Nearly 400,000 Ontarians took part in referendum on the privatization of public hospital services and organizers say that an overwhelming 98% voted against it.
The Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) announced the results of their mass community-run referendum on Wednesday, where Ontarians were given the opportunity to have their say on if they would like their public hospital services to be privatized to forprofit hospitals and clinics.
Of the total 386,068 votes — 378,726 were voted ‘no’ and 7,001 votes ‘yes’. The remaining 341 were spoiled votes.
“We are unalterably opposed to the gutting and dismantling of our public hospitals and the privatization of them,” said OHC executive director Natalie Mehra,. “This is the beginning of what will be a relentless campaign to stop them from privatizing our public hospitals. We have no choice because once we lose them, I don’t know how we will get them back. It will be very difficult if not impossible to get them back.”
The OHC says it delivered a massive pile of ballots to the government Wednesday morning.
“They can dismiss, make fun, and suppress the actual ability of the people to vote. We know they are worried about this. We have spoken to over a million Ontarians, person to person in this process. That is the power of this process,” Mehra added.
According to the health care advocate, 1 in 29 Ontarians over the age of 16 voted in this referendum.
“Every Ontarian knows someone who voted in this. If they try to ignore this, we will ratchet it up. We will not stop until they stop,” Mehra stated.
Currently the Ontario Health Coalition represents more than 500 member organizations and a network of Local Health Coalitions and individual members.
Members include: seniors’ groups; patients’ organizations; unions; nurses and health professionals’ organizations; physicians and physician organizations that support the public health system; non-profit community agencies; student groups; ethnic and cultural organizations; residents’ and family councils; retirees; poverty and equality-seeking groups; women’s organizations, and others.
