Federal New Democrat Leader Jagmeet Singh says he will call on the House of Commons to hold an emergency debate on the privatization of health care.
It’s a top priority for the leader as members of Parliament return to the House Monday following a holiday break.
Singh spent some of that time away holding round table discussions on health care in British Columbia to discuss emergency room overcrowding and worker shortages.
Singh says health care is already understaffed and he believes for-profit facilities will poach doctors and nurses away from hospitals.
Ontario Premier Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservative government announced earlier this month that it’s moving some procedures to publicly funded, private facilities to address a growing surgery waitlist, which worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Provinces like Alberta and Saskatchewan have already made similar moves.
“Health care is already dramatically understaffed, and for-profit facilities will poach doctors and nurses — cannibalizing hospitals, forcing people to wait longer in pain and wracked with anxiety,” Singh said in a statement to The Canadian Press.
