(May 31, 2023)<\/p>\n
By: Tina Yazdani, CityNews Toronto<\/p>\n
Health care advocates took to at Queen\u2019s Park Wednesday to oppose what they call \u201cthe gutting\u00a0and\u00a0dismantling of public hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n
Almost 400,000 people voted across Ontario, including 100,000 in Toronto in what\u2019s being described as a citizen-led referendum organized by the advocacy group Ontario Health Coalition. The ballots were hand-delivered to the provincial government on Wednesday.<\/p>\n
The question on the ballot was: do you want our public hospital services to be privatized?<\/p>\n
Ninety-nine per cent or almost 380 thousand people voted no.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is not insignificant, and if this government wants to continue to call it a stunt or whatever, I challenge them [to hold your own referendum,]\u201d said Marit Stiles, the Ontario NDP Leader. \u201cAnd actually consult with the people of this province if you\u2019re going to gut our healthcare system.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bill 60 allows more private clinics to offer certain publicly funded surgeries and procedures in an effort to cut long wait lists for care.<\/p>\n
Cataract surgeries and diagnostic imaging and testing will be expanded while the government will create an entirely new system to perform hip and knee replacement surgeries.<\/p>\n
Natalie Mehra with the Ontario Health Coalition said she believes this will make a difference.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it\u2019s pretty hard to ignore almost half a million people,\u201d said Mehra. \u201cI think it would be to their peril not to listen.\u201d<\/p>\n
Premier Doug Ford responded to the referendum earlier this week during Question Period at Queen\u2019s Park on Monday. \u201cI don\u2019t call it a referendum, it was a political poll, [driven by] one side.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is the way the polls should be: do you want to wait in line for a hip replacement for 18 months or would you like to get something done in 60 days from the exact same doctor in a surgical clinic?\u201d asked Ford.<\/p>\n
Critics of the legislation say the bill will cost more for patients and taxpayers, saying it will allow the simplest surgeries to be done for the highest price while existing operating rooms inside public\u00a0hospitals aren\u2019t being used at capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey had the money, they made the choice \u2026\u00a0at any point they could\u2019ve cleared the backlog,\u201d said Gayatri Samaroo, a health care professional.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen you see the result of that backlog, when you see cancers getting worse, and you see the people, their pain, their suffering, the loss of their loved ones, because of the backlog they created, your heart utterly breaks,\u201d added Samaroo.<\/p>\n
This referendum vote is\u00a0the beginning of what advocates call\u00a0a relentless campaign<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re not going to stop. We\u2019ll ratchet it up from here and the next thing we\u2019ll be a massive protest as big as we can build in Toronto at the legislature to stop them,\u201d said Mehra.<\/p>\n
Mike Schreiner said that is the way to get the government\u2019s attention.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe only thing that moves this government is if people speak up and put pressure on them. That\u2019s exactly what this is designed to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ontario Medical Association and Ontario\u00a0Hospital Association have both come out in support of Bill 60, calling it an important step to reduce wait times, and free up hospital resources to focus on emergency and complex cases.<\/p>\n