Hospital Professionals in Barrie and Kingston held protests on Wednesday, May 17 to raise awareness of the damaging effects of Bill 60 on the public healthcare system. The Ford government’s healthcare privatization bill, passed on May 8, will mean the privatization of surgical and diagnostic services currently done in hospitals, which will pull funding and staff away from public hospitals.OPSEU/SEFPO Local 4106 members working at Kingston General Hospital and OPSEU/SEFPO Local 346 members working at the Royal Victoria Regional Health Centre held sidewalk protests to speak out against healthcare privatization and the severe staffing crisis public hospitals are experiencing. These protests were two of many to come province-wide this summer.Hospital professionals are calling on the Ford government to fix the crisis by providing funding to hire more staff in Ontario’s public healthcare system.
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“We’re out here now trying to spread the word that privatization is not going to lead to better outcomes like the government is promising. It will not lead to shorter wait-times, either, even though that is what the province is saying.”OPSEU/SEFPO Local 346 President, Elizabeth Watts
“If you have family that needs healthcare – anybody who needs public healthcare – if the Ford government is successful in privatizing we’re going to be paying for it. Not everybody can pay for it.”OPSEU/SEFPO Local 4106 President, Erica Benn
View photos of the protests:
