Ottawa Health Coalition

03/28/2026

Great news.

03/28/2026

03/28/2026

Thank you to for taking the time to meet with us this morning and for the productive conversation about our concerns about Alberta’s Bill 11.

Allowing this legislation to be implemented would be an existential threat to our treasured public health care all across Canada and lead to the creation of a two-tier American-style health care system.

We need to see the Canada Health Act enforced and action taken to protect and strengthen single-payer public Medicare for all.

03/27/2026

Don't be fooled - it's about profits - it's never been about wait times - join us on April 8 at 7 at the Jim Robillard Union Centre, 1505 Carling Ave - get the facts.

03/26/2026

Agree

ONA welcomes the $1.1 billion investment in home care that was announced in the Ford Conservatives’ provincial budget today but is demanding accountability for the critical underfunding across health-care sectors and post-secondary education, and the continued drive towards private health care.

Over the last eight years, the Ford Conservatives have made a concerted effort to underfund public health care and expand and funnel taxpayer dollars to private, for-profit providers and facilities. Coupled with nearly $1.5 billion in cuts to post-secondary education which will have major impacts on nursing students, this is a threat to Ontarians’ access to public health care.

“Ontarians need accountability for their hard-earned taxpayer dollars. They want this money to go to high-quality, timely front-line care, and the workers who provide it,” says ONA Provincial President Erin Ariss, RN. “Every day we are seeing more and more cuts to front-line nursing and health-care positions because of this government’s chronic underfunding and employers that are cutting corners on patient care to save money.”

Nurses and health-care professionals are working against the odds to provide high-quality, timely care across the province, and in every sector of health care. They are often working with less staff, fewer resources, and increasingly complex care needs. The provincial government has done little to address working conditions that will help retain staff and has once again failed to fund safe staffing ratios or other recruitment and retention measures in this year’s budget.

“Instead of funding capital projects, or the expansion of private health-care, the Ford Conservatives must ensure mandatory safe staffing levels and adequately funded public health care,” states Ariss.

“It’s time for the Ford government to stop their dangerous push towards private health care. Nurses and health-care professionals know the real solution: Ontarians need accountability and a public health-care system with guaranteed safe staffing levels – not more buildings and unstaffed beds. We demand nothing less.”

See the full media release: https://ona.org/news/20260326-ontario-budget-2026/

03/26/2026

This won't stop at the Alberta border...so we need to come together and stop this.

🇨🇦 🏥 Alberta nurses showed up in Edmonton to call on Liberal MP Eleanor Olszewski to enforce the Canada Health Act against Bill 11 and privatization of Al...

03/26/2026

More from our rally at the PMs constituency office as part of our National Day of Action. More is coming - including a town hall event on April 8 at 7 at the Jim Robillard Union Office where we will hear from Chris Galloway, Executive Director of the Friends of Medicare Alberta and Natalie Mahra, Executive Director of the Ontario Health Coalition and Kevin Skerrett, Research, Ottawa Health Coalition. Join us to learn why this fight is so important to all of us across Canada.

A "National Day of Action" -- Ottawa residents met at Prime Minister Mark Carney constituency office in Nepean. I interviewed spokesperson Professor Kevin S...

03/24/2026

In the United States, healthcare is a business. In Canada, it’s a right. Together, we will stand up to defend the Canada Health Act and build a health care system we can be proud of. It’s time to return to the foundational values upon which our national health care was developed: free of charge, fair, universal, and accessible.

This was the commitment made by the federal Liberals in their election campaign.

It is absolutely clear that Alberta's Bill 11 fails the test on all of these “values”.

Join us for a town hall on April 8 @ 7:00 p.m. at the Jim Robillard Union Centre at 1505 Carling Ave. If we don’t come together to fight back now with all that we have, we will lose. If we lose, our province and our country will be fundamentally changed for the worse and millions will suffer.

03/24/2026

The husband of a patient who is in palliative care took the time to come out and speak at the rally, thanking the staff who are taking so careful care of his wife during her last days moved me to tears. Unless you are in it, you can't understand how important it is to fund our hospitals so that they can employ the staff that is needed. Thank you health care workers for all that you do. Shame on you Ford for all that you are NOT doing.

03/23/2026

We totally agree "Canada’s health care system should be guided by need, not ability to pay." This is not what's driving the cost of health care.

Frontline nurses know exactly what happens when financial barriers are introduced: people delay care, conditions worsen, and health needs become more complex and more costly to treat. These cuts will not reduce pressure on the system; they will shift costs to emergency rooms and frontline providers.

At the same time, these changes risk fueling harmful narratives that blame migrants for broader system challenges, rather than addressing the real issues facing Canada’s health care system, including chronic understaffing and underinvestment.

Canada’s health care system should be guided by need, not ability to pay. Introducing co-payments for refugees moves us further away from that principle.

We call on the federal government to reverse these cuts immediately. Read more: https://nursesunions.ca/statement-on-proposed-cuts-to-the-interim-federal-health-program/

03/22/2026

“There is no doubt that Bill 11 contravenes the Canada Health Act.”

03/22/2026

Getting the word out!