Union stops in Espanola, Ont., to warn of 'Trojan horse' of private heath care

The union that represents hospital workers across the province is used a symbol from Greek mythology Friday in Espanola to drive home its campaign about the perils of privatization in health care.

Despite inclement weather, the 15-foot wooden Trojan horse still carried its message outside the Espanola Hospital.

Despite inclement weather, the 15-foot wooden Trojan horse still carried its message warning of private care outside the Espanola Hospital. (Photo from video)

"Doug Ford has said privatization will be a gift to alleviate the crisis that we’re having in the health care system and we’re really saying it’s destroying the health care system," said Kevin Cook of CUPE’s Ontario Council of Hospital Unions.

"It’s not going to help."

The province-wide campaign uses the Trojan horse symbol to warn about what it calls a false promise from the government.

The governing Conservatives have said privatized surgeries is a solution to long wait times. But the union said privatization redirects money and staff from public health care, and wait times get longer due to staffing shortages.

NDP Health Critic France Gelinas said it’s a reality she sees all too often and she said it’s one of the factors behind recent service closures.

"This has been trialed in many, many countries," Gelinas said.

"Australia tried it, the UK tried it. It’s always the same: the rich gain fantastic access. The rest of us will all suffer because the number of nurses, the number of surgeons, the number of specialists are limited."

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In a statement to CTV News, a spokesperson for the minister of health had this to say:

"Ontario is proud to have one of the largest publicly funded health-care systems in the world, and under the leadership of Premier Ford, our government has made record investments in our publicly funded health-care system to connect more people to the care they need when they need it.

"The actions our government is taking have led Ontario to achieve some of the shortest wait times in Canada."

The union’s Trojan horse and its message will be stopping in five northern communities next week. The campaign will continue until the end of November.