June 8, 2023
Will the Premier listen to Ontarians and keep their emergency rooms open?
France Gélinas, MPP for Nickel Belt, asked the Premier yesterday morning why he will not listen to the many Ontarians who are asking for help to ensure their public hospitals’ emergency rooms can stay open.
“Last week the health coalition brought 400,000 Ontarians’ voices opposed to private health care to this legislature. Today Brock University students are here to show their dissatisfaction with this government’s privatization agenda. People representing Minden, Mount Forest, Palmerston, Listowel, Wingham, Seaforth, Clinton, Grey Bruce, Chesley, Thessalon are here, asking the Premier to reopen their ER or keep their ER open.
We live in a democracy. All those people come to Queen’s Park because they are scared, they are worried, they are anxious, they want to be heard. Why won’t the Premier listen to them?”
On May 26th and 27th, the Ontario Health Coalition held a referendum setting up almost one thousand polling locations across the province. They asked Ontarians whether they wanted public hospital services in Ontario to be privatized. There were over 400,000 votes in the referendum, with 98% of people voting against privatization.