Editor's Note: This story was previously posted on StratfordToday.ca.
The battle cries of 'shame' and 'Doug Ford’s Gotta Go' filled the sidewalk outside the front of the Arden Park Hotel in Stratford on Monday morning as groups concerned about the lack of commitment to education and healthcare voiced their displeasure with the provincial premier. The tone of the protest outside was not a warm welcome for those taking part in pre-budget consultations but rather one disillusioned with the current Ontario government and what protesters called a lack of commitment to education and healthcare.
“Just before the last election the Minister of Health said they were going to privatize our healthcare system, which we thought was a terrible idea and we objected to it,” said Jim Stewart, the Chair of the Waterloo Region Health Coalition. “The government's response to that at the time, was no, we were categorically false, they were not going to privatize our public healthcare system. They then got elected and immediately after they were elected what did they do? They privatize the public healthcare system, and they are continuing to dismantle and destroy something we have been building for a hundred years.”
Stratford played host to pre-budget consultations which included MPPS of all parites, Perth-Wellington MPP Matthew Rae among them. Terence Kernaghan, the MPP of London North Centre and a member of the Standing Committee on Finance and Economic Affairs, was also in attendance.
“Today’s meeting is to inform people that the budget is coming up in 2025,” said Kernaghan. “The pre-budget consultations are where the government, and official opposition go to listen to community concerns and hopefully address them in the next provincial budget.”
The local meeting featured representatives from CMHA, Pillar Nonprofit Network, Stratford Public Library, InvestStratford, Ontario Public School Boards' Association, Ontario Pork, Healthy Kids Clinic,Mapleton Chamber of Commerce,St Mary's General Hospital & Grand River Hospital, Huron Perth Healthcare Alliance,Township of Mapleton, David Suzuki Foundation, City of Stratford, Stratford & District Chamber of Commerce, Town of St Marys, Town of Minto, Ontario Public Transit Association, and STAR Family Health Team.
Members of the protest voiced their displeasure over the lack of public notice for the pre-budget consultations, and there were also discussions around how the lack of funds is really hurting hospitals directly.
“I worked in healthcare at St. Joe’s in London for ten years,” said Peter Bergmanis, Co-Chair of the London Health Coalition. “If you had ever heard of an ER closure back then, it would have been pure shock. Just last year down the road St. Marys Memorial Hospital joined an all-time high number of over 1,000 service disruptions and closures in the province, a number that we anticipate will skyrocket this year.”
Kernaghan agrees with the protesters and added that the cuts to healthcare are more than disturbing.
“We see the Ford government is willing to pay double for surgeries at private for profit hospitals,” he said. “This government would pat itself on the back for its investment in healthcare, but it's important to realize that Ford is leading the privatization of healthcare. We’ve heard that community and mental healthcare service providers are paid the lowest of the low, and eventually those people will leave for higher paying positions.”
Back outside, the message to the panel from the gathering protesters was simple.
“We’re not going to tolerate this anymore,” said Bergmanis. “Ontario is going to take back its healthcare system and probably save it for the rest of the country.”
Another one of the protest organizers, Bryan Smith the Chair at Oxford Coalition for Social Justice, told the crowd about a recent experience at his local hospital, which was beyond unsatisfactory.
“I went to an emergency ward and my care was provided by the security guard at the door,” he said.” “There were no available medical personnel, and why is that? Because in this province we fund healthcare less than any other province in the country.”
Kernaghan urged all voters in Perth-Wellington and anywhere that is a Conservative-held seat to get in contact with their local MPP to let them know the way healthcare workers are getting paid in the province is unfair and needs to change.
“The official opposition was allowed to bring forward legislation to get the government to resume its historic responsibility to provide affordable and supportive housing,” he said. “MPP Rae described that as communism and as the destruction of the free market. It was the most ridiculous comment that I’ve ever heard. I think it's time that certain MPPs on the Conservative benches put aside their ideologies and stand up for their communities.”
Currently roughly 300 people are experiencing some form of homelessness, but recently Premier Ford announced legislation that would fine, and arrest people living in homeless encampments in the province.
Kernaghan says today’s protest shows that the government is out of touch and on its last legs.
“I think we are seeing the dying days of a government right now,” he said. “He has the lowest popularity of any premier in Canada."
Currently the next provincial election is slated for early June of 2026, but many experts agree that Premier Ford will be calling an election in the early parts of 2025.
