in Chatsworth, Grey Highlands, Southgate, West Grey
November 28, 2024
BY SOUTHGREY.CA STAFF — Members of the Grey Bruce Health Coalition and their supporters, including co-chairs Nora Beatty and Brenda Scott rolled into Durham on November 27 with a 15 foot fibreglass replica of the famous Trojan Horse of Greek mythology.
Nora Beatty referenced the tale of the original Trojan Horse used in the fabled Trojan War of the 12th century, when the Greeks abandoned their decade long siege of the city of Troy, and left the gift of a giant wooden horse at the gate. The people of Troy unwittingly brought the giant structure into the city, only to be slaughtered that night by the Greek soldiers hiding inside it. Or so the story goes.
In the parking lot of the Durham Town Hall, supporters gathered in front of the Trojan Horse replica carrying signs and listening to delegates.
"The horse represents the deception and treachery of the Ontario government leading us into the privatization of health care," explained Nora Beatty. "Conservatives are presenting privatization as a gift but nothing could be further from the truth," added Kevin Cook, first vice-president of OCHU-CUPE.
"Private clinics are price-gouging patients," said Cook, citing one case where a patient was charged $8,000 for services that would have been previously covered by OHIP. "We need to revisit the policy of privatization of public hospitals and send a message to the Ford government."
Nora Beatty alleged a history of the Ford government's private health care funding, often disguised or hidden from plain view because of its unpopularity with the voting public. "At least be up-front and not try and dupe the public," she iterated. "We need to take action, stand up and fight to maintain our public health care system."
West Grey Mayor Kevin Eccles added, "We've been deceived for quite some time." He explained that, as often happens, we aren't aware of the deception until after-the-fact. He added that West Grey Council is trying to reverse decisions made by the South Bruce Grey Health Centre (SBGHC) which have moved in-patient beds and closed departments within the Durham Hospital.
On November 13, the municipality launched a legal battle to contest those decisions. Eccles said that the province has appealed their case and that a ruling on whether the case against SBGHC can proceed, is forthcoming. "They know they're wrong," said Eccles, indicating that their appeal is an admission of guilt because they don't even want this to be decided in a court of law. "We need to put more pressure on Ms Shaw and keep our hospital open and functional."
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