, handed out thousands of leaflets, promoted on social media and news outlets, shared your stories, and supported the movement that we have built together.

Below is a sample of media coverage about the protests and amazing work that our local coalitions have done in addition to organizing the rallies on May 30th. Please note that we are non-partisan and not backed by any political party. Personal attacks on us from the Minister are just to distract and deflect. However, the more they are forced to answer for their privatization, the more pressure they are feeling. Thank you for your incredible work and support, and we hope that you are proud of our collective work!