(April 25, 2026) By: Hannah Schmidt, CTV News Kitchener<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people gathered in Waterloo Saturday to protest what they described as increasing pressure on Ontario\u2019s public healthcare system, including concerns about hospital funding, staffing shortages and the growing role of private clinics.<\/p>\n
The demonstration at Waterloo Town Square, organized by the Waterloo Region Health Coalition (WRHC), was part of a coordinated day of action across several Ontario communities.<\/p>\n
Protesters carried signs, chanted slogans and called on the provincial government to prioritize investment in public hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlmost 500 people showed up to talk about what\u2019s happening to our public health care system, the privatization and the dismantling the destruction of our public health care system by this administration,\u201d said Jim Stewart, chair of the coalition. \u201cAnd we\u2019re here really to send a clear message to them saying that we\u2019d like them to stop. In fact, the people here seemed to demand that it stop privatizing our public health care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Organizers say hospitals in Waterloo region are facing increased strain due to population growth and ongoing staffing shortages.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve got less staff providing care because of the underfunding of our public hospitals,\u201d Stewart said. \u201cThey\u2019re working with fewer people all the time, trying to do more work because of the population growth.\u201d<\/p>\n
He argued that shifting procedures to privately operated clinics could further strain the system by drawing resources away from hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy privatizing our health care hospital services to these for-profit clinics, all we\u2019re doing is actually taking more of the resources out of our hospitals,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n
Opposition politicians echoed those concerns at the rally.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been facing a doctor shortage for years now, and it\u2019s hard to attract doctors into a broken system,\u201d said Waterloo MPP Catherine Fife. \u201cThere\u2019s a lack of confidence in this government actually being invested in public health care.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles also addressed the crowd, framing the issue as one of her government\u2019s priorities.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat people here and all across the province care about is they\u2019re worried about how much everything costs, like rent and groceries,\u201d Stiles said. \u201cThey can\u2019t find a family doctor, that their hospital emergency wait times are outrageous, that people are getting treated in hallways.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Ontario government has previously said that expanding the role of private clinics is intended to reduce backlogs and improve wait times.<\/p>\n
Critics, however, argue those services can cost more per procedure and risk diverting staff and funding from public hospitals.<\/p>\n
\u201cOHIP is going to have to pay 20 per cent more for each one of these procedures that\u2019s delivered by private clinics. So, it\u2019s a far more costly perspective, and it\u2019s a much less efficient way of proceeding,\u201d Stewart explained.<\/p>\n
Participants at the rally included students and local residents, some of whom said they are worried about long-term access to care.<\/p>\n
\u201cI recently ruptured my ACL, so that\u2019s actually a really stressful time for me,\u201d said Cadence Daya, a local university student who moved to Waterloo from Nova Scotia. \u201cI\u2019m kind of stuck. I have bad health care at home, bad health care at school. What am I supposed to do?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cHaving family members who\u2019ve needed to get crucial health care, and having them need to wait seriously long wait times and just delays after delays, is really concerning to me,\u201d added student Nina Difelice.<\/p>\n
Saturday\u2019s protest is the first in a planned series of demonstrations across the province. Organizers say more events are expected in the coming weeks, including a trip to Queen\u2019s Park at the end of May.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s really important that the people get out here and voice their complaints about the destruction of one of the pillars of our society, our public health-care system, the Americanization of our health care system,\u201d Stewart said.<\/p>\n
The coalition invites those interested in rallying at Queen\u2019s Park to join them on May 28. They said they\u2019ll be meeting at the Kitchener GO Train station at 8:30 a.m., before heading to downtown Toronto.<\/p>\n
CTV News reached out to the Ministry of Health for comment.<\/p>\n
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