Over a thousand health care workers represented by the Canadian Union of Public Employees will rally today in Hamilton to demand more provincial funding for hospitals and long term care facilities.
CUPE is calling for a 5 per cent provincial funding increase for hospitals and long-term care and a commitment to on-going stable funding.
Buses are leaving their respective cities and towns early this morning to be in Hamilton for the lunch hour rally at the General Site of Hamilton Health Science.
In a release, the union says Ontario spends the least amount of money of any of the provinces on its long-term care and hospitals.
The union says Ontario has fewer hospital beds to population of any province in Canada.
CUPE notes Hamilton, Windsor, Sudbury, Ottawa and Greater Toronto Area hospitals have been overcrowded and routinely over 100 per cent capacity for several months increasing the risk to patients.