Dear Minister,

I understand that tomorrow the healthcare committee is meeting to decide what amendments they should make to the healthcare overhaul bill. I strongly believe this committee should include an amendment that would ban any expansion of private, for-profit care with the new legislation, I urge you to support this view and share this recommendation with your colleagues.

Our community elected you with a mandate to reduce unnecessary spending, not to open the lines to private business to profit from basic human needs. Health, education, these are basics for our community, and should be available regardless of socio economic status.

My husband and I marched yesterday in Toronto in support of the notion that the proposed cuts hurt kids, which will hurt our community. We're not educators, we don't have children, we're a young couple thinking about the future of our rural community and utterly disheartened by the damage (without mandate) this so called government for the people has already done.

We moved to Big Bay from Toronto, in our thirties. We believe in the potential for sustainable economic development in our community, but we also believe that this comes with a responsibility to support every member of our community.

Perhaps we are not your standard constituents, maybe believing in fiscal responsibility whilst also believing in supports for low income families, children with autism, kids who need extra one-to-one support in the classroom, the list goes on, perhaps social responsibility doesn't go hand in hand with cost saving in the current government's mind, but it can be done. For starters might I suggest not worrying about costly government rebranding (ministries, logos, licence plates) and instead use those funds to support our communities.

We are part of the future of our community, and we rely on you as our representative to support that future.

Please listen to our community, understand what's important to us, health, education, access for all (and special care for those who need more support);  these are fundamental pieces of our Grey Bruce beliefs. Environmental supports too, an understanding of what it means to be stewards of our environment, the changes being proposed now by your government (my government) absolutely undermine sustainability in just about every way.

Please take a stand and be the principled politician our community believed in re-electing.

Sincerely,

Nicole Egan, Big Bay