|
Newsletter
|
Donate
National Day of Action takes aim at Liberal politicians in Kingston
Posted: September 3, 2026
(September 2, 2026) By: Maegan Kulchar, Kingston Whig-Standard
Canadians across country are sending a message, demanding feds take a stand against U.S.-style, two-tier care before it spreads.
A group with the Kingston Health Coalition took to the streets Tuesday afternoon outside the constituency offices of Liberal Member of Parliament Mark Gerretsen along Concession Street.
Chanting and holding up signs, the group’s goal was to put pressure on the Liberals to enforce the Canada Health Act and stop the spread of Bill 11, a two-tier style health-care system across Canada.
“We have been fighting with the Ford government for years over privatization, and it’s getting worse and more and more patients are having to pay,” said Ross Sutherland, chair of the Ontario Health Coalition and co-chair of the Kingston Health Coalition.
“We have been fighting with the Ford government for years over privatization.” Ross Sutherland, chair of the Ontario Health Coalition and co-chair of the Kingston Health Coalition
As of Sept. 1, the controversial Bill 11 took effect in Alberta, which permits approved physicians and surgeons to treat both publicly funded patients and private-pay clients, who pay out of pocket or through private insurance.
Critics such as the Kingston Health Coalition are pushing back, arguing that the law undermines the foundation of universal health care in Canada.
“It’s up to the Liberals now to do their job,” the coalition said. “They have to enforce the Canada Health Act. It’s a federal legislation. It lays out the ground rules for provinces to get money from the feds, and they get billions of dollars. The ground rules are comprehensive, universal, accessible health care, based on need and not based on your ability to pay,” said Sutherland. “We want a firm, clear statement from (Prime Minister Mark) Carney that Bill 11 in Alberta is a violation of the Canada Health Act.”
The Canada Health Act was enacted in 1984 specifically aimed at extra billing patients. Forty-two years later, Sutherland said they are still fighting the same fight., especially when it comes to surgeries such as cataracts which is covered by OHIP, but could have a long wait time. As a result, some doctors at private clinics offer the surgery faster but at a cost.
For Sheila Ducarme, who also attended the rally, she said it’s something she can relate to.
Her husband was diagnosed with cataracts last September.
We’ve been to two different clinics, and if we give them $9,000, they’ll book him in for the following Tuesday,” said Ducarme. “We don’t have $9,000. So here we are.”
As of yet, she said she still doesn’t have a date for when her husband will receive his surgery. All she knows it that she doesn’t want Ontario to become privatized like the United States.
“I travelled extensively in the U.S. for years, and I met people who wee much younger than me that hadn’t been to a doctor in 10 years, even though they had disability issues and they were not well. When I talked to them, they’d say, I can’t afford it. So that’s the last thing I want to see brought here.”
“I travelled extensively in the U.S. for years, and I met people who were much younger than me that hadn’t been to a doctor in 10 years, even though they had disability issues and they were not well.” Sheila Ducarme, Member of the Kingston Health Coalition
Sutherland also agreed that it mimics the United States, many of whom are uninsured.
“They’ve got 70 million people who don’t have any health insurance at all, so they can’t get care, period. You’ve got the largest source of personal bankruptcy in the United States, which is people who can’t pay their medical bills. So you go to the hospital, you get some treatment, and then all of a sudden, you get a $10,000 bill and you lose your house,” said Sutherland.
Also in the crowd was retired Dr. Dick Zoutman, who is still a professor at the medical school at Queen’s University.
He said he spent his whole career of more than 40 years in the public health-care system, and according to him, it’s the only way to go.
“It’s almost a sacred trust in Canada to have a publicly funded health-care system where you don’t have to dish out money to get the care that you need, but Bill 11 is a huge insult to Canadians because it is saying that you can get better health care faster if you have money,” said Zoutman. “The fact is that private health care has been shown in published literature, good quality studies, to actually be lower quality. So this idea of a private health care being better care is actually a myth, and it’s not true.”
He said Bill 11 will only split the system. There will be a system for the wealthy, and the rest will be left behind only to wait.
Zoutman said it will also put strain on the public health-care system as nurses, anesthetists, and surgical procedure staff move out and into the private system.
“We already know we’ve got a staffing problem. We don’t have more nurses to fund another system. We don’t have more doctors to fund another system, so we’re going to be splitting our system into the deluxe and the basic, and the deluxe is going to win every time,” stated Zoutman. “We all know what behavioural economics is all about. People go where the money is. It will be a huge drain.”
As for Sutherland, he’s asking Ontarians to take action now by pressuring their MPs to take a stand against the U.S. style, two-tiered care before it spreads.
“I’m here to encourage them to be the saviours of Canadian health care as we know it and improve it,” said Sutherland.
Gerretsen did not respond to the Whig’s request for an interview or comment before deadline.
As for MPP Ted Hsu, he stands against privatization, and in a supplied statement from his spokesperson wrote, “What I can say, from a provincial perspective, is that Ted, and the Ontario Liberal Party, do not support private, for-profit, care.”
