{"id":178557,"date":"2026-03-29T00:24:11","date_gmt":"2026-03-29T00:24:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/178557\/"},"modified":"2026-03-29T00:24:11","modified_gmt":"2026-03-29T00:24:11","slug":"large-crowd-gathers-outside-queens-park-for-anti-ford-rally","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/178557\/","title":{"rendered":"Large crowd gathers outside Queen\u2019s Park for anti-Ford rally"},"content":{"rendered":"

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The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology. Mispronunciations can occur. We are working with our partners to continually review and improve the results.<\/p>\n

A large crowd gathered outside Queen\u2019s Park in Toronto Saturday for a rally against Ontario Premier Doug Ford to protest a flood of recent announcements from the provincial government.<\/p>\n

Protesters chanted \u201cshame\u201d in unison and held up signs against several issues, including the Greenbelt scandal, the proposed takeover of Billy Bishop Airport to allow jets, the potential changes to freedom of information laws and possible cuts to OSAP grants.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have a lot of concerns about what Doug Ford is doing,\u201d demonstrator Sue Echo told CBC Toronto. \u201cThere are never-ending things that he\u2019s done that everyone in Ontario should be concerned about.\u201d<\/p>\n

Toronto\u2019s rally was part of a province-wide demonstration, entitled \u201cFight Ford Protests,\u201d for which rallies took place in a variety of cities across the Greater Toronto Area, including Brampton and Newmarket, Ont.<\/p>\n

Mackenzie Babinsky, another demonstrator at the Toronto rally, said she\u2019s worried about the OSAP cuts as a student, but she\u2019s even more concerned about the privatization of healthcare.<\/p>\n

\u201cHealthcare is something that is so fundamental to a functional society,\u201d she told CBC Toronto. \u201cLooking towards the future, my parents are aging and I have genuine concerns about what that means for [them] and for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WomanProtesters chanted \u201cshame\u201d in unison and held up signs against several issues, including the Greenbelt scandal, the proposed takeover of Billy Bishop Airport to allow jets, the potential changes to freedom of information laws and possible cuts to OSAP grants. (Spencer Gallichan-Lowe\/CBC)<\/p>\n

It\u2019s scary to think Ontario could become more like our neighbours south of the border, Babinsky said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see how detrimental it is in the U.S. to have privatized healthcare,\u201d she added. \u201cI would love to see a lot more funding go towards public healthcare, reducing the emergency room wait times, more money for nurses, for personal support workers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Attendee Eric Murray, who was holding up a \u201cVote Ford Out\u201d sign, said he doesn\u2019t like what\u2019s happening in Ontario and while he doesn\u2019t usually voice his opinion, this time it\u2019s different.<\/p>\n

\u201c[Ford\u2019s] flooding the system with lots of ideas to keep us occupied,\u201d he said. \u201cThe Ford government has definitely motivated me to come out and speak my voice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Despite this, Murray said he doesn\u2019t think the provincial government will backpedal on any of the recent announcements.<\/p>\n

Also in attendance at the rally was Green Party Member of Parliament Elizabeth May (Saanich\u2014Gulf Islands). She said Ford\u2019s government is a threat to wildlands and protected lands.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe’ve got to pay attention to the climate,\u201d she told CBC Toronto. \u201cWe’re heading into a killer of a summer and we’re not prepared.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is just one of many things Ford has done that are \u201cappalling,\u201d May said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf Queen\u2019s Park or Ottawa thinks they can take our rights away, they’ve got to think again,\u201d she said. \u201cWe will fight. This is a crazy scheme.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Listen to this article Estimated 3 minutes The audio version of this article is generated by AI-based technology.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":178558,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[9,24,63,122,124,123],"class_list":["post-178557","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-queens","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-queens","tag-queens-headlines","tag-queens-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178557","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=178557"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/178557\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/178558"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=178557"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=178557"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=178557"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}