Votes are counted: Ontario Health Coalition reveals results from informal health care survey
The Ontario Health Coalition (OHC) said more than 382,000 people voted in their informal survey.
For the past six weeks they’ve been asking Ontarians to vote in person or online on whether they want public hospital services to be privatized to for-profit hospitals and clinics.
“We’d love to see like all 382,000 plus of those [ballots] being poured out onto the front lawn of the legislature,” said Peter Bergmanis, co-chair of the London, Ont. chapter of the OHC.
In response to the Ford government’s implementation of Bill 60, the advocacy group started what they were calling “referendum” on public health care.
In London, the OHC received more than 15,000 physical and online votes, with about two per cent saying they'd be okay with privatization.
At Queen’s Park, Premier Doug Ford dismissed the OHC’s work.
The Ontario Health Coalition says more than 382,000 people across Ontario voted either online or in-person during their informal survey on public healthcare. (Brent Lale/CTV News London)
“I don't call it a referendum, it was a political poll that was driven one sided,” said Ford.
He had his own opinion on how the survey question should have been crafted.
“Do you want to wait in line for a hip replacement that could take 18 months?” asked Ford.
“Or would you like something that could be done in 60 days from the exact same doctor in a surgical clinic, in a centre?”
The OHC believes the Ford government will be forced to listen to the results, or face potential fallout at the ballot box in the next three years.
“He's got closures of ERs in a lot of Conservative communities,” said Bergmanis. “Minden has never been in the news before and now it is. St. Marys in our own backyard. So I think the Conservatives are very concerned. They wouldn't actually be pushing back against us so hard if they weren't concerned.”
London Health Coalition co-chairs Peter Bergmanis (left) and Jeff Hanks discuss the number of votes cast in the recent survey on public health care in Ontario. (Brent lale/CTV News London)
The opposition parties will bring the formal tally to the legislature later this week.
“The magnitude of 10,000 in a petition is significant, and this is magnitudes much greater than anything done before,” said Bergmanis.
He added, “We have the people on our side and they know we have the people on our side. This government is now put on notice that they are going to have a heck of a three year journey, if they choose to continue to implement this.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.