A month-long fight against private health care by the Ontario Health Coalition has garnered nearly 400,000 votes of support including close to 3,500 here in the North Bay area.
The North Bay Health Coalition revealed the numbers gathered from the provincial vote online and in person.
Coalition officials believe the legislation which came in as Bill 60, supports the Ford government’s plan to expand private clinics in the province.
Henri Giroux, chair of the North Bay Health Coalition, says thousands of ballots were delivered to North Bay area homes. Voting stations were set up across the North Bay area on Saturday with more votes from area businesses still being collected.
"I am satisfied with the result that we have gotten in North Bay, I think if we had another month we could have put out a lot more flyers," said Giroux.
"The awareness is we put out about 10,000 flyers and delivered to area homes to make them understand that this is really bad and that they should really look at it."
See related: Health Coalition continues its fight against Bill 60
Giroux along with other Health Coalitions around the province will be gathering at Queen's Park on Wednesday to deliver all the referendum votes.
While Bill 60 received Royal Assent in the Legislative Assembly of Ontario on May 18, 2023, Giroux says they are not stopping the fight.
"We have the power of the people and if the people speak up, and they have, 382,000 in one month spoke up and said 'no way,'" said Giroux.
"We will see Doug Ford's reaction Wednesday when we drop it off at Queen's Park and see what kind of comment he comes up with.
"This is attacking our public healthcare, this is attacking hospitals, and now all of a sudden they are taking those services out of those hospitals. Then they are going to build private hospitals? This should not be acceptable to anybody."
Vic Fedeli, Nipissing MPP, responded to the Coalition's referendum.
"We trust that the North Bay and District Labour Council informed people that the Your Health Act (Bill 60) provides for increased evening and weekend hours in the operating room," said Fedeli in an email to BayToday.
"That is what they are voting against. The Act provides for more cataract surgeries. That is what they are voting against. It provides for more evening and weekend MRI and CT scans. That is what they are voting against.
"It protects the stability of doctors, nurses and other workers in our health care system. That is what they are voting against," Fedeli continued.
Fedeli adds that the province has received great feedback from constituents who have had accelerated cataract surgeries, and MRIs on nights and weekends.
"The Act made this possible for them," he said.
"Ontario is proud to have one of the largest publicly-funded health care systems in the world. Families will always have access to our health care system with their OHIP card, not their credit card.”
Giroux says their next step will be addressing North Bay City Council next week looking for its support against the new private health reform legislation
