OTTAWA A replica of the Trojan horse will be attending the CKCU Folk Festival in Ottawa on Friday, August 27th, as part of a province-wide anti-privatization tour.
The CKCU Festival is one of 100 stops on the Trojan horse tour organized by the Ontario Health Coalition and the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/Canadian Union of Public Employees. The two groups created the giant wooden horse to bring the dangers of public private hospitals to the publics attention. The Royal Ottawa hospital has consistently refused to make contracts related to the P3 (private public partnership) hospital public.
During the election, Dalton McGuinty promised to scrap this P3 deal and build a public hospital, says health care worker Louis Rodrigues. The people of Ottawa want him to honour that commitment. The new ROH comprises the Brockville Psychiatric Hospital and the Royal Ottawa Hospital, and it will have 50 per cent fewer beds than those individual institutions. The public can also expect 14 per cent fewer nurses and 38 per cent less support staff.
The corporations that get these contracts make profits of 25 per cent a year, says Natalie Mehra, spokesperson for the Ontario Health Coalition. We suspect the ROH is trying to keep contracts secret because the new privately owned hospital will be substantially more expensive and downsized thats the legacy of privatization.
- Who? Ontario Health Coalition (OHC), Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU/CUPE), Health care workers and concerned citizens, 15-foot Trojan Horse
- What? Media availability with health care workers and concerned citizens
- When? Friday, August 27th, 6:00-8:00pm
- Where? Britannia Park, Ottawa
For further information, please contact:
Louis Rodrigues
Health Care Worker
613-531-1319 (cell)
(On Tour)
Natalie Mehra
Ontario Health Coalition
416-230-6402
James Chai
CUPE Communications
416-292-3999