MEDIA ADVISORY: Five years into Ford government’s privatization of hospital services: longer wait-times, unequal access, and public opposition

Event Information

Begins: 16 June 2025
Location: Belleville, ON

OCHU-CUPE media conference in Belleville on Monday to release new report on privatization

BELLEVILLE, ON –(COMMUNITYWIRE)– Five years ago, the Ford government began the privatization of cataract surgeries under the guise of improving wait-times. New data from CIHI shows that wait-times for cataract surgeries have worsened since then, while new polling results show stiff public opposition to the government’s signature policy initiative. Meanwhile, the government is moving ahead with further privatization of knee and hip surgeries.

On Monday in Belleville, CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU-CUPE), will be releasing a new report on privatization along with findings of a Nanos poll of residents in Eastern Ontario, 75 per cent of whom want the government to prioritize investments in public hospitals instead of private clinics.

The union will also be showing a map of Belleville based on the Ontario Marginalization Index as a visual representation of the inequitable access to privatized hospital services.

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:
Belleville Public Library, 254 Pinnacle Street, Belleville, ON

WHEN:
1:30 p.m. on Monday, June 16

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For more information, contact:

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