Dozens protest at Ontario PC party’s Ford Fest event in Milton
Dozens of protesters gathered outside a “Ford Fest” event organized by the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party in Milton on Friday.
Hundreds of people attended the event, billed as Ford Fest GTA West 2024, and many lined up to have their photo taken with the premier. According to the PC party, the event was intended to celebrate the government’s accomplishments.
Protesters, who said they were showing their opposition to some policies of the Doug Ford government, held up signs and flags, saying Ontarians are suffering because of the impacts of government policies, particularly in education and health care.
“We just want to say, things aren’t okay in education, things aren’t okay in Ontario,” Karen Littlewood, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers’ Federation, told a reporter on Friday.
“I don’t think we should be told to go to the vet when we need an MRI. I think those kind of jokes are really offensive.”
Earlier this week, the premier joked about sending “overflow” human patients to a new veterinary hospital in King City, north of Toronto, where he spoke Tuesday at its grand opening.
“By the looks of it, we know where we can send the overflow patients now for MRIs and CAT scans and everything else,” Ford said.
Stacy Kennedy, an Oakville, Ont. resident, said at the protest she believes that the government’s policies are failing Ontarians and she is angry. She held up a large sign that read: “Welcome to Ontario. Diagnosed with cancer while Waiting to see a specialist.”
Kennedy said she was found to have cancer while she was waiting to see a specialized gynecologist. The referral wait times were 18 to 24 months, she said.
She said the cancer was found by an emergency doctor in an ER in the GTA who advocated for her. An oncologist later diagnosed her with a rare ovarian cancer.
She said she was “so sick” but was lucky to have had surgery.
“The health care system is broken. It has collapsed. And a health care system that has collapsed cannot advocate for patients. It cannot advocate for Ontarians,” she said.
“I am standing here for every other Ontarian who cannot get an MRI, who cannot get a CT scan, who cannot get access to timely health care in this province,” she added.
“We are fed up. He needs to go.”
Premier Doug Ford has shuffled his cabinet on Friday after his education minister Todd Smith resigned to accept a job in the private sector. As CBC’s Lorenda Reddekopp explains, the surprising resignation happened on the same day as the Premier’s annual Ford Fest.
A spokesperson for the premier said earlier this week that Ford was making a joke referring to the size of the 60,000-square-foot, four-storey hospital and that the government has made record investments in the public health-care system, including dozens of new MRI machines and CT scanners in hospitals.
In an effort to reduce wait times for scans, the province announced in June it is looking to double the number of publicly funded MRIs and CT scans offered through private clinics in Ontario. Health Minister Sylvia Jones said at the time that move could provide an additional 100,000 scans each year.
The Ontario Federation of Labour (OFL) organized buses to Friday’s event from Toronto, Hamilton and Kitchener-Waterloo.
In an media advisory, the OFL said the government’s “real accomplishments” include: emergency room closures; loss of nurses from the health care system; overcrowded classrooms and underfunded schools; a Greenbelt land scandal; and an RCMP investigation into “unprecedented corruption allegations.”
In an ad for the event, however, the Ontario PC Party said: “Two years ago, we were elected on our promise to get it done! Looking back, it’s remarkable how far we’ve come. Let’s join together to celebrate all we’ve accomplished with our team of all-stars!”
All guests were required to register to attend the event and identification was required for entry.
CBC News has reached out to the Ontario PC party and will update this story if it provides comment.
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