Ontario Health Coalition 22 Jan 2026 In the context of Ontario’s public health care system under unprecedented stress, following years of austerity budgets and a global pandemic, powerful organizations have ramped up efforts to push for privatization.   Right-wing think tank push for privatized two-tier health care in Canada, among other policies.  They have aggressively pushed for the privatization of health care services and a two-tier system to address record-long wait tim

Ontario Health Coalition 22 Jan 2026 Pro-privatization groups, some of which are funded by or linked to right-wing American organizations and corporate interests, have turned to making false claims about two-tier European health care systems in their push to privatize. This tactic is an attempt to divert attention from the American health care system that the Canadian public generally knows more about and understands to be a failure. Nonetheless, Canadians are often subject t

By Ashley Newport, Lead Editor at INsauga.com Published January 20, 2026 at 4:22 pm     While health care can be–and is–delivered privately, publicly or through a two-tier system that utilizes both models, a recent poll of INsauga.com ’s readers suggests that, despite challenges with Canada’s universal health care system, people aren’t ready to embrace private options.   According to an informal online poll, 65 per cent of voters said they would not support more private healt

Jan. 20, 2026 Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones attends a news conference at the Michener Institute of Education in Toronto, Dec. 1, 2022. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Chris Young By Lhamo Dolkar and Doris Grinspun, Contributors Lhamo Dolkar is a practicing NP and the president of the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario (RNAO). Dr. Doris Grinspun is RNAO’s chief executive officer.   Alberta’s push toward for-profit health care has been making headlines, drawing criticism and p

Costs for hospitals have been going up by about six per cent a year due, OHA president Anthony Dale said, while in recent years funding increases from the province have averaged around four per cent. By Elizabeth Payne Published Jan 16, 2026 A file photo of a sign directing visitors to the emergency department at CHEO in Ottawa. Photo by ADRIAN WYLD /THE CANADIAN PRESS Ontario hospitals will face tough choices in the next few years that will likely affect the services they of

The Physician Services Agreement, which came into effect last year, increases the financial incentive for doctors accepting patients from the province’s centralized waitlist from $350 to $500. 1/13/2026 Canadian Healthcare Network Staff   Ontario is giving family physicians money to take on new patients from the provincial waitlist. But is this incentivizing some doctors to drop their current patients in favour of taking on new ones?   In a story published on last week in the

Saturday January 24                       10 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. Sunday January 25                          9 a.m. - 12:30 p.m. Central YMCA, 20 Grosvenor Street, Toronto You can come in person or join by Zoom. Everyone must register to attend.   Posted 8 Jan. 2026 By the Ontario Health Coalition       THIS IS OUR MOST IMPORTANT MEETING OF THE YEAR. Hear local coalitions from all over the province report in on the fightback. Learn what the Ford and Carney governments have planne

Nurse Amie Archibald-Varley criticizes provincial leadership, saying promises to fix health care have gone unmet. Posted 2 Jan 2026 Devon Banfield, NOW Toronto Archibald-Varley warns healthcare delays are happening across the country, arguing that provincial governments must be held accountable, and privatization will only worsen the crisis. This comes after the recent deaths of Mandy Wood (left) and Prashant Sreekumar (right) who both died after experiencing delays in receiv

TORONTO - Sweeping changes to the childhood vaccine schedule in the U.S. are concerning doctors who say Canadian parents might get the false impression that it’s unsafe to immunize their children.  Jan. 6, 2026 By  Hannah Alberga, The Canadian Press TORONTO - Sweeping changes to the childhood vaccine schedule in the U.S. are concerning doctors who say Canadian parents might get the false impression that it’s unsafe to immunize their children.   Ontario Medical Association Pre

Don your scarves and pull your toques on tight. But is that winter frost or the bitter chill of progressive health policies put on ice?  Dec 18, 2025 by Maddi Dellplain        It’s been quite a year for Canadian health policy. Several controversial bills have come into play across the country, leaving many vulnerable patients and health-care workers wondering if they’ll be left out in the cold.   This month, Alberta yet again invoked  the “notwithstanding clause” to shield it

Friday, December 26, 2025. 12:22 PM EDT Canada needs reliable partners who are looking to science on subjects like vaccines, says Minister Marjorie Michel. Minister of Health Marjorie Michel rises during question period on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Monday, June 2, 2025. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press By Sarah Ritchie, The Canadian Press   OTTAWA - Health Minister Marjorie Michel says she can no longer trust American health agencies as reliable partners.   Michel says Canada

Dec. 22, 2025 “Canada’s problem is not a lack of potential physicians, but a failure of planning and foresight,” writes Dr. Debakant Jena. Dreamstime By Debakant Jena Contributor Dr. Debakant Jena is chief of orthopedic surgery at Medicine Hat Regional Hospital, associate professor at the University of Calgary and a first-generation immigrant to Canada. In May, 96-year-old retired teacher Dorothy Lamont  placed a small classified ad in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald titled “See

Ontario Premier Doug Ford proposed expanding the list of “minor ailments” that pharmacists can treat during a press conference at a Shoppers Drug Mart pharmacy in Etobicoke on Jan. 11, 2023. Tijana Martin/The Canadian Press file photo Dec. 18, 2025 By Iris Gorfinkel, Contributor Iris Gorfinkel is a family physician and clinical researcher in Toronto.   Hardly a year passes that this doesn’t happen: a patient wakes up with a sore throat, but I’m away. It’s Christmas Day and th

Ontario Health Coalition Urgent Briefing December 16, 2025  Alberta Premier Danielle Smith pictured speaking at a news conference earlier this year. (Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press) Alberta's government, led by Danielle Smith and the United Conservative Party, passed a new law, Bill 11 The Health Statutes Amendment Act, last week. With its passage the existential threat for public medicare in Canada is here. The new law sets up two-tier medicare and private health insuranc

December 11 2025 Canadian Health Coalition   Alberta has passed dangerous legislation  that threatens public health care across Canada.   What's happening:   Bill 11: The Health Statutes Amendment Act, 202 (No. 2 ) , allows doctors to charge unlimited fees at for-profit clinics for medically necessary procedures while also working in the public system. This is American-style health care that opens our system to private insurance corporations.   Alberta is creating two-tiered

Dec. 10, 2025 By Robin Lennox and Adil Shamji Contributors Robin Lennox is MPP (NDP) for Hamilton Centre. Adil Shamji is MPP (Liberal) for Don Valley East. Both are physicians with experience caring for Ontarians.   Dr. Robin Lennox, left, MPP for Hamilton Centre and Dr. Adil Shamji, MPP for Don Valley East, are part of a multi-party group of elected officials calling for universal pharmacare in Ontario. Alix Gould and Jenna Muirhead Across Ontario, too many people are making

By Codi Wilson Published: December 08, 2025 at 1:44 PM EST Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones speaks at a news conference on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025.   The province says early next year it will be issuing licences to four new community surgical and diagnostic centres to perform orthopedic surgeries in Ontario.   The move is part of the Ford government’s plan to spend $125 million over the next two years to ramp up orthopedic surgeries at private clinics , allowing the centres

Ontario is facing a startling rise in infectious diseases, and public health inspectors say they know who to blame — Premier Doug Ford’s government.  Public health nurse Betty Wu-Lawrence (left) and public health inspectors Merima Kostecki (centre), and Chris Eaton (right) speak to reporters at Queen's Park. Photo: CUPE by Richie Assaly November 26, 2025   Frontline public health workers are sounding the alarm about the state of sexually transmitted infections, waterborne il

By Isaac Callan & Colin D'Mello | Global News Posted December 2, 2025 Toronto Metropolitan University’s School of Medicine is seen, in Brampton, Ont., on Aug. 25, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sammy Kogan  A lack of planning in the Ford government’s expansion of Ontario’s medical schools meant the province has created family medicine spaces more slowly than it had planned, the auditor general has found.   As part of its plans to improve access to primary care, the government anno

Watchdog Shelley Spence diagnosed a lack of effort to crack down on an estimated $1 billion in potential overcharges by physicians — including 59 who billed for more than 24 hours in a day.   Dec. 2, 2025 By Rob Ferguson Queen’s Park Bureau, and Robert Benzie Queen’s Park Bureau Chief Ontario’s auditor general Shelley Spence speaks to media following the release of her annual report at the Ontario legislature in Toronto, on Dec. 2, 2025. Sammy Kogan/The Canadian Press   Premi