April 9th, 2021
April 9th, 2021
QUEEN’S PARK — With COVID-19 pressures shutting down scheduled surgeries starting April 12, Official Opposition NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is calling on the Ford government to urgently examine all options and possibilities for getting hospitals the staffing and resources they need, and put forward a plan to confront the escalating crisis.
“This news is devastating for patients, and our frontline health care heroes,” said Horwath. “Thousands of people already waiting in pain will be left to wait even longer. Conditions, including cancer, will grow worse while people will face fear and anxiety.
“Ontario should never have come back to this point where scheduled surgeries had to be halted again. But this is exactly where experts predicted we would be, and Doug Ford walked us right into it with eyes wide open. The experts warned him, but he refused to listen.”
The government’s March budget gave hospitals less than half of the funding needed to clear the backlog that had already piled up through the first and second waves.
“The public has a right to know how the province is going to deal with this crisis,” said Horwath.
“If I were the premier today, I’d explore every possible solution to give hospitals the staff and resources they need to deal with this crisis. And I’d take all possible actions to stop people from ending up in the hospital – including implementing a robust on-site testing program in workplaces, paid sick days, class size caps for our schools and more.”
Click here to view a video from this morning's press conference.