QUEEN’S PARK — Ontario NDP leader Marit Stiles issued the following statement in response to the Ford government’s second-reading passage of Bill 60, legislation that will expand the use of private, for-profit health facilities:
“Today, the Ford Conservatives brought Ontarians one step closer to a two-tier health care system, where those who can afford it will jump the queue and everyone else will be left waiting even longer.
Doug Ford could invest right now in the practical, clear solutions to fix our health care staffing crisis:
- He could spend the billions already earmarked for health care in the public system.
- Make full use of the operating rooms currently sitting empty by funding the staff to run them.
- Pay trusted, qualified health care workers fairly to keep them in the public system, and hire more to help clear the backlog of procedures.
Instead, the government is putting investor profits before the health of everyone else; as a result, we’ll see more health workers driven out of the field, and more emergency rooms closed when people need them. And due to private clinic facility fees, it’ll cost our system even more.
Ford’s Conservatives want you to settle for less health care. Your Ontario NDP team wants you to expect more.”