Staggering number of hospital closures a symptom of Ford government’s failure

December 5, 2023

QUEEN'S PARK — Ontario Greens leader and MPP for Guelph Mike Schreiner released the following statement in response to a new report from the Ontario Health Coalition documenting more than 1,000 closures of vital healthcare services so far in 2023.

“In Doug Ford’s Ontario, crisis has become the norm – and nowhere is it more obvious than in the staggering number of hospital closures affecting people in every corner of our province.

It is unacceptable that the Ford government has allowed 1,199 closures of vital health services in the first 11 months of this year.

It’s shameful and it’s inexcusable. Each and every closure is felt personally by an Ontario family.

It’s an extra year spent on a never-ending waitlist. It’s a senior who can’t get to the care they need. It’s families forced to drive two or three towns over when their child has a fall or breaks a bone. People’s lives are at risk when seconds matter.

Greens call on the government to:

• Stop the privatization of healthcare and prioritize patient care over private profits. Ontario cannot afford to pay more for less care.
• Treat frontline healthcare workers with the respect they deserve with fair wages and benefits better working conditions. The health human resource crisis will not be solved if the Premier continues to appeal wage restraint legislation (Bill 124) in the courts.
• Properly fund all healthcare sectors – primary care, long term care, home and community care, mental healthcare and hospital care. It is shameful that Ontario has the lowest per capita funding for healthcare in the country.

What our healthcare system – and our workers – need is a government that sees the value in public healthcare.

Ontario Greens stand with healthcare workers calling on the Ford government to address the staffing and capacity crisis in Ontario’s hospitals by drastically increasing healthcare spending and investing in the workers who care for us.”

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