NORTHWESTERN ONTARIO – During a live stream press conference, Judith Monteith Farrell (Thunder Bay – Atikokan), Sol Mamakwa (Kiiwetinoong), JoAnne Formanek Gustafson (Kenora-Rainy River), and Lise Vaugeois (Thunder Bay-Superior North) outlined their plans for the Ontario’s North.
All four NDP members stood firm on the need for improvements to the health care sector. They cited that the public lacks access to mental health care facilities, detox and rehab centres, and transitional housing for addicts to reintegrate themselves back into a stable environment without the fear of relapse.
“I want people to get the health care they need without long waits or long drives. And folks need lower costs and more good-paying jobs, so the next generation can stay and raise their own family in Northern Ontario,” said Horwath. “People in Northern Ontario have been denied their fair share for too long by too many governments. But the good news is, together, we can start to fix that.”
Andrea Horwath insists that an NDP government immediately begins hiring and recruiting 300 doctors in Northern Ontario, including 100 specialists and 40 mental health practitioners. The NDP will work with the Ontario Medical Association and Northern communities to enhance incentives and support for physicians and healthcare workers to practice in northern Ontario and other chronically underserviced communities. The NDP will also work with the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario to expedite the process for international medical graduates to obtain their license to operate in Northern Ontario.
Lise Vaugeois states, “Bill 124 needs to go. The Bill put a cap on nursing and personal support worker regulation, limiting the amount of income they receive.”
Vaugeois, an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Education at Lakehead University, believes in bringing back French-language education to Northwestern Ontario. Therefore, the NDP will ensure the Ministry of Health makes French language access a crucial part of its planning process while increasing the number of community health centres, long-term care homes, and mental health and addiction services by and for Francophones.
Sol Mamakwa wants to address the lack of services in remote regions. “Transforming the health care system means bringing service closer to home,” Mamakwa said when asked how he would transform health care.
Moreover, the NDP will work with Ontario’s First Nations in a genuine government-to-government relationship for community-led solutions for housing, health care, mental health care, clean drinking water and economic development.
JoAnne Formanek Gustafson added, “accessing specialists when you live in the region is quite difficult and expensive.” She explains how navigating the red tape around Ontario’s Travel Grants program is frustrating and inexcusable to those needing to travel long distances to receive special medical care.
Therefore, the NDP will create a Northern Health Travel Grant Guarantee to ensure Northerners never have to wait longer than 14 days to be paid back for health-related travel.
Judith Monteith-Farrell completed the topic of health by claiming that “we need the infrastructure to solve the health care problems in the North. We need to have a trained workforce to need the needs of the public, and a cost-of-living increase to meet those training needs.”
The NDP promises to work with industry partners and trade groups to promote and develop careers in the trades. The NDP will bring more trades training to Northern Ontario communities and open community-run employment and training centres.
