Open Letter of Thanks from Natalie Mehra

The executive director of the Ontario Health Coalition reflects on the Day of Action at the Ontario Legislature held on Wednesday, October 29.

Waterloo Region Health Coalition | November 4, 2025

Attendees who met with Liberal MPPs Lee Fairclough (Hospital, Mental Health and Addictions and Homelessness Critic) and Tyler Watt (Long-term Care Critic)

Dear members and supporters,

Thank you very much for those of you who came out for our Day of Action at the Ontario Legislature on Wednesday, October 29. More than 160 people filled the Public Galleries to watch the Opposition ask the Health Minister and Premier why their government has done nothing to investigate the formal complaint that we filed last June with 50 patients who were extra-billed in private clinics. Here we are, more than four months later and none of the patients have even been contacted to have their reports investigated. At our press conference later in the day, two patients joined our executive director Natalie Mehra to share their formal complaints about being charged thousands of dollars in private for-profit clinics, yet they have heard nothing back from the Ford government. All three Opposition Parties were in attendance.

It was a powerful show of strength and a great event. The government knew we were there and they would have felt the pressure from our presence. We heard MPPs comment that this was one of the busiest days in the Legislature, and that is because you all came out!

While all the major media outlets have offices inside the Legislature, none of them came to our press conference. Also, the majority of Question Period focused on the allegations of corruption concerning the $700 million skills development fund.

Regardless, our efforts together pushed the issue of Ford's hospital privatization back onto the public policy agenda. The lack of media coverage and need for more pressure just means we are going to have to come back with more. (Remember when we did all kinds of work on long-term care issues during the pandemic? We had to do repeated events in order to finally drive the issue to the top of the agenda and win significant media attention. We have done it before and we can do it again.) We are working on next steps now.

We have made an array of short videos and will spread awareness on social media, regroup to reach traditional media, and keep pouring the pressure on the Ford government. We will do everything in our power to push forward on this issue, knowing that we are what stands between Ford's U.S.-style privatization and Canadian Public Medicare that provides care based on need, not wealth. As Tommy Douglas said, "Courage my friends, 'tis not too late to build a better world."

Please find below videos from the press conference and Question Period. To watch them, please click on the images below.

Executive director Natalie Mehra flanked by NDP Health Critic France Gélinas and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner. Off screen are Liberal Health Critic Dr. Adil Shamji, Dr. James Deutsch (family member of a patient), and Bruce Awad (patient).

Dr. James Deutsch (family member of a patient) and executive director Natalie Mehra flanked by NDP Health Critic France Gélinas and Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner. Off screen are Liberal Health Critic Dr. Adil Shamji and Bruce Awad (patient).

We are proud of the difference we make and we hope you are too. This work is only made possible by people who care like you.

Natalie Mehra, executive director

Ontario Health Coalition, 201-15 Gervais Dr, Toronto, ON M3C 1Y8 | T: 416-441-2502

https://www.OntarioHealthCoalition.ca/ |  https://tr.ee/V7m60V