The latest news about healthcare, privatization and the Ontario election
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Ontario Health Coalition |
OHC ELECTION NEWSFLASH SEPTEMBER 30, 2003 |
The latest news about healthcare, privatization and the Ontario election
Photo of Ontario electricity and health coalitions spokespeople with the Trojan horse in front of Kingston City Hall.
Kingston Whig Standard,In this issue for September 30, 2003:
2. The Trojan horse tour tags along with Dalton McGuinty
3. A brief about all-candidates' meetings and health forums
OHC and unions seek injunction to stop P3s
We are in court today seeking an injunction to stop any further signing of P3 deals. To date, project agreements have been signed in Brampton and Ottawa. However, the closing of the full financial deals has not happened in either location. Documents obtained by our lawyers show that the financial closing is scheduled for mid-October in Brampton, and further down the road in Ottawa. Last Monday, the OHC -- in partnership with CUPE, OPSEU and SEIU -- launched a court case to seek a judicial review of the P3 deals. The main argument is that the Public Hospitals Act, which governs our hospitals, does not provide a legal or legislative framework for privately owned and operated hospitals. There has been no legislative debate, no public hearings or consultations, no public input or discussion: all normal democratic processes have been avoided. These deals go against the tradition that, once a provincial election is announced, the government doesn’t make last-minute commitments that would fetter a future government. We will send out an update about the injunction as soon as possible.
Yesterday, the Trojan horse joined Dalton McGuinty. The horse symbolizes the devious efforts underway to privatize healthcare and hydro. We want to push the leader of the Liberal Party to clearly commit to public healthcare. While McGuinty continues to say he doesn't support privatization, he is unwilling to promise that he'll break any P3 contracts signed before the election. He wants to see the deals first, arguing that it might be too expensive to get out of them. We say that the long-term price of forfeiting public control is far higher, whatever the immediate cost would be. McGuinty knows that the cost of getting out of the deals is cheaper than what P3 hospitals will cost the people of Ontario if they are allowed to be established.
The 5-metre high horse has visited: Peterborough, Lindsay, Windsor, Chatham, Woodstock, Kitchener, Guelph, London, Hamilton, Niagara Falls, Brampton, Markham, Uxbridge, Oshawa, Port Hope, Cobourg, Belleville, Kingston, Brockville, Cornwall, Ottawa, Renfrew, Pembrooke and Toronto. It has garnered great media coverage at many of these stops. The Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) and the Ontario Electricity Coalition are sponsoring this tour.
The Trojan horse stops around Toronto include:
Please feel free to contact the Ontario Liberals yourself. Let them know that, if they get into power, you want them to cancel any P3 deals signed before Thursday's election:
Phone toll-free: 1-800-268-7250
Fax: 416-323-9425
E-mail: info@ontarioliberal.com
All-candidates' meetings and health forums
Across the province, hundreds of people came out to hear their candidates present their positions on healthcare. Hundreds of others attended forums about long-term care, home care, and the threat of privatized hospitals and MRI clinics. Fab meetings organized by the health coalitions of Thunder Bay, Sarnia, Peterborough, Goderich, Toronto, Parry Sound, North Bay. Rexdale and Etobicoke Lakeshore were also successes. Guelph and Toronto held great meetings on privatization.
In Burlington, the local health coalition succeeded in raising the issues of homecare, P3s and the poaching of staff by private MRI/CT facilities at their all-candidates' meeting. An activist attending a Woodstock meeting got the Liberal candidate to commit to including MRI/CT equipment into the future public hospital in the area.
Door-to-door canvassing and lawn signs
A special provincial election edition of The Pulse has gone out to thousands of households -- through Lambton county, Goderich, Sarnia, London, Kitchener-Waterloo, Oshawa, Peterborough and the GTA. As well, we've handed out tens of thousands of our "Medicare - I'll vote on it!" window signs.
The Brampton area is thick with anti-P3 lawn signs. The first 500 signs against the privatization of the Centre for Addictions and Mental Health are up in the Toronto region. More to come! We are already gearing up for the municipal elections.
Ontario Health Coalition
15 Gervais Drive, Suite 305
Toronto,
Ontario M3C 1Y8
tel: 416-441-2502
fax: 416-441-4073
email: