Kitchener rally aims to build support for Ontario’s public health-care system
KITCHENER — A rally in support of Ontario’s health-care system is planned for Kitchener on Saturday.
The public event is being held at Speakers’ Corner at King and Frederick streets from 11 a.m. to noon by the Waterloo Region Health Coalition.
“We’re really trying to grow the coalition and bring a lot of people under our umbrella in support of public health care,” said Jim Stewart of the coalition.
It’s an arm of the Ontario Health Coalition, which has been supporting and advocating for health care for decades.
“We are focused on protecting our health-care system,” Stewart said.
The Ontario coalition warned in a news release Friday, issued after a speech by Finance Minister Vic Fedeli, that dramatic cuts to provincial revenues planned by Premier Doug Ford will be devastating if they are not stopped. It added that Ontario has already cut and downsized its hospitals for decades.
The Ontario Council of Hospital Unions warned that Ford’s promises to end “hallway medicine” in the province’s hospitals are contradicted by his pledge to cut public service costs.
Kitchener’s two hospitals alone stand to lose as many as 60 beds and 342 jobs under the Progressive Conservatives’ plans to cut tax revenue and spending, according to a council report released in August.
“It’s very concerning,” Stewart said.
He said it’s important to stop the cuts and rebuild the healthcare system through additional funding for hospitals that are already overcapacity, while also putting a halt on encroaching privatization.
Speakers will include Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition.
Along with talking about the current state of health care, the event is intended to recruit people for a large rally at Queen’s Park in late October.
“Our public health-care system needs this kind of support,” Stewart said.
People in Ontario view public health care as incredibly valuable, but also take it for granted, he said.
What’s going on south of the border shows a public healthcare system needs to be safeguarded.
“People believe that our publicly funded health-care system will be around forever.”