- What: Day of Action for Public Health Care
- When: 1:00pm on Monday 16 March 2026
- Where: Outside the Hon. Bardish Chagger’s office
- Location: 100 Regina Street, Waterloo, Ontario Map
- Online: https://waterloohealthcoalition.org/quality-of-health-care/march-16-day-of-action-for-public-health-care/
- Contact: waterlooregionhealthcoalition@gmail.com
- Phone: Jim Stewart +1‑519‑588‑5841
DAY OF ACTION
Dear Public Health Care defenders:
On Monday, 16 March 2026, people across Canada will rally outside the offices of their local Liberal Members of Parliament. The nationwide Day of Action warns public health care for all in Canada is under unprecedented threat and calls on the federal government to enforce the Canada Health Act. Health Coalitions have invited the Liberal MPs to join the event, speak to participants, support the fightback against privatization, and commit to bring this issue back to their caucus in Ottawa as a priority. The rally is outside the office of the Hon. Bardish Chagger, Liberal MP.
1:00pm on Monday, 16 March 2026 at 100 Regina Street, Waterloo, Ontario
Who: Jim Stewart, Chair, Waterloo Region Health Coalition
Invited Speakers:
- Bardish Chagger MP
- Tim Louis MP
- Aislinn Clancy MPP
- Catherine Fife MPP
Bring highly visible banners and signs!
Alberta’s Danielle Smith government has launched an unprecedented frontal assault on the Canada Health Act to end single tier Public Medicare & bring in U.S. private health care. The law brings in private for-profit health insurance, direct billing of patients, queue jumping for those who can afford it pushing everyone else back in line, workplace private health insurance plans and more. It is not “like” U.S. style health care. It is U.S. private health care, and for-profit health care interests are lined up to cash in.
Closer to home, Ontario’s Premier Doug Ford is privatizing public hospitals and is allowing private clinics to charge patients thousands for needed care. By the government’s own numbers, their latest set of private clinics (some of which are essentially hospitals, a number of which are chain owned) aim to redirect 1.2 million patients away from public hospitals. While the government is giving hundreds of millions more to private clinics, it has pushed the majority of public hospitals into deficit in a direct transfer of public resources. Patients are already being charged more than $4,000 per eye in the private cataract surgery clinics that Ford brought in, in violation of our medicare protection laws.
The Health Coalitions are calling on the federal government to:
- Tell Alberta’s Danielle Smith government that its health care privatization scheme contravenes the Canada Health Act and they will face a dollar-for-dollar clawback of federal health care funding if they proceed.
- Require that Ontario stop private clinics from charging patients for medically needed care. The Canada Health Act prohibits user fees and extra-billing of patients, including direct and indirect charges. Thus, no private clinic can require payment for medically unnecessary things (such as extra lenses that do not have anything to do with cataracts) in order to get the medically needed service (such as cataract surgery). Selling queue-jumping for those who have the thousands of dollars available to pay contravenes the requirement that all Canadians have access to health care based on medical need not wealth.
- Ensure that the carve-out of public health care in Canada under trade agreements will protect the rest of the country if Alberta contravenes the Act. Right now, we all risk losing public health care to U.S.for-profit insurance corporations if Alberta persists.
For more information: Jim Stewart +1‑519‑588‑5841 or waterlooregionhealthcoalition@gmail.com
