{"id":13178,"date":"2020-06-17T13:35:27","date_gmt":"2020-06-17T17:35:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=13178"},"modified":"2021-07-20T14:32:44","modified_gmt":"2021-07-20T18:32:44","slug":"release-it-is-a-new-low-behaviour-of-government-mpps-in-home-care-legislation-public-hearings-unprecedented-and-unacceptable-health-coalition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/release-it-is-a-new-low-behaviour-of-government-mpps-in-home-care-legislation-public-hearings-unprecedented-and-unacceptable-health-coalition\/","title":{"rendered":"RELEASE:<\/FONT> “It is a New Low\u201d Behaviour of Government MPPs in Home Care Legislation Public Hearings Unprecedented and Unacceptable: Health Coalition"},"content":{"rendered":"

(June 17, 2020)<\/p>\n

Toronto \u2013 The Ontario Health Coalition is making a formal complaint today regarding the behaviour of three government MPPs in the public hearing into Bill 175 the Ford government\u2019s new home and community care legislation. The Coalition reported that yesterday Ford government MPPs, Christina Maria Mitas, Robin Martin and Sam Oosterhoff on multiple occasions cut off participants who were trying to answer questions in what were supposed to be public hearings by demanding that they answer only \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d and not be allowed to contextualize their response, explain, nor in fact, say anything else. \u00a0The Coalition notes that this behaviour was directed at presenters who were critical of the government\u2019s Bill 175. In the OHC\u2019s decades of experience in public hearings of Standing Committees of the Ontario Legislative Assembly they report that they have never seen MPPs behave in such a way. In addition, the Coalition cited behaviour in which government MPPs cut off the answers in order to disallow participants, including the Ontario Health Coalition, from responding to categorically false statements, including false characterizations of what the presenters actually said, reported the Health Coalition.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only is the new home care legislation, Bill 175, a terrible piece of legislation that would privatize significant portions of the existing public parts of home and community care and gut the law of all existing client protections and public governance,\u201d said Natalie Mehra, executive director. \u201cIn addition, we have never heard or seen before MPPs cutting off presenters and telling them that they must answer only \u201cyes\u201d or \u201cno\u201d to trick questions that do not have a clear yes or no answer. It is a new low in what is supposed to be a public hearing, a vital part of our democracy. In fact, the government MPPs in the Standing Committee hearing showed the most contempt for democracy and public input that I have ever seen in 25 years of testifying before committees of federal and provincial legislatures It was appalling, unprecedented and unacceptable.\u201d<\/p>\n

The protection of democratic processes is important, asserted the Health Coalition. They report that after the Ford government changed the rules of the Legislature to limit debate, it pushed Bill 175, which major public interest groups in health care were never consulted about, through First and Second Reading in the Legislature in only 10 business days. After only 2.5 days of public hearings in the midst of a pandemic by Zoom that were conducted in a way that the Ontario Health Coalition has never before seen, with the worst behaviour on the part of government MPPs that the Coalition said that they have ever witnessed, the Bill is scheduled to go for Third Reading next week.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe fear that all of this is a clear indication that the Ford government intends to railroad through this legislation as quickly as possible in the midst of the pandemic. We are gearing up to protest it in no uncertain terms. This Bill reflects the interests of private corporations and is fundamentally contrary to the public interest,\u201d said Ms. Mehra. The Coalition and many other presenters at the public hearings testified that the Bill is so flawed that they called for Bill 175 to be withdrawn.<\/p>\n

The Coalition issued the following briefing notes to correct the record:<\/p>\n