MEDIA ADVISORY: Public healthcare advocates to protest at Minister of Health Sylvia Jones’ office

SITUATION CRITICAL

TORONTO, Feb. 07, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — On Saturday February 8^th at 12 noon, the Grey Bruce, Brampton Caledon and Greater Toronto health coalitions, local chapters of the Ontario Health Coalition, will gather outside Minister of Health Sylvia Jones’ constituency office to oppose and expose her government’s shocking record of failure on public healthcare.

“Our healthcare has never been in such chaos and crisis,” said Michelle Robidoux, co-chair of the Greater Toronto Health Coalition. “As Minister of Health, Sylvia Jones must answer for her government’s record of health care cuts, closures, shortages and privatization.

“While Doug Ford pretends to stand up to Trump, he is in fact implementing US-style privatized health care, plundering public health care for profit,” she continued. “We are sounding the alarm today because our public system will not survive another four years of these policies.”

Norah Beatty, a retired teacher living near Meaford and co-founder of the Grey Bruce Health Coalition, said “Our goal for the protest is to make healthcare a key issue in the election. We want to say why we and the public are so worried about the future of single tier health care.”

“Some system failures affect all of us everywhere”, she continued, “but some — hospital emergency department closures for instance — fall more heavily on people living in rural and northern areas.”

Herman Sethi, a healthcare worker and member of the Brampton Caledon Health Coalition, said: “Ford’s wage-capping Bill 124 and push for privatization have left healthcare workers overworked, underpaid, and demoralized—forcing many to leave the profession while private profits soar. Our public healthcare system is being dismantled, and those who care for us are paying the price.”

WHAT: Protest at Minister of Health Sylvia Jones constituency office
WHEN: Saturday February 8^th at 12 noon Eastern
WHERE: 180 Broadway Street, Orangeville

Media contacts:
Grey Bruce Health Coalition – 519-477-3513
Brampton Caledon Health Coalition – 647-237-6276
Greater Toronto Health Coalition – 416-856-5008