Ottawa Health Coalition

12/17/2025

We're going to need more than lettering writing to win this fight. If you have ever considered getting involved in defending public health care - it's now - ottawahealthco@gmail.com - let's build the fightback together.

Alberta is moving Canada toward private for-profit Medicare in violation of the Canada Health Act

12/15/2025

Mark your calendars - January 7 @ 1:00 p.m.

Our government needs to fund our hospitals and not shift these dollars to private for profit clinics and hospitals. Come out and support healthcare workers.

More health care cuts as a result of government tightening its belt: Perley Health in Ottawa is losing 34 jobs.

This will compromise resident care. As one worker said, "...cutting positions is not the way forward, and especially not by such a huge margin. It is simply a matter of safety. It will no longer be safe for our residents if we cut the work force any further."

Please attend the rally to support Perley residents and staff. Also bear in mind, this fight is part of protecting our public health care in the midst of underfunding and expansion of for-profit clinics.

These cuts are happening across Ontario - in Hamilton, Ottawa, North Bay, and Niagara among other places. We will need to fight this together.

12/15/2025

Wednesday at noon - you won't want to miss this - note registration is required. Our public health care system is at risk and we need to urgently come together to defend it. Find out what's really going on and why we need to stop it now.

Join us for a quick urgent briefing on what is happening, the facts vs the most common myths, and how we can combat the highly orchestrated pro-privatization propaganda campaign:

📍 Online via Zoom. Please register and fill in the information here (you will automatically receive the Zoom link by email after you register): https://us06web.zoom.us/meeting/register/XmFGyMXXSFigHs_ojV55og
🗓️ 12 pm noon on Wednesday, December 17

The threat against Public Medicare in Canada is at an all-time high. Alberta's Premier Danielle Smith's new legislation brings in private health insurance and two-tier medicare. Doug Ford is bringing in two-tier medicare and private hospitals, after already pushing forward with long-term care privatization and private for-profit blood services. An array of organizations that are working to dismantle and privatize public health care in Canada are campaigning in the media and on social media. At every turn, we are finding media stories, op eds, reports and initiatives spreading misinformation about privatization and pushing for more privatization.

12/12/2025

Join if you can.

Join the Canadian Health Coalition’s Anne Lagacé Dowson in conversation with Pat Armstrong and Hugh Armstrong about their work on…

12/12/2025

Important read.

Fact Checker: Public Hospital Privatization

🔴 False: Health Minister Sylvia Jones’ claims that it is not an “either-or situation”. 🔴

The Ford government is underfunding public hospitals. Ontario’s hospitals are funded at the lowest rate of any province in the country. The Ontario Health Coalition released results of information requests on public hospitals and found that virtually all have the majority of their operating rooms closed the majority of the time because they are not funded to staff and run them.

The Coalition reports that the majority of public hospitals were pushed into deficit in the most recent financial year, and many if not most are in deficit again now. At the same time, the Ford government has announced repeated rounds of increased funding for private clinics.

The announcements in the summer ($155 million) and this week (another $125 million) are very large amounts of public money. That public money is shifted from improving capacity in our public hospitals to funding new private clinics, the vast majority of which are for-profit. At the same time as private clinics take budget money and staff away from public hospitals, they are taking the easy, non-complex, profitable surgeries and diagnostic tests while leaving the more complex, heavier care and more expensive patients behind.

Get the full release here: https://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/release-health-care-advocates-slam-ford-government-for-privatizing-surgeries-while-pushing-public-hospitals-into-deficit/

🔴 False: Private clinics have the same quality protections as public hospitals. 🔴

The quality and safety regime in public hospitals is far superior to that of private clinics. Public hospitals have peer scrutiny and review. The information they give to patients is clear and is reviewed by hospital staff who act in the public interest and with sound medical ethics. The information given in private clinics is often manipulative, and sometimes completely false and unlawful. Public hospitals have quality improvement committees, peer review of medical accidents and adverse events, robust health and safety regimes, people for patients to complain to if there are problems. Private clinics have been plagued by problems with quality, sterilization and patient exposure to infections, and show higher patient morbidity and mortality rates. Public hospitals are not perfect, but it is patently false to claim that the quality and safety regime for private clinics is anywhere near that of public hospitals.

The Coalition is planning province wide protests to demand the Ford government restore our public funding to our public hospitals and stop their privatization scheme.

Please sign and share our petition to demand the federal government enforce the Canada Health Act where the Ford government is violating it with private for-profit clinics: https://www.ourcommons.ca/petitions/en/Petition/Details?Petition=e-6811

Get the full release here: https://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/release-health-care-advocates-slam-ford-government-for-privatizing-surgeries-while-pushing-public-hospitals-into-deficit/

12/12/2025

Join us to defend our public hospitals and public health care.

Ontario’s public hospitals have been pushed into deficit and ordered to find cuts while the Ford government shunts hundreds of millions of public dollars away from them to for-profit clinics, the Ontario Health Coalition warned today on the heels of the province’s announcement of plans to privatize thousands of orthopedic surgeries.

“We have existing operating rooms sitting unused in our local public hospitals because the Ford government refuses to fund them,” said Natalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition. “In fact, the Ford government is threatening local public hospitals and demanding cuts. Yet, at the same time, the sky is the limit when it comes to private clinics.”

The Coalition notes that the Ford government has been paying 20% more for each surgery in private cataract clinics and more than 200% more per surgery to the private hospital for which their former Health Minister became a lobbyist.

Get the full release here: https://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/release-health-care-advocates-slam-ford-government-for-privatizing-surgeries-while-pushing-public-hospitals-into-deficit/

Ms. Mehra noted that the provincial government delayed increasing surgeries in public hospitals where there is all kinds of existing under-used OR time, instead opting to slow everything down by holding an entire bidding process to invite private corporations to privatize surgeries. Patients have had to wait while the bidding process was done, proposals reviewed, corporations chosen, and now while they set up the capacity to do the operations. All this is unnecessary but for the choice of the Ford government to privatize.

“Let’s get this absolutely clear. The Ford government’s hospital privatization plan is not about wait times, it is about giving public money to private and for-profit corporations to privatize our health care,” Ms. Mehra warned. “With this announcement, the Ford government is shifting more than a hundred million dollars in public money away from our public hospitals’ underused operating rooms. It is a gross misuse of public funds. This government has no mandate whatsoever to dismantle and privatize the core services of our public hospitals.”

The Coalition is planning province wide protests to demand the Ford government restore our public funding to our public hospitals and stop their privatization scheme.

Get the full release here: https://www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca/index.php/release-health-care-advocates-slam-ford-government-for-privatizing-surgeries-while-pushing-public-hospitals-into-deficit/

11/26/2025

Still time to tune in!

CBC radio is doing their noon show today on the expansion of privatization of health care. Today's show will feature Ontario Health Coalition Executive Director Natalie Mehra and Dr. Danyaal Raza.

Ontario Today is the provincial open-line program on CBC Radio over the noon-hour. Today, Wednesday, November 26, their question is: "The cost of private health care: How much did you pay?"

If you want to share your story, you can call the program between 12 & 1 pm Toronto time (only) at: 1-888-817-8995

Folks can listen to the program via CBC Radio in Ontario or online on the CBC Toronto website. Just click on the play arrow on the Live Radio link near the bottom of the page. At noon, it will say "Ontario Today".

You can listen to the program after the show on their podcast site, just search for "Ontario Today with Amanda Pfeffer."

11/26/2025

We have our very own "Trump" here in Ontario. Totally out of touch with the (not rich) people of Ontario.

11/14/2025

What will it take for the people of Ontario and really all across Canada to pay attention to the dangers of privatization. It's not saving money, in fact it's costing all of us more and actually putting lives in danger as profit becomes the priority over better health outcomes.....don't wait until it's your loved one who is affected. Let's take action now and stand up for public health care.