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

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

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

Tracy Glynn, Canadian Health Coalition November 28, 2025 With unprecedented attacks on Canada’s public health care system, hear from frontline defenders of public health care in Ontario, Quebec, Alberta and B.C. who are using various strategies to protect Canada’s universal public health care system. From going to court to filing complaints, mobilizing experts and local activists, these champions of public health care are leading the charge for better Medicare.  Monday, Decem

Ontario Today with Amanda Pfeffer Nov. 26, 2025 The move by Alberta has raised a debate across Canada about whether the expansion of private options can fix long delays and wait lists. Here in Ontario, we’ve seen a growing number of private options even for primary care including subscription-based access to nurse practitioners and private clinics. There are online primary care options through sites like Maple.   In a bid to take on long surgery waitlists in hospitals, the Fo

By Iris Gorfinkel Contributor Iris Gorfinkel is a family physician and clinical researcher in Toronto. Nov. 27, 2025 Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, left, and Matt Jones, minister of hospitals, make a health-care announcement in Calgary on Friday. Smith has said, “Health care shouldn’t be about blind and outdated ideologies or politics.” Writes Iris Gorfinkel: “Let’s hope she wasn’t referring to universal public health care.” Jeff McIntosh/The Canadian Press Ontarians need to

CBC News | 20 Nov 2025 A new analysis from the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives looked at 25 countries and found those with more privatized health care fared worse on seven mortality indicators. The report comes as several provinces pursue privatizing some health-care services. Mortality and health care privatization: A comparison between countries Written by Anne Plourde , Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives "The main finding of this analysis is unequivocal: there

A recent international comparison of healthcare systems ranked Australia as the top performer—Canada was ranked seventh. Jason M. Sutherland 11/11/2025 Creator: AlexLMX | Credit: Getty Images/iStockphoto Emergency department closures. Long wait times for surgeries and specialist appointments.  Millions of Canadians without a primary healthcare provider .   Healthcare systems across Canada are struggling to provide timely and equitable access to healthcare services—at a time w

Polls indicate approximately 80% of Ontarians think the Ford government is doing a poor or very poor job on health care. Posted November 13, 2025 by the Ontario Health Coalition   When:         Saturday January 25 from 10 am - 4:30 pm                      Sunday January 26 from 9 am - 12:30 pm Where:        Central YMCA, 20 Grosvenor Street, Toronto & virtually via Zoom (see below) Featuring keynote speaker: Author, journalist, social activist Linda McQuaig   Come and hear wh

CBC News: The National 11 Nov 2025 Video Length 2:10 minutes As some Canadian provinces outsource certain surgeries to for-profit clinics, new research comparing the models in England and Scotland suggests shifting to private clinics can lead to longer wait times, reduced hospital capacity and increased inequality to access to care.

The signal from the budget is that health transfers, social transfers, equalizations — those things are not going to change. There’s no room for negotiation.

The decision to have a universal public health care system is always political. ~ Professor Allyson Pollock, 2016

Canada cannot afford to not invest in public health care. Carney's first budget, released on Nov. 4, has money for hospitals and beds but fails to support the retention of health care workers.

The Canada Health Act bans user fees and extra-billing, but it only works if we demand that the federal government enforces it so that provinces that violate the bans are shamed into coming back into compliance.

Extra-billing and user fees are banned under the Canada Health Act and Ontario’s Public Medicare protection laws, yet increasingly, the private clinics are charging patients with impunity, the Ontario Health Coalition reports.

If the Ford government fails to improve health-care funding, 7,263 nurses could be cut by 2027-28, further worsening Ontario’s number of nurses per capita.

Finance minister says funding increase will free up hospital beds   Allison Jones · The Canadian Press · Posted: Oct 27, 2025 12:01 PM EDT Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy announced the province will be increasing home care funding by $1 billion over three years, which he says amounts to an 8% funding increase. (The Canadian Press) Ontario Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy has announced that as part of the upcoming fall economic statement, the province will be in

Service reductions and bed closures will be considered only if lower-risk measures exhausted: ministry Allison Jones · The Canadian Press · Posted: Oct 20, 2025 2:03 PM EDT Ontario's Ministry of Health tasked hospitals to plan to balance their budgets within three years, assuming annual funding increases of two per cent — half of what they have received in recent years. (Patrick Morrell/CBC News) Ontario's Ministry of Health has tasked hospitals struggling with deficits to co

At stake is our public medicare, health services and funding in our local public hospitals. Don’t let Ford destroy them.