A couple of pics from the recent OCHU / CUPE Local 2875 rally to stop bed cuts at the Queensway Carleton Hospital in Ottawa. It was a great day. (And thanks for the pics to Louis and Local 1974 at Kingston General!) Also -- the People's Healthcare Coalition, has collected more than 5,000 signatures calling for an investigation into what led to the decision to close the emergency rooms at Port Colborne and Fort Erie hospitals in Niagara. "We've had tremendous support so far," Coalition representative Pat Scholfield said, noting she collected several hundred signatures at the Market Square Friday morning. "Our goal is Queen's Park".
Hospital funding: There is something off about the provincial government's Budget claims on hospital capital funding (funding to build and renovate hospital beds and facilities). For what it is worth (which is not that much, given the long time frame the government cites), the province claims it will increase hospital capital spending over the next 10 years from $11 billion to $20 billion – or on average to about $2 billion per year. But, this is just a notional increase from the previous announcement of future hospital capital spending. Moreover, even if we did take this as a serious promise and not just a wisp of smoke, the government's own reports shows they have actually funded hospital infrastructure about $3 billion a year over the 2011/12-2015/16 period. So this “increase” is really a decrease from past actual spending. Even last year's (2016-17) hospital capital funding increase was reported in this Budget at $2.3 billion - i.e. about 15% more th
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