O’Toole another Conservative who would put our public health care system at risk

With the pandemic pushing provinces to the brink, a federal Conservative government would put Canada’s public health care system in jeopardy.

OTTAWA – Health care systems are on the brink. Alberta is witnessing 1,500 new cases a day and rising while their health care system is on the verge of collapse. Saskatchewan saw a record 506 new cases. Cases are spiking in New Brunswick.

To make matters worse, Statistics Canada reported that nearly one-in-five job vacancies in Canada was in health care and social assistance. Many workers in the care economy are underpaid and working under poor conditions – most are women, and many are Black, Indigenous, racialized or recent immigrants and migrants.

“From coast-to-coast-to-coast, our health care systems are strained to the breaking point,” said Canadian Labour Congress president Bea Bruske. “Erin O’Toole talks like he supports public health care but when you look at his policies, he’s just another Conservative opening the door to privatization and leaving care workers behind. The bulk of his promised new health funding – if it ever actually happened – would be years down the road.”

While Alberta’s health care system is buckling under premier Jason Kenney’s mishandling of the fourth wave, his Conservative government is still planning cuts. In Ontario yesterday, the independent Financial Accountability Office revealed that the Doug Ford Conservative government spent $2.6 billion less than planned in the fiscal first quarter.

“From Ontario to Alberta to Saskatchewan, we have seen health cuts and health care systems on the brink. Conservative mismanagement is putting our public health care system at risk,” concluded Bruske. “And Mr. O’Toole already has a track record of cutting health care. In power now, he would make things even worse.”

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