MEDIA ADVISORY: 75 per cent of people in Eastern/Northern Ontario want provincial government to prioritize spending on public hospitals instead of private clinics: new poll

Event Information

Begins: 10 June 2025
Location: Cornwall, ON

OCHU-CUPE media conference in Cornwall at 2pm on Tuesday to release full findings of new Nanos poll on privatization

CORNWALL, ON –(COMMUNITYWIRE)– Just over 10 days after the recent Ontario budget allocated $280 million for expansion of surgeries and diagnostic tests in private clinics while restraining hospital funding, a new poll shows that 75 per cent of people in Eastern and Northern Ontario want the government to prioritize investments in public health care.

The Nanos poll conducted in May surveyed over a thousand Ontarians about privatization of hospital services and their perception about staffing in public hospitals, including a representative sample from Eastern and Northern Ontario.

The poll was commissioned by CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE), which will be releasing a supplementary report on privatization on Tuesday.

Aside from more detailed polling data, the union will also be showing a colour-coded map of Cornwall based on the Ontario Marginalization Index as a visual representation of the inequitable access to privatized hospital services. In 2024, a Canadian Medical Association Journal found that privatization benefitted the most affluent Ontarians at the expense of everyone else.

WHO:
Michael Hurley, president of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE) and Doug Allan, CUPE Researcher

WHAT:
Media conference to release polling and report on privatization of hospital services

WHERE:
Cornwall Public Library – 45 Second St E, Cornwall, ON

WHEN:
2 pm on Tuesday, June 10

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For more information, contact:

Zee Noorsumar, CUPE Communications
znoorsumar@cupe.ca
647-995-9859