Opposition calls on Ford government to increase health spending amid ER closures

Ontario’s opposition parties are calling on the Ford government to spend more money on health-care, amid the overcrowding situation in hospital emergency rooms.

This comes as some urgency care centres and emergency rooms in the province have been forced to restrict hours or temporarily close, which hospitals said have been brought on by staff shortages.

The Liberals and the NDP said Ford’s government need to spend more to maintain critical health services.

“We need increased federal health care transfers — but Premier Doug Ford needs to promise to start spending a workable amount on health-care,” Interim NDP Leader Peter Tabuns said in a written statement.

Newly elected Liberal MPP, Dr. Adil Shamji, said there are measures the government can do now to address the strain on health-care, such as repealing Bill 124 and accelerating the credential process for foreign-trained professionals.

“Even though health-care workers have been sounding the alarm for months, the premier is nowhere to be seen. There is no action from our government. It is tantamount to a vacuum of leadership and a betrayal of our patients and health-care workers,” Shamji said.

The Liberals are also calling for a more cohesive COVID-19 strategy, in light of the seventh wave, saying the province doesn’t have a plan in place.

Ford and other premiers are meeting for a second day in B.C. Tuesday, to discuss the health-care crisis across the country. The Council of the Federation, which is made up of all premiers, is collectively calling on the federal government to provide more health-care funding.

B.C. Premier John Horgan, who chairs the Council of the Federation, said the health-care system needs to be reimagined with a plan for sustainable human resources and stable federal funding.

Back in Ontario, Liberal House Leader and MPP John Fraser said the Ford government is “not taking the necessary actions to ensure that our health-care human resources are protected.”

“Right now, we need action. We can ask for money right now, that money may come in the next few months.”

In a statement to CityNews, the Ontario Health Ministry said it has an “ambitious plan to rebuild and repair Ontario’s health-care system.”

On Sunday, the Urgent Care Centre at Peel Memorial in Brampton was closed at 5 p.m. due to staffing issues. It reopened on Monday morning.

Last week, hospitals in smaller Ontario communities warned that emergency department closures may continue over the summer due to staffing shortages.

Several ERs in communities such as Perth, Clinton, Listowel and Wingham have had to close recently for hours or even days at a time.

The Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians said there have been “record” resignations of health-care personnel, which also worsens wait times and acute care hospital access.

“The emergency department is a window on the health of health care,” they said in a statement. “It has never been more important to pay attention to the current state of emergency departments.”

With files from John Marchesan and Michelle Morton of CityNews, and The Canadian Press