Health care advocates afraid of major cuts and privatization hold shadow summit and rally at Council of the Federation next week

HUNTSVILLE, Ontario, July 17, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Outside the Council of the Federation and the gathering of First Ministers, public health care advocates from across Canada will be joining a shadow summit, rally, and car cavalcade. Attendees include Health Coalitions, patients, patient advocates, nurses, doctors, care workers, mental health advocacy organizations, environmental groups, Indigenous organizations, seniors’ groups, union leaders, and more.

When & Where:
Shadow Summit – Monday, July 21 from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Hidden Valley Resort (next door to the Deerhurst Resort where the Premiers are meeting)
1755 Valley Rd, Huntsville, ON P1H 1A8
Reporters & health care reporters welcome. Opening plenary re key issues & updates across Canada, 10:30 – 11:30 a.m.

Rally and Car Cavalcade – Tuesday, July 22

• 12:00 p.m. noon media availability with Health Coalition leaders from across Canada on the road outside Deerhurst Resort
• 12:15 p.m. rally outside Deerhurst Resort
• 12:50 p.m. car cavalcades from the rally through Huntsville to corner of Highway 11 & Highway 60
• 1:10 p.m. rally near intersection of Highway 11 and Highway 60

Who: hosted by the Canadian Health Coalition, Ontario Health Coalition, and the Ontario Federation of Labour.

As Canada’s leaders meet, our public health care system is, without exaggeration, in open crisis. Runaway privatization is taking funding and staff away from public health care services. Staffing shortages are a national catastrophe, forcing emergency departments to close and leaving health care workers with impossible workloads while patients wait longer and suffer more. Private clinics are violating the Canada Health Act, charging patients hundreds to thousands of dollars for surgeries and diagnostic tests in illegal user fees and extra-billing. Seniors can't access the care they need. Mental health and addiction services are underfunded, subject to privatization and cuts, or simply unavailable. Millions still do not have access to family medicine. The implementation of the first phase of pharmacare has stalled.

This event serves to remind our political leaders that the economy exists to serve people, not the other way around, and the economy is more than militarism and private sector projects. If a 70-year-old goes to a private clinic and is forced to use their life savings and pay thousands of dollars for their surgery, what chance do they have to get out of poverty for the rest of their life? If a person has diabetes and cannot afford their insulin and supplies, what economy is there for them? Health care can’t wait, and privatization is the destruction of Public Medicare, not a solution. Health Coalitions are demanding funding, resources, and public solutions in the public interest.

For more information: Natalie Mehra, executive director, Ontario Health Coalition cell (416) 230-6402; Salah Shadir, administration & operations director, Ontario Health Coalition cell (647) 648-5706.

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