Personal support workers say strike is more than just lost wages
This week’s edition of who is saying what about public health care is compiled by Pat Van Horne.
“We love our clients and they love us,” says personal support worker
“We love our clients and they love us… There are some seniors who don’t have families, so we are their family. We miss them, they’re missing us too,” said Elizabeth Castillo, who’s been working at Villa Colombo for eight years, to the Toronto Star, July 28, 2025. Twenty-four personal support workers, members of CUPE Local 5525, have been on strike since May 28.
“They not only do their work, they become your friends. They do their work from the heart. They go shopping for us once a week. They organize Christmas parties, Mother’s Day and Father’s Day. Now we don’t have anything . . . It’s so unfair, especially for those of us who can’t do much for ourselves. Our ladies did everything for us,” said Antonietta DiCarlo, 82, who has lived at Toronto’s Villa Colombo for more than two decades, to the Toronto Star, July 28, 2025.
Health coalitions across Canada say call, email all politicians to save public health care
“Some governments, particularly Ontario and Alberta, are forging ahead with runaway privatization. Really unprecedented privatization, all of which costs more, significantly more, taking money and staff out of our local public hospitals…You have to stand up for your local hospitals, the emergency departments have to be open. The inpatient beds in Durham have to be re-opened. These are hundred-year-old institutions and they’ve survived every government up until (the current Ontario Conservative) government. Stop this, it is not what we voted for,” said Natalie Mehra, Ontario Health Coalition Executive Director, to Windsor News Today, July 28, 2025
Trump may push 200 per-cent tariffs on all pharmaceutical drugs entering the U.S.
“This is going to raise up health care costs in Canada. We know health care dollars are scarce in Canada, and we certainly don’t want B.C. PharmaCare to pay more for generic medication,” said Jim Keon, head of the Canadian Generic Pharmaceutical Association, adding that Canada could face challenges, including increased prices for certain medications or drug shortages, to City News Vancouver, July 25, 2025. The Hill Times, July 27, 2025, has more on this story.
ERs closed doors for at least 1.14 million hours since 2019: Globe and Mail
“Communities have been rallying to stave off impending ER disruptions – most notably in Rivière-Rouge, Que., where residents didn’t just march in protest but also petitioned the courts successfully to suspend a scheduled closure, and are now actively co-operating with officials to retain new health care workers. But efforts like this can only make so much of a difference, and the closures continue across the country,” says report by The Globe and Mail, July 5, 2025
Access to heart and stroke care lacking for Indigenous people
“The disparities in care for Indigenous Canadians are due to a mix of historical, systemic, and social factors. . .The legacy of settler colonialism has left deep scars, creating conditions that lead to significant health disparities. This includes trauma and socioeconomic disadvantages from policies like residential schools and forced relocations,” said Christine Faubert, vice president of Health Equity and Mission Impact at Heart & Stroke, to Medscape, July 22, 2025
Dalhousie professor says provinces poaching each other’s health professionals
“In Canada, you’ve got this horrible situation of sort of a race to the bottom, in which no province has enough health professionals, so everybody’s happy to try to poach everybody else’s health professionals. And I think there’s a little bit of reluctance to actually give that up in practice,” said Katherine Fierlbeck, a professor of political science at Dalhousie University who studies health policy, to Winnipeg Free Press, July 25, 2025
Letter-writing pensioner happy to pay taxes for the greater good
“I am glad I pay taxes here. I know the money goes through checks and balances before being spent. I know it is not perfect. But compared to the bureaucracies of other countries our governments operate effectively. Our standard of living is higher than that of the U.S . . . Taxes are often low in countries that are right-leaning. In such nations, only the super-rich can afford good health care, good education for their kids and a comfortable way of life. The powerful see no need for social safety nets so the needy, the sick and the unfortunate are on their own. . . Even though I’m on a pension, I am happy to pay my share here in Canada,” wrote Gail Rutherford from Etobicoke, ON, in The Toronto Star, July 23, 2025
