Forum focuses on keeping Cassellholme public

Keeping Cassellholme public is the way to go.

That was one message at a CUPE Ontario community forum last night (Tuesday) in North Bay.

Among the speakers were CUPE Ontario president Fred Hahn, Natalie Mehra of the Ontario Health Coalition and Dr. Susan Braedley, an associate professor at Carleton University.

Braedley says a non-profit model, as the board is considering, is privatization.

She says, “The category private includes non-profit as well as for-profit corporations, making that clear because I think there has been some fuzziness about those terms in the debate as it has evolved in North Bay.”

The other point Braedley wanted to raise is what is best for the residents.

She says the public model is preferable because resident hospitalization will rise by going away from it.