Liberal leader demands Ford request military help amid hospital ‘staffing crisis’

The Ontario Liberals are calling on the Ford government to request military help to deal with hospital staffing shortages brought on by the rapid spread of the Omicron variant.

A statement from the party says they are demanding the province take “urgent action” to deal with the crisis and “request the assistance of the Canadian military today.”

“Call the Prime Minister and reach out to the federal government to seek support and help from Canada’s military to help deal with the challenges that we have in both nursing homes and hospitals,” said Liberal Leader Steven Del Duca on Wednesday.

“I’m urging Doug Ford, be proactive, be forward-looking, make these calls today.”

Del Duca is also asking the government to recall the legislature to repeal Bill 124, which limits the annual salary increases to one per cent for many parts of the public sector. Critics of the bill argue it doesn’t keep up with inflation and may result in skilled workers fleeing to the private sector.

NDP Opposition leader Andrea Horwath is also calling for the bill to be repealed saying it is “driving away health care workers.”

The Liberals also want the province to expedite the process to get internationally educated nurses credentialed, invite registered health professionals outside of nursing and medicine to volunteer in vaccinations and allow hospital staff to be seconded to alternate sites with minimal administrative barriers.

“I am not simply opposing what Doug Ford is doing, I’m also proposing” said Del Duca.

Related: GTA hospitals, paramedic services experiencing critical staff shortages amid COVID surge

Hospitals in the province have been ordered to pause all non-urgent surgeries to free up staff to cover absences and the rising number of hospitalized virus patients.

Ontario saw a significant increase in COVID-19 hospitalizations on Wednesday, eclipsing 2,000 for the first time since May 5. There are now 2,081 people in the hospital due to the virus, up from just 1,290 a day ago.

More hospitals in the province are being forced to cancel surgeries and redeploy their staff to provide care for the surging numbers.

Niagara Health shut down its urgent health centre in Fort Erie on Thursday due to shortages of staff and increasing numbers of COVID-19 patients. Bluewater Health hospital in Sarnia says it reopened a COVID-19 health unit to deal with the growing number of patients. The hospital says it had to cancel most surgeries as the number of staff on sick leave increased to five times the usual number.

The William Osler Health System, which operates Brampton Civic Hospital and Etobicoke General Hospital, declared a “code orange” earlier this week due to a lack of staff available to deal with surging patients.

Peel Regional Paramedic Services declared a “code black” on Sunday, meaning there was just a single ambulance or less available to be dispatched.

The federal government previously approved a request from Ontario for military assistance in April amid surging COVID-19 cases and hospitalizations. At that time, the military brought in multi-purpose medical assistance teams of nurses and technicians to hospitals that were stretched to the limits due to the virus.

With files from Nick Westoll and the Canadian Press