Ontario Premier Doug Ford is hinting that his government is considering a dramatic overhaul of health care delivery in the province, shifting the public system away from the “status quo.”
During question period at Queen’s Park on Wednesday, Ford defended his government’s actions on the current crisis in provincial hospitals and suggested the Progressive Conservative government is considering additional private delivery of publicly-funded health care.
“We can’t do the same status quo (in health care), status quo has been broken,” Ford declared in the Ontario legislature.
“We’re going to deliver health care in a different fashion.”
The premier, however, said the government is consulting with the health-care system and changes would be made on the advice of care providers rather than the province.
The NDP, however, has warned that additional delivery of private services could rob the public system of valuable resources.
“We have a hospital staffing crisis,” said NDP Leader Peter Tabuns.
“Privatization siphon staff out of our hospitals and send them to a for-profit system.”
In response to the criticism, Ford repeated a pledge that the Ontario Health Insurance Plan (OHIP) would cover the costs.
“As long as our government is here, no one will have to pay with their credit card, they’ll be paying with their OHIP card,” Ford said.
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