Dozens protest at Ontario PC party's Ford Fest event in Milton

Dozens of protesters gathered outside the Ontario Progressive Conservative Party's Ford Fest event in Milton on Friday to show their opposition to many provincial government policies.

The event, billed as Ford Fest GTA West 2024, was held in Country Heritage Park on Tremaine Road near Highway 401. According to the PC Party, the event was intended to celebrate the Ontario government's accomplishments.

But the protesters, who held up signs and waved flags, said people are suffering in Ontario because of several government policies, in particular in education and health care.

"We just want to say, things aren't okay in education, things aren't okay in Ontario," Karen Littlewood, president of the Ontario Secondary School Teachers' Federation, told a reporter on Friday.

"I don't think we should be told to go to the vet when we need an MRI. I think those kind of jokes are really offensive."

Earlier this week, the premier joked about sending "overflow" human patients to a new veterinary hospital in King City, north of Toronto, where he spoke Tuesday at its grand opening.

"By the looks of it, we know where we can send the overflow patients now for MRIs and CAT scans and everything else," Ford said.

Stacy Kennedy, an Oakville, Ont. resident, said at the protest she believes that the government's policies are failing Ontarians and she is angry. She held up a large sign that read: "Welcome to Ontario. Diagnosed with cancer while Waiting to see a specialist."

Kennedy said she was found to have cancer while she was waiting to see a specialized gynecologist. The referral wait times were 18 to 24 months, she said.

She said the cancer was found by an emergency doctor in an ER in the GTA who advocated for her. An oncologist later diagnosed her with a rare ovarian cancer.

She said she was "so sick" but was lucky to have had