{"id":7971,"date":"2019-05-01T11:06:15","date_gmt":"2019-05-01T15:06:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/?p=7971"},"modified":"2019-05-08T11:09:30","modified_gmt":"2019-05-08T15:09:30","slug":"thousands-storm-queens-park-to-protest-doug-fords-cuts-to-health-care","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/thousands-storm-queens-park-to-protest-doug-fords-cuts-to-health-care\/","title":{"rendered":"Thousands storm Queen&#8217;s Park to protest Doug Ford&#8217;s cuts to health care"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>An estimated 8,000 outraged Ontario residents are marching on Queen&#8217;s Park in downtown Toronto today to voice their opposition against the PC government&#8217;s deep and sweeping\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/mounting-health-care-cuts\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">cuts to health care<\/a>\u00a0services across the province.<\/p>\n<p>Organized by the Ontario Health Coalition, today&#8217;s protest takes aim at Premier Doug Ford&#8217;s plan to restructure the health care system under something called Bill 74 or &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/www.ola.org\/en\/legislative-business\/bills\/parliament-42\/session-1\/bill-74\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">The People&#8217;s Health Care Act<\/a>.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Ford&#8217;s Bill 74 \u2014 a massive healthcare system overhaul that would open the door to selling off our public healthcare to private corporations \u2014 has moved into a crucial phase,&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.leadnow.ca\/committee-amend-bill-74\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">explains a petition\u00a0<\/a>which asks that the bill be amended to prohibit private, for-profit healthcare groups.<\/p>\n<p>The new legislation Doug Ford worked to keep secret from the public will sell vital health care services to private for-profit corporations,&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.blogto.com\/events\/rally-to-protect-our-public-health-care-toronto\/\">reads an event description<\/a>\u00a0for today&#8217;s rally at Queen&#8217;s Park. &#8220;[And] impose costly mega-mergers that put our local services and hospitals at risk&#8230; IF WE DON\u2019T STOP IT.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Healthcare workers and supporters arrived by the busload from all over Ontario this morning to fight back against Bill 74 and other changes they fear are problematic, such as\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.blogto.com\/city\/2019\/04\/ohip-coverage-outside-canada\/\">cuts to OHIP<\/a>\u00a0and the dissolution of all 14 of the province&#8217;s Local Health Integration Networks into a single agency.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;For the first time, more than 150,000 health professionals, nurses, support workers, doctors and tens of thousands of patient advocates are joining together in a health action day, unified in their deep concern that the Ford government intends unprecedented health care privatization,&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.globenewswire.com\/news-release\/2019\/04\/23\/1808267\/0\/en\/Unprecedented-Health-Action-Day-Calls-on-Doug-Ford-to-Halt-Health-Privatization-Plans.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote the Ontario Health Coalition<\/a>\u00a0in a statement about their widespread initiative.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;In hospitals and other health facilities tens of thousands will wear a sticker that says &#8216;Stop Health Privatization&#8217; and will distribute leaflets warning about the Ford government&#8217;s health care restructuring plans.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Here in Toronto, protesters gathered at Sick Kids hospital before setting off for\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/explore\/locations\/217130130\/queens-park\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Queen&#8217;s Park\u00a0<\/a>around noon.<\/p>\n<p>They are currently on the lawn of the legislature building shouting and showing off their vibrant protest signs.<\/p>\n<p>Even the famous\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.blogto.com\/city\/2018\/08\/cne-picket-lines\/\">CNE protest rat<\/a>\u00a0is on hand to lend its support for the cause.<\/p>\n<p>Traffic has been\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/CBCQueensPark\/status\/1123262577088368642\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">blocked off by police<\/a>\u00a0in several areas surrounding Queen&#8217;s Park on account of the protest.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Blame for today&#8217;s Toronto core gridlock rests squarely on Doug Ford,&#8221;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/PatMTO\/status\/1123269666594541568\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">wrote one demonstrator<\/a>. &#8220;Massive healthcare protest closed University Avenue from Bloor to College \u2014 same time same place tomorrow!&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Unfortunately for protesters, Ford himself will not be around to see the action in person. He is currently in New York City promoting Ontario as &#8220;Open for Business.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #3366ff;\"><a style=\"color: #3366ff;\" href=\"https:\/\/www.blogto.com\/city\/2019\/04\/thousands-gather-toronto-protest-doug-fords-cuts-healthcare\/\">Click Here for full article.\u00a0<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An estimated 8,000 outraged Ontario residents are marching on Queen&#8217;s Park in downtown Toronto today to voice their opposition against the PC government&#8217;s deep and sweeping\u00a0cuts to health care\u00a0services across the province. Organized by the Ontario Health Coalition, today&#8217;s protest takes aim at Premier Doug Ford&#8217;s plan to restructure the health care system under something [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ohc-in-the-news"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Thousands storm Queen&#039;s Park to protest Doug Ford&#039;s cuts to health care - Ontario Health Coalition<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An estimated 8,000 outraged Ontario residents are marching on Queen&#039;s Park in downtown Toronto today to voice their opposition against the PC government&#039;s\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca\/index.php\/thousands-storm-queens-park-to-protest-doug-fords-cuts-to-health-care\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thousands storm Queen&#039;s Park to protest Doug Ford&#039;s cuts to health care - 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