THUNDER BAY – NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh announced on Thursday his commitment to end the legacy of cuts to our public health care system, started by the Conservatives and continued by Justin Trudeau. Jagmeet’s plan to hire more nurses and front-line health care staff is what Northwestern Ontario needs especially now during this fourth wave of the pandemic, say NDP candidates Yuk-Sem Won (Thunder Bay-Rainy River) and Chantelle Bryson (Thunder Bay – Superior North).
“Thunder Bay suffered serious outbreaks during the pandemic. The lack of pandemic prevention and preparation by the Trudeau government and his health ministers led to significant unnecessary deaths at Roseview Manor and across the country,” said Bryson. “And now we are entering a fourth wave. Our health care providers need a break and we need further health care resources now.”
“During this pandemic Thunder Bay had so many COVID cases that our hospital was overrun, patients in intensive care had to be transferred to southern Ontario,” said Won. “People lost their lives in long-term care and we had the highest per capita number of COVID cases in the province. That’s the Trudeau Liberals’ record that left our health care system in crisis even before the pandemic hit.
“It’s time to stop the destructive cuts to health care in Thunder Bay. Families here need more nurses and front-line health care workers, not less. Jagmeet Singh and the NDP’s plan will provide that and finally end the cuts under consecutive Liberal and Conservative governments.”
Jagmeet Singh was in Alberta on Thursday where he stood alongside nurses and health care workers to announce that an NDP government would create a $250 million Critical Shortages Fund to address the shortage of nurses and health care workers across Canada and ensure that provinces also commit funding specifically for health care workers. The federal fund would help train and hire 2,000 nurses.
