This petition is titled “Stop” the “Health Care Privatization Plan.” It reads:
“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
“Whereas Ontarians should get health care based on need—not the size of your wallet;
“Whereas” the Conservative government “say they’re planning to privatize parts of health care;
“Whereas privatization will bleed nurses, doctors and PSWs out of our public hospitals, making the health care crisis worse;
“Whereas privatization always ends with patients getting a bill;
“Therefore we, the undersigned, petition the Legislative Assembly of Ontario to immediately stop all plans to further privatize Ontario’s health care system, and fix the crisis in health care by:
“—repealing Bill 124 and recruiting, retaining and respecting doctors, nurses and PSWs with better pay and better working conditions;
“—licensing tens of thousands of internationally educated nurses and other health care professionals already in Ontario, who wait years and pay thousands to have their credentials certified;
“—making education and training free or low-cost for nurses, doctors and other health care professionals;
“—incentivizing doctors and nurses to choose to live and work in northern Ontario;
“—funding hospitals to have enough nurses on every shift, on every ward.”
I thank the signatories of this petition, and I’m glad to support it.
“To the Legislative Assembly of Ontario:
“Whereas Ontario’s social assistance rates are well below Canada’s official Market Basket Measure poverty line and woefully inadequate to cover the basic costs of food and rent;
“Whereas individuals on the Ontario Works program receive just $733 per month and individuals on the Ontario Disability Support Program receive just $1,169 per month, only 41% and 65% of the poverty line;
“Whereas the Ontario government has not increased social assistance rates” meaningfully “since 2018, and Canada’s inflation rate in January 2022 was 5.1%, the highest rate in 30 years;
“Whereas the government of Canada recognized through the CERB program that a ‘basic income’ of $2,000 per month was the standard support required by individuals who lost their employment during the pandemic;
“We, the undersigned ... petition the Legislative Assembly to increase social assistance rates to a base of $2,000 per month for those on Ontario Works, and to increase other programs accordingly.”
I fully support this petition and will affix my signature to it.