Ontario: Ontario’s five largest health care unions objected to privatisation of healthcare and wrote a letter to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Chrystia Freeland, House of Commons, Canada.
They said that the premier’s plan to build an American-style Private for Profit hospital poses a risk to their members and those they care for.
In an open letter to PM and Deputy PM, they wrote that as Ontario’s largest health care unions, CUPE, SEIU Healthcare, OPSEU/SEFPO, ONA, and Unifor, we write on behalf of 295,000 workers concerned that Premier Ford’s privatization plan is putting our members and the people they care for at risk. They urged them to consider the issue on a priority basis.
Our members cannot openly negotiate a joint agreement, with the healthcare system being under-funded by the Ford government in the name of the re-transfer of federal funds, which were supposed to be given for better public services during the pandemic.
The letter also said funding private clinics would reduce Ontario’s public hospitals’ ability to provide high-quality care and increase the challenges for frontline staff. This is a dangerous plan and it will not make the dream of providing the same healthcare to everyone come true.