Sault Ste. Marie residents will be participating in a protest Thursday aimed at stopping the privatization of health care.
The protest is organized by the Ontario Health Coalition, which says more than a billion dollars in public funding has gone to private for-profit clinics and for-profit staffing agencies in the last year.
“At the same time, local public hospitals are losing their emergency departments, vital care services and staff, and a number are under urgent threat of closure,” the group said in a news release.
It is demanding a moratorium on the closure of local public hospitals.
Sault Ste. Marie’s protest will begin at noon Thursday at the Roberta Bondar Pavilion.
Demonstrations will also take place at other locations in Ontario, including North Bay, Dryden and Thunder Bay.
The largest is expected in Toronto, where the coalition anticipates between 6,000 and 10,000 people will gather at Queen’s Park.