[All] Fw: [OHC] New: Call out for critically important mass protests stop hospital privatization/closures

[Lanteigne]

If anyone wants to hop on a bus to Toronto for the Sept 25th, first day of Legislature protest against Hospital Privatization, fill the form. 
Lulu 😊


Sent from Yahoo Mail for iPhone


Begin forwarded message:

On Wednesday, July 19, 2023, 12:56 PM, Ontario Health Coalition via OntarioHealthCoalition <ontariohealthcoalition at list.web.net> wrote:


Critically Important: Everyone is needed to build a mass protest on the opening day of the Legislatureto stop the Ford government's privatization of our public hospitals.
 Click here to sign up to attend/get on buses

 MASS PROTEST 

OPENING DAY OF THE ONTARIO LEGISLATURE

Monday, September 25, 2023 at Noon







TORONTO - at Queen's Park outside the Main Legislative Building at Noon



THUNDER BAY - at Mini Queen's Park at South James St. at Noon



DRYDEN - Outside MPP Greg Rickford's office, 439 Government St. at 11:30 a.m. CST (Dryden time)



ALGOMA - Outside the Sault Area Hospital at Lukenda Drive at Noon

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NOTE: We are not asking for every town to hold a protest. We are asking for people to join the protests closest to them. Southern Ontario up to Sudbury and North Bay will come to Toronto. The North Shore of Lake Huron and Algoma area will go to Sault Ste. Marie. N/W Ontario will go to Thunder Bay or Dryden. We will livestream each protest to each other. All protests are at noon Toronto time, except Dryden which will be at 11:30 Central Standard Time (Dryden time) which is 12:30 p.m. Toronto time. 




Let's make a major show of strength to set the tone for the reopening of the Ontario Legislature.


Let's greet the Ford government upon their return and remind them that we are not going away.

 We are unalterably opposed to the privatization of our public hospitals. 

We paid for them. We built them. They do not belong to the Ford government to run them into crisis, gut their core services and privatize them. 

As the Ontario Legislature re-opens on September 25, let's make it visible and powerful. 

Let us build on our extraordinary achievements and make it impossible for the Ford government to carry on unchallenged. 



What are our demands for the Ford government?

   
   - Stop the privatization of our public hospitals
   - Stop creating a crisis in our public hospitals by underfunding them, cutting and closing services, and trying to roll back wages of nurses, health professionals & support staff,
   - Expand the use of existing ORs in our public hospitals that are closed much of the time due to understaffing and underfunding, and 
   - Expand capacity in our public hospitals & restore closed services.
There will be a special message and focus about the Ford government enabling the closure of vital services in small, rural and local hospitals across Ontario.
Can't make it to the central protest in Toronto?See the list of four major regional protests in RED above. We are not asking every town to hold a protest. We are building four regional huge protests and asking people to join them. 
Why Monday, September 25? The Ford government sets the Legislative calendar. The Legislature is closed for summer break and will reconvene on Monday, September 25 as per the decision of the Ford government. We have set the protest for noon so some people may be able to come at lunch time. We are announcing the event months before so people may be able to schedule time off. It is imperative that we be there when the Legislature reopens so that we can set the tone, get the media to tell the story and ensure that the issue of the privatization of Ontario's public hospitals is top and centre on the public agenda for this legislative session. We can't let Ford hope to have people forget over the summer and sweep it under the rug. 

Monday, September 25 is Yom Kippur. The Ford government has chosen the date of the re-opening of the Legislature and it falls on Yom Kippur. We asked the Opposition NDP and Liberals to raise this with the Ford government. They told us that they would do so, but it is the ruling party that sets the schedule and they moved the date to Yom Kippur from the week before to accommodate the plowing match. We also raised the issue with key folks in the Jewish community who brought this concern forward to a Toronto group of rabbis. The feedback we got was they are not lobbying to change the date. Since we cannot change the opening day, our plan is to  have a speaker from the Jewish community who will walk to and speak at the event, and to host a second protest for those who cannot attend due to the date being on Yom Kippur. 
Thus, we will also host a second event for people who are Jewish who cannot attend on the 25th, on Tuesday, September 26 at noon outside the Legislature. Anyone who would like to volunteer to help with this event and/or attend it, can you please email us with the subject line: "Tues. Sept 26 protest".



What to do next? 

If you are interested in attending a Mass Protest on Monday, September 25, Please let us know. Click here to sign up to attend and/or to get on a bus.


Do you have an idea or suggestion to make this protest the biggest show of strength that it can possibly be?Please share! Ultimately, it will be politically impossible for the Ford government to continue to privatize our public hospitals' services against the will of the vast majority of Ontarians. Let us make that happen sooner than later because every service we lose is extremely hard to get back. As the Ontario Legislature re-opens in the fall, let's make it visible and powerful. Let us build on our extraordinary achievements and make it impossible for the Ford government to carry on unchallenged.

Mark off Monday September 25th on your calendar! 
We will look forward to seeing you there.
Ontario Health Coalition Team 


 
-- 
We are proud of the difference we make and we hope you are too. This work is only made possible by people who care like you. Please do become a member or donate. It matters!If you can, please CLICK HERE to donate or become a member.
Ontario Health Coalition15 Gervais Drive, Suite 201
Toronto, ON M3C 1Y8FacebookTwitterInstagram
www.ontariohealthcoalition.ca
416-441-2502Click here to UNSUBSCRIBE from this email list: https://list.web.net/lists/options/ontariohealthcoalition/water.lulu%40yahoo.ca



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