(November 3, 2022)<\/p>\n
By: Bill Atwood, Observer<\/p>\n
Health care advocates that laid into the Ford government ahead of last June\u2019s provincial election haven\u2019t let up. Critics include the Waterloo Region Health Coalition, which is part of the chorus warning about privatization of the likes of hospital services.<\/p>\n
As with the Ontario Health Coalition, the local chapter says the government lied to the public about its privatization plans. The groups said the province increased funding to private clinics while at the same time denying that they were expanding the private clinics.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Ford, in particular, lied to the public about privatization of the public health services and the privatization of them,\u201d Jim Stewart of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition said in a press conference held last week.<\/p>\n
The group is made up of community members and healthcare workers advocating for the protection and improvement of the Canadian healthcare system.<\/p>\n
Stewart took issue with comments that the Ministry of Health made to several media outlets, including The Observer, before June\u2019s provincial election.<\/p>\n
These comments include the widely spread statement from spokesperson Alexandra Hilkene who said that \u201cthe use or function of private hospitals and independent health facilities in Ontario is not being expanded or changed.\u201d<\/p>\n
In August, the Ministry of Health released a \u201cfive point plan\u201d to guide the healthcare system through the post-COVID recovery. While that plan stated the province would hire 6,000 more healthcare workers and free up 2,500 hospital beds, Stewart expressed concern over references the plan made to independent health facilities.<\/p>\n
\u201cOntario is working with hospital partners to identify innovative solutions to reduce wait times for surgeries and procedures, including considering options for further increasing surgical capacity by increasing the number of OHIP-covered surgical procedures performed at independent health facilities,\u201d the plan states.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur perspective is that\u2019s not creative at all. [Ford] said he was going to get creative, but really all he\u2019s been doing is being responsive to the registered lobbyists with respect to privatizing public health care in Ontario,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n
His comments echo statements by the provincial coalition and the advocacy group Democracy Watch.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ford government lied to the public leading into an election,\u201d said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition, in a recent release.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou can\u2019t just outright deny you are expanding private for-profit clinics while you are in fact shunting millions over to expand private for-profit clinics. You can\u2019t pretend you are not going to privatize before an election and then, as soon as the election is over, announce plans to privatize. By every measure, this is wrong. It is fundamentally undemocratic and cannot go without challenge,\u201d Mehra said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Ontario public will not tolerate such deception. Nor will we tolerate the Ford government failing to deal with the strain our public hospitals are under while at the same time funneling public money over to profit seeking corporations to privatize our public hospitals\u2019 services.\u201d<\/p>\n
Duff Conacher, co-founder of Democracy Watch, called statements by the Ford government before and during the election misleading.<\/p>\n
\u201c[They] are just one of many examples of the need for an honesty in politics law to penalize misleaders who violate voters\u2019 rights by baiting them with false statements and election promises and then switching direction when they get elected,\u201d Conacher said in a release.<\/p>\n
Stewart said the current problems the healthcare system is facing have existed for a long time. He also doesn\u2019t see the efforts by the government as a legitimate attempt to fix it.<\/p>\n
\u201cObviously, the pandemic has exacerbated some of the issues. But as you may know, Ontario is the lowest funded per capita province in the country. We have the lowest number of beds in the country, per capita. And we have the fewest number of nurses per capita, and it\u2019s all about funding primarily,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe that there has to be something else other than privatizing our public health care system as a solution.\u201d<\/p>\n