TORONTO, ON – Bonnie Crombie, Leader of the Ontario Liberal Party, released the following statement in response to the federal government’s healthcare investment in Ontario:
“Ontario Liberals are pleased to see the federal government step up and provide a much-needed investment to expand primary care and hire new healthcare professionals in Ontario.
“However, even with strings attached, Doug Ford has repeatedly proven he cannot be trusted to support our universal, public healthcare system.
“During the COVID-19 pandemic, the federal government provided billions of dollars for healthcare, but Doug Ford parked the funds in the government’s coffers, intentionally starving our hospitals of the resources they needed.
“His neglect of our healthcare system is a deliberate part of his plan to introduce a two-tiered, for-profit system. And we are seeing the dire consequences as wait times and overcrowding results in closed emergency rooms across the province, particularly in rural hospitals.
“Throughout his entire tenure as Premier, Doug Ford and his Conservatives have consistently operated behind closed doors to put well-connected insiders ahead of Ontario families. That is unacceptable.
“Every single dollar of this federal investment must be used to help patients by supporting our publicly funded, not-for-profit hospitals and community clinics, and the people who work in them.”