woman in yellow protective suit wearing white face mask

Ford’s Healthcare Privatization — A Slippery Highway to Hell

Well folks, he’s done it again. Ontario Premier Doug Ford retrieved the major tool in his toolbox: privatization. This time, Ford brandishes privatization to hammer on the nail that is the province’s healthcare system. As reported by the CBC last week, “Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones are planning to make an announcement next week on expanding the number and range of surgeries performed in independent health facilities outside of hospitals.” Independent health facilities are generally for-profit clinics operated by the private owners.

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Socialist Digest –  January 2023

Canada’s 100 highest-paid corporate executives made an average of $14.3 million in 2021, exceeding the previous record of $11.8 million set three years earlier.  By January 3, the average CEO on that list made $58,800, the amount an average Canadian worker earns in an entire year, according to the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.

Interviews With TSSA Strikers

Nearly 200 members of OPSEU Local 546 are on strike against the Technical Standards and Safety Authority in Ontario.  These front line workers inspect elevators, ski lifts, food trucks and amusement park rides.  They check fuel-burning equipment, boilers and pressure vessels, as well as gas stations, propane dispensing stations and nuclear power plants.  They are on strike because the TSSA, an agency that works at arms length from the provincial government, has been trying to make do with fewer safety inspectors, less regular inspections and less accountability.  The workers need and deserve a wage catch-up.

Privatization: The Vampire of Public Service

The word "Vampire" may seem harsh or macabre when speaking about economic issues, but when looking at privatization objectively, it becomes clear how striking the similarities are. Both feed off systems that are not their own, stealing what isn't theirs to grow fat and powerful. Both lie to lull you into a false sense of security, making their targets vulnerable and too passive to resist them. If privatization is a Vampire then austerity is the scent of blood that draws the predator in. In Newfoundland and Labrador, Canadians are facing another round of cruel and needless austerity.