NDP Health Care critic France Gélinas (Nickel Belt) is calling for urgent action after new Ontario Health data revealed that patients spent over 20 hours on average waiting in the ER for admission this July, with only 24 per cent of patients being admitted within an eight-hour benchmark. Gélinas released the following statement: “We can all imagine the agony of ...

On Thusday, Algoma-Manitoulin MPP Michael Mantha reintroduced legislation that would strike a committee with a mandate to fix and improve the Northern Health Travel Grant (NHTG). The Northern Health Travel Grant Advisory Committee Act would bring together health care providers in the North, as well as recipients of the NHTG to make recommendations to the Minister of Health that would ...

As emergency rooms across the country are forced to shut down, people have to wait hours to receive care and healthcare workers are saying that our healthcare system is collapsing, NDP leader Jagmeet Singh reiterated the need for Prime Minister Trudeau and the Liberals to show leadership. He warned that the inaction of the Liberals on the healthcare crisis is ...

Alors que les salles d’urgence sont forcées de fermer partout au pays, que les gens doivent attendre des heures pour recevoir des soins et que les travailleuses et travailleurs de la santé déplorent l’effondrement de notre système de santé, le chef du NPD, Jagmeet Singh, a réitéré la nécessité pour le premier ministre Trudeau et les libéraux de faire preuve ...

During question period Monday, Guy Bourgouin, NDP MPP for Mushkegowuk—James Bay, called on the Ford government to update the Northern Health Travel Grant to keep up with the rising cost of gas and accommodation. “The Northern Health Travel Grant hasn’t been revised in years,” Bourgouin said. “With the rate of inflation, the current program doesn’t cover the cost of gas, ...

With the Gogama nursing station slated to close Sept. 1, NDP Health critic France Gélinas is urging the government to ensure the community isn’t cut off from its only source of primary care. The government has known about the looming closure of the nursing station since late July, when it was notified by letter. “Gogama is a small isolated community. ...

Statistics Canada released new inflation numbers Tuesday. Overall inflation growth was a whopping 7.6 per cent in July while food prices soared 9.9 per cent, a half point higher than June; and natural gas prices soared 45.3 per cent in Ontario thanks to an Ontario Energy Board rate hike. NDP Affordability critic Teresa Armstrong released the following statement: “Ontario families’ ...

Peggy Sattler, NDP MPP for London West, released the following statement in response to the government’s announcement on paid sick days: “It’s cruel for Doug Ford to keep stringing workers along months at a time, never giving them enough paid sick days. At this point, he’s offered a maximum of three days to last a full three years. What happens ...

NDP Deputy Leader Sol Mamakwa, critic for Indigenous and Treaty Relations, will travel to Edmonton to meet Pope Francis on a Papal Visit to the former Residential School in Maskwacis. Mamakwa will carry with him a birchbark scroll with the testimony of other survivors calling for the revocation of the Doctrine of Discovery. Mamakwa released the following statement: “This visit ...

NDP Municipal Affairs critic Jeff Burch released the following statement on behalf of the Official Opposition as cabinet deliberates a scheme to give the mayors of Toronto and Ottawa more unilateral powers: “Why did Premier Doug Ford keep his Strong Mayor plan secret throughout the campaign? Why won’t he consult municipalities or the people they represent? It’s baffling that Ford ...

The Official Opposition NDP says it is unbelievably callous and dangerous for the Doug Ford Conservatives to have shortchanged health care by $1.8 billion as the province grapples with a rash of ER closures amid an ongoing staffing crisis. In a report released today, the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario revealed that the Ford government withheld $1.8 billion earmarked for ...

NDP Poverty and Homelessness Reduction critic Chandra Pasma (Ottawa West—Nepean) says skyrocketing food bank use underscores the need for government action to address poverty and the affordability crisis in Ontario. “Ontarians are finding it harder and harder to put food on the table for their families. Each month, thousands of people are turning to food banks for the first time ...

As the Council of the Federation meets, Interim NDP Leader Peter Tabuns says Doug Ford must not only fight for increased federal health transfers — but also commit to spending more in health care, immediately: “Our hospitals are in crisis. We don’t have enough staff to keep all ERs open around the clock. Patients are waiting in pain for far ...

Interim Ontario NDP Leader Peter Tabuns is calling on Doug Ford to prioritize health care hiring as reports emerge of hospitals forced to temporarily close emergency departments and urgent care centres, and cut hours to cope with nurse and doctor shortages. According to a Canadian Press report, temporary closures have happened at an emergency department in Clinton and an emergency ...

NDP MPP Peter Tabuns (Toronto—Danforth) has been elected by the NDP’s provincial council to be the party’s interim leader. “The NDP is honoured that the people of Ontario have asked us, once again, to form the Official Opposition, and I’m humbled to have an opportunity to lead the party for a time,” said Tabuns. “The Ontario NDP Caucus is energized ...