BRAMPTON, Ontario—More than 1,000 people, mostly Punjabi Sikh immigrants, demonstrated here December 9 demanding improved health care at the local hospital. The protest, organized by Bramptonians for Better Health Care, came after two deaths at the Brampton Civic Hospital in less than a month that protesters say were preventable. This hospital is the first so-called P3—public-private partnership—hospital in Ontario. A private consortium, the Healthcare Infrastructure Company of Canada, is involved in running the hospital. The organizers listed their demands on flyers distributed at the rally. They included: reducing the wait times in emergency care, operating the hospital at its full capacity of 608 beds immediately, and eliminating staff shortages and improving medical care and services.

—JOE YOUNG