First Plebiscite on P3 Hospitals Reveals They Have Little Support
Uncategorized Comments (0)
98% Vote to Keep Hospital Public in First Plebiscite to Stop P3 Hospitals
More than 12,400 people voted in a
citizen-called community-wide vote held in St. Catharines and area on
Saturday, June 25. The results of the plebiscite, called by the Niagara &
Ontario Health Coalitions, were released today at 1 pm in front of the Hotel
Dieu Hospital in St. Catharines.
On Saturday, community members lined up at polling stations staffed by
volunteers across the cities of Thorold, St. Catharines and Niagara-On-the-
Lake. Advance polls were conduced in schools, hospitals, auto plants, seniors’
homes and other workplaces across the community.
“This is real grassroots democracy at work. We are thrilled that over
12,000 people cared enough to cast their votes to keep our new hospital
public,” said Sue Hotte, Niagara Health Coalition co chair. “The residents of
our community have sent a clear message to our elected politicians that we are
supporting our new hospital, but we want a public not a privatized hospital.
We are now asking our MPPs to take this message to their caucuses and to
cabinet and bring back a promise to keep our hospital 100% publicly financed,
managed and operated.”
In answer to the ballot question: “I support a new hospital for St.
Catharines that is 100% publicly funded, owned, administered and operated.
Keep our hospital public and non-profit.”
Number of people who voted: 12,442
Number of “Yes” votes: 12,164
Number of “No” votes: 215
Spoiled ballots: 63
“This is the first plebiscite (community-wide vote) to stop the
privatization of our hospitals, and we are overwhelmed by the response,” said
Natalie Mehra coordinator of the Ontario Health Coalition. “We will use the
St. Catharines model to work with local communities across the province to
mount citizens’ votes to keep our hospitals public and non-profit. With such a
tremendous response, the government will not be able to break its election
promise to keep our hospitals public.”
Organizers were taken by surprise at the level of community response. Residents lined up at many polling stations before they opened in the morning, waiting to vote. Several polling stations ran out of ballots and ballot boxes were stuffed to overflowing. Extra volunteers had to be dispatched to bring them more while voters waited.
Patients in one hospital told staff they wanted to be able to vote, and
extra volunteers were sent in with ballot boxes to accommodate them. Seniors from one nursing home where the owner would not allow a polling station, left the home and crossed the street to vote at a station outside. Over a hundred volunteers braved sweltering temperatures and late-
afternoon thunderstorms to staff polling stations all day across the
community. Volunteers drove from site to site with sunscreen and cold drinks
to stave off heat stroke. Some polling stations had to be closed down early as
lightening and rainstorms created dangerous conditions at some of the outdoor
sites.
In May, the Ontario provincial government announced its intention to build up to
23 new hospitals using “innovative alternative financing mechanisms” or
private for-profit financing. Private finance (P3) hospital deals include
lease arrangements allowing the corporations to privatize lands, services,
facility management and other parts of the hospitals to generate profits for
the private corporations. The high cost of these deals has led to cuts in
clinical budgets, reducing hospital beds, doctors, nurses and support staff
and redirecting funds to for-profit multinational corporations. P3 deals have
been plagued by bankruptcies, costly legal disputes and a raft of quality
problems. Health coalitions across Ontario won a promise from the Liberal
government to stop the privatization of the hospitals in the election. Since
then, the Liberals have signed the first 2 privatized (P3) hospital deals in
Brampton and Ottawa. The coalition has mounted the plebiscite campaigns to
stop any further privatization.
@ June 27, 2005