Fight against private health care focus of local town hall tonight

The Algoma chapter of the Ontario Health Coalition will hold a town hall this evening at the Moose Lodge (543 Trunk Rd.) starting at 7 p.m.

The public event will feature a number of guest speakers, including Natlalie Mehra, executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition; Randy Robinson, Ontario director of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; France Gelinas, NDP health critic; Dr.Adil Shamji, Liberal Party of Ontario; Dr. Marlene Spruyt, Green Party of Ontario; and. Dr. Jonathan DellaVedova.
 
Full text of an advisory issued by the Algoma chapter of the Ontario Health Coalition follows:

The Ford government changed course on its plans for the Green Belt [sic] after public pressure and media scrutiny rose to a level that could not be ignored. We can, and we must build the fightback for our public health care!

The Ontario Health Coalition remains very concerned about the privatization agenda of the Ford government as documented in recent reports such as Robbing the Public to Fund the Private, released Feb. 21, and Illegal, Unlawful and Unethical: Case Studies of Patients Charged for Medical Care in Ontario's Private Clinics.

Amidst this drive to privatization, even with the strong evidence that it doesn't serve the public interest, the Ford government continues to under-fund health care and other vital programs even while the government's own Financial Accountability Office shows Ontario per capita spending on health care and other vital programs is the lowest of all the provinces. Meanwhile Sault Ste. Marie residents, along with millions of others across Ontario, face a looming crisis in primary care, an unprecedented number of Emergency Room closures around the province, and certainly, if this policy direction continues, no end to the hallway medicine crisis Ford promised to end while campaigning for office.