By Gazette Staff
March 18th, 2026
BURLINGTON, ON
The Ontario Hospital Coalition has been fighting the good fight to keep health care services public.
Hundreds came out to their call on the federal Liberal MPs to help stop Alberta & Ontario’s privatization,.
On Monday March 16, people across Canada rallied outside the offices of their local Liberal Members of Parliament in a nationwide Day of Action to warn that public health care for all in Canada is under unprecedented threat and to call on the federal government to enforce the Canada Health Act. The Ontario Health Coalition held seven events in Ontario in Ajax, Hamilton, London, Peterborough, Toronto and Waterloo — and one more is coming up in Kingston on Friday, March 20 at the Hon Mark Gerretsen’s office at 234 Concession St.
The Key Issues:
Alberta’s Danielle Smith government has launched an unprecedented frontal assault on the Canada Health Act to end single tier Public Medicare. The law brings in private for-profit health insurance like they have in the U.S., enables physicians to charge patients for care, brings in queue jumping for the wealthy pushing everyone else back in line, and more. It is not “like” U.S. style health care. It is U.S. private health care, and for-profit health care interests are lined up to cash in.
Closer to home, Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford is privatizing public hospitals and is allowing private clinics to charge patients thousands for needed care. By the government’s own numbers, their latest set of private clinics (some of which are essentially hospitals, a number of which are chain owned) aim to redirect 1.2 million patients away from public hospitals. While the government is giving hundreds of millions more to private clinics, it has pushed the majority of public hospitals into deficit in a direct transfer of public resources. Patients are already being charged more than $4,000 per eye in the private cataract surgery clinics that Ford brought in, in violation of our medicare protection laws.
Hi! I am person with disabled and profoundly deaf. tell doug ford and pierre pollivere we need public health care for everyone in Canada or we will leave the country we will move to europe countries.good bye to the canadian governments and they will lose their jobs as the governments in ontario and across the canada too. R.I.P.
I am a senior as well. As you said we paid taxes all our working lives. We don’t know the true cost of our medical care because we never receive a statement.
There is no way that all the taxes we paid would cover the cost of medical care today as we age.
I agree that after the age of 70 or 75 the government stops sending reminders for colonoscopies or in the case of women for breast and cervical screenings but your physician can always give you a requisition to have these tests that would be covered by OHIP.
I will agree that unfettered immigration has contributed to the demands on our medical system that affects us all. The other issue is that the “baby boomers” are aging and with this comes more of a demand for medical services.
There are private clinics in Burlington that are covered by OHIP. This has been around for many years. GI Health is a private clinic that deals with gastrointestinal issues – colonoscopies etc. They operate 6 days a week and can do 34 colonoscopies a day. Before you leave you are given the results of the test. This service is covered by OHIP.
You can wait months to get a colonoscopy in the hospital, and then wait to get the results.
Our population is declining and if the government built hospitals instead of going the route of private clinics there would be a lot of empty space once the baby boomer generation is gone. Private clinics would have to deal with this, not the taxpayer.
There are pros and cons to everything with regard to medical care. I don’t think we should dismiss the introduction of private clinics when it will mean that many patients can be seen more quickly. I know of a few women who have been diagnosed with cancer in the emergency ward of Joseph Brant Hospital because they were unable to access scans etc. in a timely manner.
Privatization will hurt us badly , we have to fight back!!!
As seniors that have paid taxes all our working lives , we find we are cut off from services at age 70 …how is that fair? so if there is a clinic we can pay to have these services ..why not? If others can pay for services why not ?
It would provide some relief to the health system
Our health system is overburdened with the thousands that came into this country who have contributed not a penny. Who in many cases are very ill when they came ( eg WithTB) and not vetted properly
How is that fair?