Workers, community members gather in Ottawa to protest Ontario government's policies, cost of living
Thousands of workers marched in Ottawa and across Ontario as part of the "Enough is Enough Day of Action", to mark the Progressive Conservative Party’s re-election anniversary.
In Ottawa, the march started at Major’s Hill Park Saturday afternoon with a strong message.
All different organizations came together in a united front on the one-year anniversary of Premier Doug Ford’s re-election.
"As someone with a disability, I have a worry that if I have a health care need, is it going to be taken care of? Is there going to be space for me in the emergency?" Kenzie McCurdy of StopGap Ottawa said.
Unions, community groups, volunteers and residents attended the march.
Those gathering at the site included unions, community groups, volunteers, and residents.
"What I want is the Ford government to sit down and think about how its actions are affecting our students in Ontario, because they are not going to be OK if things keep going the way it is. Privatization is not the answer," said Shelby McEachern, who was at the march.
The event is called the Day of Action, with rallies across the province hosted by the Ontario Federation of Labour.
"We were marching to keep our healthcare public, to keep our education public and to fight for a more affordable Ontario," said Elizabeth Houlding. "We want affordable housing and affordable groceries."
McCurdy is living with a disability and wants her voice heard loud and clear.
"All of the issues that I care about are under attack in Ontario," McCurdy said. "Social housing, accessible housing, affordability, healthcare, and privatization of healthcare, it’s just everything is going downhill and we are in crisis mode."
The Day of Action issued a number of demands for the provincial government, including wage increases for workers across different sectors, keeping schools and healthcare public, as well as factors around the cost of living like affordable groceries and gas.
"Justice for workers came out of the '15 and Fairness' movement. We represent and fight for unionized and non-unionized workers,” said Susan Rab of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers Federation.
The march left Major’s Hill Park for the Byward Market. Police officers temporarily blocked traffic as hundreds took to the streets.
Each group here with their own demands to make their lives better.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cargo ship had engine maintenance in port before Baltimore bridge collapse, officials say
The cargo ship that lost power and crashed into a bridge in Baltimore underwent 'routine engine maintenance' in port beforehand, the U.S. Coast Guard said Wednesday.
A Nigerian woman reviewed some tomato puree online. Now she faces jail
A Nigerian woman who wrote an online review of a can of tomato puree is facing imprisonment after its manufacturer accused her of making a “malicious allegation” that damaged its business.
Far North police 'dispatch' polar bear stalking schoolyard
Police and local hunters in an Ontario Far North First Nation community have “dispatched” a polar that was showing abnormal behaviour and treating the area as a hunting ground.
Donald Trump assails judge and his daughter after gag order in N.Y. hush-money criminal case
Donald Trump lashed out Wednesday at the New York judge who put him under a gag order that bars him from commenting publicly about witnesses, prosecutors, court staff and jurors in his upcoming hush-money criminal trial.
Families shocked after Niagara Falls hotel cancels bookings made year in advance of solar eclipse
After having the foresight to book their Niagara Falls hotel rooms more than a year in advance, several families planning to take in the solar eclipse next month were shocked to find out their reservations had been cancelled.
B.C. rescuers face 'high likelihood' of failure to reunite orphaned orca with pod
The race to reunite an orphaned orca calf that’s stuck in a shallow lagoon with a neighbouring pod has entered its fifth day, and a marine scientist says the clock is ticking.
Video shows police interrupting auto theft in progress outside Toronto home
New video footage obtained by CP24 shows the attempted theft of a vehicle in a North York driveway earlier this month that was ultimately interrupted by police.
Majority of Canadians believe in life after death: Angus Reid survey
A new survey from the Angus Reid Institute has found that a majority of Canadians believe in some form of life after death, a proportion that has held steady for decades.
MyPillow, owned by U.S. election denier Mike Lindell, formally evicted from Minnesota warehouse
A court ordered the eviction Wednesday of MyPillow from a suburban Minneapolis warehouse that it formerly used.