Local referendum results opposing health care privatization

The results of a province-wide referendum regarding a provincial government plan to expand the private delivery of public health care will be announced Tuesday.

Voting stations were set up across the region on Friday and Saturday by a legion of volunteers working for the Chatham-Kent and Sarnia-Lambton chapters of the Ontario Health Coalition, which organized a referendum across the province.

The coalition has been raising the alarm about Bill 60 with the provincial government announcing in January it wants to fund privately operated clinics to perform more cataract surgeries, MRI and CT scans, colonoscopies, hip and knee replacements and other procedures.

The government says the move is clear up backlogs for these procedures, but the health coalition is worried this will lead to further privatization of the public health care system.

The voting station set up at the Rims and Ribs event in Chatham’s Tecumseh Park

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