The Grey Bruce Labour Council has accused the Ford Government of destroying decades of bi-partisan work to ensure access to public services and goods regardless of income.
The Labour Council's vice president for Bruce County, Dave Trumble, added that healthcare is the most visible example of the privatization and destruction of essential public services.
"It's a general attack on proper funding for public services that everybody needs," he stressed. "Of course, we have those of high incomes who can afford to purchase private health care, but the vast majority of people in Ontario, and Canada, for that matter, need a robust and strong public service, whether it's healthcare, education or any of the other ones."
Trumble pointed to eroding hospital services in Chesley and Durham, as well as countless temporary emergency department closures.
"As Ford continues to underfund healthcare, yet he has money in the treasury, people need to understand what's at stake," he warned. "And one of the biggest things at stake is we're now seeing locally in our area, where we have Chesley and Durham hospitals under extreme duress. People are now beginning to reconsider where they're going to live. You know, here we have the Four County Labour Market Planning Board talking about retention, and now we've got hospitals closing down. And that may even prevent people from coming to the area, let alone retention."
Trumble added we're seeing entire emergency departments or hospitals closed to make room for private and “pay as you go healthcare".
"It's not just about being able to have a doctor, which, of course, we think is paramount, but it's simply about being able to access healthcare without having to drive a considerable distance," he continued. "We also know that one of the retention barriers in our area is the lack of public transport, because people that need public healthcare the most are often those that don't even have transportation."
Trumble urged residents to contact their MPP and MP to protect public health care.
"Money from the Canada Health Act flows out of Ottawa," he explained. "So the immediate sort of short term stuff is reach out to them, express concern with lack of regulations around transparency with hospital boards and why certain decisions are being made. Certainly make it clear that we need an adequately funded public health care system."
He stated privatized services benefit the richest of the population, while reducing access for the general population.
