‘The people have spoken’: Windsor-Essex voters opposed to privatized health care, according to OHC survey
Almost 99 per cent of voters in Windsor and Essex County are opposed to privatization of public hospitals, according to the Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) referendum results revealed Tuesday morning.
Since April, the citizen-led group had been asking Ontarians to vote in person or online answering if they want public hospital services to be privatized to for-profit hospitals and clinics.
“In this referendum, the people have spoken,” said Patrick Hannon, co-chair of the Windsor-Essex chapter of the OHC.
Hannon said 98.8 per cent of people in just Windsor opposed privatizing public hospital services, with a total of 5,286 votes cast across the entire Windsor-Essex catchment area last week.
“When the number of ballots, the number of people opposed to privatization, when that is presented to the government, politicians need to hear what their constituents have to say,” Hannon said. “We've been very successful with showing the government the results and we anticipate to doing so again with this referendum.”
The vote was in response to the Ford Government’s implementation of Bill 60, which the advocacy group worries will only work for relatively healthy people, and those who can afford it.
They said there’s concern it could lead to people with minimal training put into health care positions.
“We also have not seen any piece in the legislation where there is a budget attached to the enforcement of the private clinic certifications, there's language for enforcement. We don't see a budget line item for this yet. And it's not real, unless there's money put to that,” Hannon said.
The OHC believes the Ford government will be forced to acknowledge the results, or potentially face fallout at the ballot box in the next three years.
Full results of the province wide campaign are expected to be announced and presented to the government at Queens Park on Wednesday.
Earlier this week, Premier Doug Ford dismissed the OHC’s work.
“I don't call it a referendum, it was a political poll that was driven one sided,” Ford said on Monday.
He had his own thoughts on how the survey question should have been presented.
“Do you want to wait in line for a hip replacement that could take 18 months?” asked Ford. “Or would you like something that could be done in 60 days from the exact same doctor in a surgical clinic, in a centre?”
Meanwhile, a health ethics, law and policy professor at Western University in London, Ont., told CTV News surveys like this one are important public opinion measures.
“It shows that Ontarians are really not interested in the approach that Doug Ford is taking to privatize health care,” said Jacob Shelley.
“And without these types of measures or initiatives, we have a void. We don't know exactly what people are thinking. So this definitely gives us important context that people aren't actually happy with what Doug Ford is doing.”
Shelley expressed concern over the premier’s dismissive response.
“The government represents the people and the people are speaking and the government is choosing to ignore the people that are speaking by ignoring the results of these studies,” Shelley said.
“We know the public system is a more effective, more efficient and more equitable system. The privatized world does benefit some people. There's no question that there are benefits for some individuals, but it's not an equitable benefit. It's not a public benefit. It benefits those that have wealth, those that have opportunity and those that profit from illness and now we have to really question a government that's making health care profitable. What actual kind of consideration this government might have to ensuring that we remain healthy.”
Shelley added, “This is just not politically justified nor is this something that is evidentiary justified. This is merely opportunities to make people money.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Maple Leafs fall to Bruins in Game 3, trail series 2-1
Brad Marchand scored twice, including the winner in the third period, and added an assist as the Boston Bruins downed the Toronto Maple Leafs 4-2 to take a 2-1 lead in their first-round playoff series Wednesday
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
'It was instant karma': Viral video captures failed theft attempt in Nanaimo, B.C.
Mounties in Nanaimo, B.C., say two late-night revellers are lucky their allegedly drunken antics weren't reported to police after security cameras captured the men trying to steal a heavy sign from a downtown business.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
New Indigenous loan guarantee program a 'really big deal,' Freeland says at Toronto conference
Canada's Deputy Prime Minister Chrystia Freeland was among the 1,700 delegates attending the two-day First Nations Major Projects Coalition (FNMPC) conference that concluded Tuesday in Toronto.
'Life was not fair to him': Daughter of N.B. man exonerated of murder remembers him as a kind soul
The daughter of a New Brunswick man recently exonerated from murder, is remembering her father as somebody who, despite a wrongful conviction, never became bitter or angry.