DAY 12 @ STRATFORD

Hi everyone, sorry about another really late post!! We spent the day in Stratford, Ontario, home of the Shakespeare Festival (also home of the one and only Justin Bieber!) I had never been to Stratford and found it to be a small, quaint town. We spent some time walking the streets in our white coats and talking to people about the issues. However, it was extremely cold and alot of the people around were tourists!

Next, we hopped on the bus and headed to Sinclair's Pharmacy (Guardian), where we set up across the store at a roundabout of sorts and protested to the public. This was very successful and we were met by countless enthusiastic honks from drivers by as well as several insightful questions. Pharmacy staff from the Guardian came out with STOPCUTS.CA t-shirts to support us. They told us that this year is the 50th anniversary of the store, and they just got a new sign for it, but these cuts have put a damper on the occasion. Our protests drew interest from Stratford youth, and we explained the issues to them and they supported us by texting HEALTHCUTS to 123411 (as you should, too!). Also, every Stratford media outlet came out to cover the story and several of our student team members were interviewed! I have yet to find the articles online but once I do, rest assured that I will post them here, along with the pictures from Stratford.

Then, as per routine, we set off to canvass the streets of Stratford. The area which Heather and I were assigned was composed almost entirely of seniors. Most were in opposition to the cuts, but it was a bit discouraging since most of them had lost faith in the government and believed that they had no power to do anything to change it. We tried to reassure them by telling them that if everyone on this street called their MPP (John Wilkinson), hopefully he'd do something about it! They didn't seem entirely convinced, so I'm not sure that they will actually call. One woman answered her door, and upon asking her "Have you heard about the McGuinty government's proposed funding cuts to pharmacy?" she replied "We've heard about it, we don't understand it, and therefore we don't want to discuss it." Before we could engage in a conversation with her and explain the issues to her, she slammed the door. Perhaps we had caught her at a bad time....

Next stop is the hometown of another great Canadian. Not a world famous pop singer like Justin Bieber, but a great Canadian athlete, none other than the Great One, Wayne Gretzky! See you in Brantford!