As an arm of the Ontario Health Coalition, the local chapter worries about the continuing effects of privatization on the health care system and is ramping up its ongoing campaign to pressure Premier Doug Ford's government to turn back before it's too late.
See related: Report raises red flags over Ontario's health care privatization
Henri Giroux represented the North Bay and District Health Coalition as he spoke from the public library auditorium on Monday. Giroux highlighted the major points of the province-wide action fighting against "Plundering public health for profit," and outlined the campaign to see two million leaflets distributed across Ontario by the assorted health coalitions, culminating in a protest on May 30.
"If we don't stop this, it's going to be like that," Giroux said about the Canadian health care system's devolution into something approaching the tiered American profit-based model. "We're very close. If people don't care about their health care it's going to happen and that's why we have this campaign. We've had this for a couple of years now. We have stopped some elements of what the government wants to do. Now it's getting worse and worse, they should be putting more money into public health care than private. We're getting closer to the American. Exactly. That's what's going to happen."
The Health Coalition is adamant the Ford government is giving hundreds of millions of dollars to for-profit corporations to privatize health care instead of expanding services in Ontario's public hospitals.
See: Health Coalition fighting privatization plans for health care
Ford promised, "Nobody's going to pay with their credit card," exclaimed Giroux. "We're seeing it happening and we want to make sure it stops. You know, if somebody in the family gets sick, you're going to do anything to make sure that person gets well and gets back on track. But the problem is if the government is not giving enough money now to make sure our public hospital stays running properly and has our public staff.
"We don't want to see our kids, grandkids, or great-grandkids having to pay for healthcare that we never had to. Therefore, we're ringing the bell so that people understand this is a major problem and if we don't get off our buffer and do something about it, it's just going to happen."
The local coalition members shared the story of Lois Cooper, who was referred to a for-profit clinic for eye surgery and ended up being billed nearly $8,000 for her procedure. "I wouldn't have spoken out," Cooper told CBC, "if I hadn't heard Premier Ford say these private clinics won't charge you extra. If feels like it's my public duty to say that's not true."
Giroux invited anyone concerned about health care to join the North Bay Health Coalition and said the group is seeking volunteers to distribute the leaflets in the area.
"You don't want to have to pay with your credit card. You want to pay with your health card," Giroux said. "We know the government is leading the way in making this all private, and we're going to lose a lot of the stuff that we fought for our community, for 50 years, 60 years to get our health care paid, and we believe that they're not going to stop unless we stop them. So what we're doing here is we're asking people to please join us to make sure everybody takes 25 pamphlets, cover an area and distribute them to their friends, to their neighbours, and talk about it."
The main May 30 protest will be held at Queen's Park but Giroux said a local action is planned for the same day.
