Toronto – As Mike Harris is meeting with provincial premiers from across the country in Vancouver to talk about health care, the Ontario Health Coalition charged the provincial government today of being part of a foolhardy and manipulative public relations campaign to undermine Canadian Medicare. Taking issue with repeated provincial claims that we have no choice but to privatize since health spending and population demand are out of control, the Ontario Health Coalition released briefing notes on health spending and privatization.

Meanwhile,back at home the provincial conservatives are trying to sweep under the rug the disasterous results of their attempt to privatize homecare services. So far, a reported 9 CEOs of Community Care Access Centres have been fired in the last two days. The firings have been confirmed in Sudbury, Thunder Bay, Elgin and Ottawa. Recently, it was reported in a Kingston newspaper that Tory constituency associations have been sent communication from the government asking for names of potential appointees. (Kingston’s CEO resigned in December.) After a number of CCAC CEOs and Boards went public with their criticism of government cuts and homecare reform, Bill 130 was railroaded through the legislature just before it closed at Christmas. In this legislation, the province gave itself the power to fire all the CEOs of CCACs, replace elected community Boards of Directors with appointees, and axe all community memberships. The CCACs, set up by the Tories to govern homecare delivery in Ontario are publicly funded but explicitly exempted from provincial access to information legislation.

“The Ontario government is using manipulative hogwash to make Ontarians believe that we have to open up public healthcare for their profit-seeking friends and backers,” charged coalition co chair Irene Harris. “The results of so-called health reform in Ontario should be a clear warning to the whole country that for-profit health care costs more for less. Where is the value-for-cost analysis of privatized services? Where is the improved access? What about our democratic rights? This devious PR strategy is has nothing to do with creating the best healthcare system we can. It’s about foisting an agenda of greed on an unwilling population.”

Ontario Health Coalition Briefing Note
Issued January 25, 2002

Fudging the Numbers

After a slew of highly publicized hospital funding announcements that replaced the almost $1 billion the Tories had cut early in their first mandate, Mike Harris walked out of a caucus meeting last January and “mused” to the press that health spending was out of control. In fact, he changed the way that health spending is reported from health spending a percentage of provincial operating spending (as it had been reported before January 2001) to a percentage of provincial program spending – a smaller pool of money. He used this to imply that health spending had jumped from 35% to 44% of provincial spending. In fact, health spending as a percentage of operating spending has remained fairly constant at: 35% in 1997-8, 35.2% in 1998-9, 36.2% in 1999-0, and 37.1% in 2000-01 according to the latest budget figures available from the Ontario Ministry of Finance. The largest growth item in the provincial health budget? Drugs: a sector dominated by private transnational corporations. In an interesting study released on January 21, the Ontario Hospital Association reveals that Ontario spending on key public sector programming as a percent of provincial gross domestic product (GDP) is below the national average.

Faster, Better, Cheaper?

Despite repeated claims that the province will privatize health services if they can be proved to be faster, better and cheaper, the provincial government has privatized health services when the evidence is the absolute opposite.

At the for-profit cancer treatment centre at Sunnybrook Hospital, privatized in February 2001, the Provincial Auditor has found that treatment per unit is more expensive and waiting lists have not changed. Not to mention the fact that no one will disclose the salary of private company president Dr. Tom McGowan and the value of the public cross-subsidization of the for-profit company.

Laboratory privatization has not controlled public costs, and has resulted in a slew of new out-of-pocket user fees that did not exist under the previous more publicly controlled system. Where’s the value for money justification? Good question.

Competition and the introduction of for-profit corporations in Ontario’s homecare system have created critical staffing shortages and diminished access to care for elderly and frail residents. A report from the Canadian Union of Public Employees estimates that $274 million per year is now spent on excess administration, duplication, profit-taking, advertising and other non-care related expenses. A government-commissioned review by Pricewaterhouse Coopers found serious problems in the system. This year, citing escalating costs, the province cut thousands of elderly Ontarians’ homemaking and homecare services. Value for cost justification? There is none. Furthermore, the homecare system is expressly excluded from provincial access to information legislation so that information about value for money cannot be accessed.

Okay, so when’s the public debate?

Yesterday Mike Harris yet again called for a public debate on the future of health care. This formula of call for public debate then slam through unpopular legislation without it has been repeated over and over in Ontario. Last winter he promised “constituent assemblies” to talk with Ontarians about the issues. So where are they? Tony Clement replaced this promise with a mail in survey that asked us not one question about privatization, cuts, reforming primary care or any of the critical issues being debated in Vancouver this week.

Ontario Health Coalition
15 Gervais Drive, Suite 305
Toronto, ON M3C 1Y8
Tel: 416-441-2502
Fax: 416-441-4073
Email: ohc@sympatico.ca
URL: www.web.net/ohc

Essential Information

"Dip and Skip" A Supplement to the June 2001 Report on Homecare Reform in Ontario:
A special report from the Ontario Health Coalition updating the worsening crisis in homecare throughout the province. A special report from the OHC updating the worsening crisis in homecare throughout the province. Download the document as a Rich Text Format (RTF) file

ROMANOW COMMISSION: The Romanow Commission on the Future of Health Care in Canada has invited submissions from organizations. We strongly encourage organizations and individuals to send in a submission or a letter. We also encourage parties to review the Ontario Health Coalition's submission to the Romanow Commission.
View guidelines and notes for submissions to the Romanow Commission
Download guidelines for submissions (RTF format)
View the OHC's submission to the Romanow Commission online
Download OHC's submission to the Romanow Commission (RTF format)

SECRETS IN THE HOUSE: Homecare Reform in Ontario, 1997-2000
OHC's report on homecare reform issued June 2001

Report from Long Term Care Forums: During February and March 2001, the Ontario Health Coalition held hearings across Ontario on the government's proposed changes to Long Term and Home Care in Ontario. This is a detailed report of those hearings. Download as an MS WORD file.

Why NOT Privatize? OHC's fact sheet on privatization
View as an HTML file
Download as an MS WORD file

Health Care Spending: THE FACTS
View as an HTML file
Download as an MS WORD file.

OHC's Primary Care Position Paper
View as an HTML file

OHC's Guide to the New Long Term Care Act
View as an HTML file

OHC's Guide to Party Platforms for the 2000 Federal Election
View as an HTML file

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This page was updated in January 25, 2002