Most citizens vote no on health-care reforms

People don’t want privatization, coalition co-chair says

Votes cast in Peterborough city and county over the weekend in the Ontario Health Coalition’s citizen referendum were overwhelmingly against the Ontario government’s plan to allow more health services to be provided in public clinics.

At 20 polling stations in the city and county and through online voting, 9,345 cast “No” votes against the province’s strategy while 100 cast “Yes” votes, under preliminary results released Tuesday by the Peterborough Health Coalition.

Some workplace votes still need to be counted, according to the organizers.

Nearly half of the votes were cast online. Organizers said the turnout exceeded expectations.

Under legislation passed earlier this month in the Ontario Legislature, the province is allowing doctors to perform more surgical and diagnostic services, such as cataract, knee and hip surgeries, in private clinics, and giving pharmacists power to prescribe medications for some illnesses, to free up space in hospitals to concentrate on other services and speed up wait times.

“This was a nonpartisan citizen

here, understanding the different types of trains that we can look at.”

That way, she said, once the right train and track is in place, the zoo will be ready to celebrate with the rest of the community.

“We hope to purchase it this year.”

The mini passenger train — which takes passengers on a round trip from the zoo, across a dam over the Otonabee River, then through a tunnel and fun exhibits — is almost as unique as the zoo itself.

It is a 1957 replica that the zoo acquired in 1974.

“It was used when we got it and it hit the tracks for the first season in 1975,” Mitchell said.

When it’s running, it carries about 65,000 riders a year. In the early days, it cost passengers a single dollar to ride. Sometime around the late 1980s or early 1990s the cost went to $2. And it is still just $2.

“It is a huge part of our financial success,” Mitchell said. “It’s a big revenue draw and obviously a cultural draw. One of the questions we get the most is, ‘is the train running?’ So, that’s where the other story kind of comes in. There’s a reason why we’re fundraising for a new train.”

Heading into the 2020 season, a capital campaign was launched to replace the aging train.

The zoo was already dealing with situations where parts were needed but manufacturers had gone out of business.

A goal to raise $250,000. or half of the cost of a new locomotive, was set. But the pandemic hit in the following months and for a long time, the whole zoo was inaccessible to visitors.

During that time, the train manufacturer they had been dealing with also went out of business.

“A lot of things changed, including the economy,” Mitchell said.

Still, sponsors and donors came through. Train prices have gone up, she said, but there is now about $500,000 in the bank in trust and the zoo is in “heavy procurement mode.”

“We hope to purchase it this year, but we do need to raise about a $100,000 more … Again, we were just trying to raise 50 per cent because we’ve been putting money in trust in our “state of good repair fund” for decades, knowing this cost would come up.”

The Peterborough zoo is the only free zoo of its kind in Canada, she said, and it’s estimated that between Victoria Day and Labour Day, it sees about 250,000 visitors a year, “and I think that’s a light estimate.”

“We don’t make a lot of money here,” Mitchell said. “We have a small food kiosk, we have a gift shop, and we have the train, and then we have events like our ‘fun run’ coming up this Saturday. But most of the stuff we do isn’t to make money … It’s to provide a service for the community. But to continue providing the service, we need more revenue.”

There is a portal on the zoo’s website to make donations, and people can even specify whether they want their money to go into a general fund, a fund for animal care or even just for the train.

As well, there are opportunities to sponsor seats on the train.

“We sold 17 of 21 seats, and we’re just looking for some support on the wheelchair spots that are a little more expensive. We, of course, want our train to be fully accessible to those in wheelchairs. And we have a few dedication seats left. So, this is just an area where people can pay $2,500 to put a name on a plaque dedicating it to a family or business.”

Riverview Park and Zoo is free and open year-round from 8:30 a.m. to dusk.