Commonwealth_ Most of Canada’s health coalitions have joined forces to issue a strong collective voice calling for action from both federal and provincial governments immediately to correct the worsening state of the nation’s health system. They are demanding a stop to cuts in public health care and a reordering of government expenditure priorities—specifically the priority for spending on areas like military expenditures over essential healthcare.
Natalie Mehra, Executive Director of the Ontario Health Coalition, emphasized the gravity of the situation, highlighting the rapid and unprecedented push towards healthcare privatization in provinces like Ontario and Alberta. “Privatization is not only expanding at a rate we’ve never seen before, but it also comes at a significantly higher cost,” she said. “It drains both financial and human resources from our already struggling public hospitals.”
One of the most egregious cases Mehra cited is private, for-profit cataract surgery clinics that are charging patients hundreds or thousands of dollars—when such charges are illegal under Canadian health-care law. She warned that the trend threatens the very foundations of public health care and is undermining Ontario’s hospitals, already the province’s most underfunded. “Hundreds of patients are contacting us stating that they are being charged for medically necessary care, which they are entitled to receive for free under our healthcare system. That is not only harmful, it’s illegal,” Mehra asserted.
Closure of emergency departments (EDs) is another immediate concern raised in the coalition’s joint statement. In areas like Grey-Bruce, inpatient hospital beds and local EDs in hospitals like the ones in Durham and Chesley have closed down, putting more pressure on facilities close by like Hanover and Walkerton. “It took over a century for people to construct these local hospitals. These are not in keeping with the values and the needs of our communities,” stated Mehra. She warned that when the services of a given region are curtailed, the nearby hospitals get overburdened, operating beyond their capacity and financial means.
Despite raising the fourth alarm, Mehra criticized the Ontario government, led by Premier Doug Ford, for being unresponsive to the crisis. “Ontario funds its hospitals at the lowest rate of any province in Canada, and that is a political decision, not an economic necessity,” she said to the Star. “Even with building public pressure, the government won’t budge.”.
Mehra said that for-profit providers are systematically taking over the same addictions and mental health services, which are also woefully underfunded. She is calling for the services to be fully insured under the Canada Health Act and for the federal government to have a plan in place to improve access to care.
To initiate change, Mehra urged people to cut through the rhetoric and speak directly to their local Members of Parliament (MPs) and Members of Provincial Parliament (MPPs). “For example, in Grey Bruce, Tory MPP Paul Vickers and Lisa Thompson must be heard. This isn’t rudeness—it’s demanding responsibility. Citizens need to say, ‘Our hospitals have withstood a century. This is not what we voted for,’ ” Mehra urged.
She further stated that public pressure can indeed be effective. “If they hear it enough times, they will stop,” she said. But Mehra also noted with concern that even though people are unhappy with the government, the government continues to get re-elected, and this has created issues regarding accountability.
Significantly, the health coalitions are not political, and their aim is to hold all political leaders accountable for delivering quality healthcare services to Canadians. As a symbolic move to bring the crisis into focus, healthcare advocacy groups planned a “Shadow Summit” near the official July 21–23 summit of Prime Minister Mark Carney, Premier Doug Ford, and other provincial and territorial premier leaders in Huntsville. The summit, at the Hidden Valley Resort, included workshops, speeches, and a “Car Cavalcade” with stops across the town culminating in public rallies to raise awareness of the healthcare crisis and call for immediate reforms
