A coalition of like-minded groups in Guelph designated April 17 as a day of action against cuts from the provincial government
The Councul of Canadians, Ontario Federation of Labour and Guelph Movement of the People were among a coalition of groups staging a die-in Wednesday afternoon at St. George’s Square in opposition to proposed health care cuts by the Ontario PC government.
Ontario has a pretty good health care system the way it is, said Lin Grist, a member of the Guelph chapter of the social action advocacy group Counil of Canadians. She worries the health care system in the province will be privatized in the future by the Ford government.
“If you start cutting it back and privitizing, the truth of the matter is private companies quite rightly need to make a profit. Their job is to make a profit for their shareholders,” said Grist. “This should not about profit, it should be about the public good — for everyone.”
Bill 74, which is also named The Peoples’ Health Care Act, is currently making its way through the Ontario legislature. Grist said the bill is intentionally written to be overly complicated and not meant to be accessible to the people.
Grist once worked as policy advisor to two former ministers of Health in the province. She wants people to know about impending cuts, because once services like OHIP+ are gone, they are gone for good and once privitized, those services will be less affordable.
“I want to know someone who is poor in Ontario can get exactly the same level of care as someone who makes $200,000 a year," Grist said.
Wednesday’s die-in is one of a number of events scheduled by the coalition over the coming weeks. On April 30, buses will transport Guelphites to Queen’s Park for what is being plnned as a massive protest, said Council of Canadians Guelph chapter chair Ron East.
“I think it will be a huge turnout. I think there are a lot of people who are really upset,” said East.
It is important for like-minded groups to come together and protest the Ford-led government on everything from proposed health care cuts to job loses in education and climate change, said East..
“We are actually now all getting together and starting to realize that unless we orgaize together and build that kind of coalition, he won’t pay any attention,” he said.
About a dozen people held signs in the shape of tombstones while laying down in St. George’s Square for the die-in. The signs were printed with messaging aroound hallway medicine, access to overdose prevention sites and the so-called dismemberment of the health care system.
A box placed on an adjacent table featured the face of Doug Ford with a slot cut into the mouth. Attendees at the event were encouraged to fill out post cards, which East said will be delivered to the premier’s office.
“We are going to make sure he is aware,” said East.
Janice Folk-Dawson, with the Ontario Federation of Labour, said the coalition of groups need to move past only holding rallies to have more impact to battle the government on a number of fronts, including health care cuts, worker rights and education cuts.
“On both education and health care we are handing out flyers about the facts,” said Folk-Dawson. “But we are also giving actions for people to take. I think we have done a good job as labout in the past about getting our message out there, but we haven’t really given people an action they can take.”
