‘Privatization train wreck’: Protesters hop on board to voice concerns

Posted: May 29, 2026

(May 28, 2026) By: Kevin Lamb, Village Report

‘It’s important for me, for my health care, for seniors, for anybody, and for the generations that are coming up. It’s very important that we maintain our public funding for health care,’ says Innisfil nurse

One of the GO trains that left the station in south-end Barrie this morning was packed with many more riders than usual as it chugged toward downtown Toronto for a protest under sunny skies.

Residents from as far north as Sudbury arrived in Barrie on Thursday morning in time to catch the South Barrie GO train to Toronto for a planned march to demand Premier Doug Ford stop his “unprecedented” privatization of public hospital services, organizers say.

With slogans such as “get on board” and “stop Ford’s privatization train wreck,” the Ontario Health Coalition says the play on words is referring to “entire train cars” that the coalition has reserved for people from locations across southern and central Ontario.

The coalition said protesters were heading into Toronto for a “giant” march and rallies calling on the Ford government to stop their “unprecedented privatization of Ontario’s core hospital services.”

“Make no mistake,” Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, said in a release. “The Ford government is trying to force a massive shift of our public tax dollars away from our local public hospitals to create an infrastructure of private for-profit clinics. His government is privatizing Ontario’s hospitals now, unless we stop them.”

According to protest organizers, 14 GO stations were being used to collect people taking part — from as far away as Ottawa, Kingston, Windsor and Niagara.

Approximately 1,500 people were expected to ride the rails to the event, where they will be joined by an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 people from around Toronto.

The first rally was expected to begin at York and Front streets, across from Union Station, at 11:20 a.m. The march would then proceed to Queen’s Park for 1 p.m.

The coalition had previously staged a similar protest in Barrie back in April.

Cindy Martin, an Innisfil resident and nurse with a sign in hand, said she believes it’s important to speak out against what she sees is unnecessary cuts to health care in the province.

“It’s important for me, for my health care, for seniors, for anybody, and for the generations that are coming up,” she told BarrieToday outside the south-end train station. “It’s very important that we maintain our public funding for health care.”

Being a nurse and working in the health-care system, Martin says she has been witness to many changes over the years.

“And this is by far the worst. We’re not being listened to,” she said. “We’re getting these private clinics (where) people are being charged tons of money, and long-term care is a bad state. They don’t have the people to take care of things.”

Meanwhile, standing nearby is Anita Johnson-Ford, co-chair of the Simcoe County Health Coalition, ticking off names as participants arrived to receive their train tickets.

With around 15 minutes until departure, 55 protesters arrived to claim the 75 reserved seats at the Barrie South train station.

Inside the small brick station, Carolyn Otto, a retired secondary school teacher from Sudbury, doesn’t mince words when asked why she was taking part in the protest.

“I’m concerned about all the cuts … I don’t like the idea of hallway health care and it’s gone on too long,” Otto said.

She says the provincial government isn’t “getting the message” that there are people who are not happy with their policies and practices.

“And the other thing that’s a big problem for me, personally, is the lack of transparency,” Otto said. “In fact, there is so much effort to hide things right now … We don’t elect people who are not clear about what their motives and their activities are. That’s not what we elected them for.”

Ontario’s new and more restrictive freedom-of-information laws have quashed another request, this time for documents that may have given a glimpse into potential hospital cuts.

More than 70 per cent of Ontario hospitals are forecasting deficits, and Health Minister Sylvia Jones has told them to come up with three-year plans to balance their budgets.

Any “low-risk” cost-saving moves with no or “minimal” front-line reductions should be made immediately, health ministry have officials told hospitals, and “high-risk” moves with service impacts for patients should only be considered if all lower-risk options are exhausted.

With sign in hand and waiting for the train to pull into the station, Rachelle Urso, another retired teacher from Sudbury, says Premier Ford has “gotta go.”

“We just need change in Ontario,” she said. “We need to make a difference and we need to protect our kids and schools … because we’re all retired teachers.”

When asked about the number of protesters showing up in Barrie to take part, Urso said the turnout was “awesome.”

“I think people are really stepping up and I think it’s going to be a great day,” she said. “I think there’s going to be a lot of people there and I hope we get listened to.”

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Health called the coalition’s claims “misguided.”

“Ontario is proud to have one of the largest publicly funded health care systems in the world, and our government continues to make record investments, including over $101 billion this year, to connect people to the care they need, when they need it,” said Lily Barnes.

“We lead the country with some of the shortest wait times for critical procedures, including MRI, CT scans, and surgeries, with over 83 per cent of people receiving surgery within the clinically recommended times,” Barnes added. “We’re investing $280 million to connect nearly 300,000 more people to publicly funded MRI and CT scans, endoscopy procedures and orthopedic surgeries. This builds on the expansion of publicly funded cataract procedures which has allowed 32,000 more people to receive their procedure, per year.”

– with files from The Trillium

Click here for the original article