HAMILTON and NICKEL BELT — Following the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives (CCPA) report released by the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU); NDP Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Addictions, and Primary Care, Dr. Robin Lennox (Hamilton Centre); and Shadow Minister of Health, France Gélinas (Nickel Belt) released the following statement:
“Ontarians have made it clear: they don’t want their tax dollars going to for-profit health clinics. They want their tax dollars invested back into them and their local public hospitals,” said MPP Dr. Lennox. "We know the government is directing more and more money to private surgical facilities, but the full scale of that spending isn't transparent.
"At the same time, we are seeing health workers laid off in our public hospitals because of lack of funding. We know that privatization doesn’t work. This government needs to stop pretending that it does, and needs to start investing in real solutions to fix our healthcare system.”
“The government created a crisis to justify the privatization in our healthcare system," said MPP Gélinas. "This privatization model has been trialed all over the world. It does not work.
"And now, we have Ontario data that shows this model will only make our public health care system more strained. So far, it has affected patients who are facing waits of up to 36 hours in our hospitals, it has affected the healthcare workers who are being asked to work in increasingly stressful conditions, and consequently, it has affected people’s confidence in our healthcare system.
"Yet we have a Minister of Health that is hellbent on giving as many contracts as possible to private clinics to continue making money off the backs of sick Ontarians. Instead of sending more public dollars to for-profit clinics, the Ford government should be investing in our public hospitals.”