Thousands rally at Queen’s Park to stop privatization of Ontario’s public health care
June 1, 2024 | Barry Weisleder
They came in busses, cars and trains from across southern Ontario to Toronto City Hall on a breezy, but sunny May 30, 2024. In their thousands they marched and gathered in front of the Ontario Legislature. Their mission: to stop privatization of public healthcare.
Labour union contingents, community organizations, seniors’ groups and many others responded to the call of the Ontario Health Coalition. Speakers from the Ontario Federation of Labour and the “loyal opposition”, including the capitalist Liberal and Green parties, and the pro-capitalist New Democrats, decried the agenda that prevails at Queen’s Park.
Instead of expanding much needed services in public hospitals, the Doug Ford Conservative government is giving hundreds of millions in tax dollars to for-profit corporations to privatize healthcare. As he announced his plan to privatize, Ford promised that people would never have to pay for care with a credit card, only an OHIP card. But his government is letting private clinics get away with charging Ontarians for healthcare, which is illegal under the so-called Protection of Public Medicare laws.
The Socialist Action display table was a pole of attraction for protesters who deplore the Ford provincial government. Many signed the SA mailing list. Sales of buttons and booklets topped $178.
Rejecting the futile routine of the reformists who urge victims of the corporate agenda to oust the Tories at the next election, the SA banner boldly proclaimed “Dump Thug Ford with a General Strike.” The much-photographed scarlet ensign reminded activists that labour squandered a precious opportunity to dispose of Ford in November 2022. That was when education support workers — 55,000 from the Canadian Union of Public Employees and 10,000 from the Ontario Public Service Employees’ Union — successfully defied Ford’s anti-strike law, generating widespread momentum for a general strike.
Smash the G20 agenda! Demand Labour enquiry into police repression