Trudeau watching as Ford plans to expand private delivery of public health care, Singh calls for conditions
CTV
As Ontario moves to allow private clinics to perform more surgeries, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he'll be watching to ensure the principles of Canada's universal public system are respected. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh is calling for Trudeau to make provinces protecting the public system a condition of any future increase to the federal health transfer.
As Ontario moves to allow private clinics to perform more surgeries, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said he'll be watching to ensure the principles of Canada's universal public system are respected.
"It is one of the primary responsibilities of the federal government in matters of health-care delivery, to ensure that the Canada Health Act is always respected," Trudeau told reporters at an event in Saskatchewan on Monday, referencing the law that outlines Canada’s publicly funded health-care insurance system and spells out national health policy objectives.
"That's what we're going to continue to watch across the country as people are responding in different ways to delivering better services to Canadians in health care," Trudeau said.
On Monday, Ontario unveiled a three-step plan that will see some for-profit community surgical and diagnostic centres take on certain additional surgeries and other medical procedures with the aim of reducing the provinces' surgical backlogs resulting in considerable wait times for patients.
During the announcement, Ontario Premier Doug Ford indicated the incoming changes to the system would be permanent.
While not stating whether he supports Ford’s move, the prime minister said he and the premiers are "very much on the same page" when it comes to the health-care system needing more investment and, as a result, improved care for Canadians.
"Whether we're talking about more access to primary care doctors and teams, whether it's quicker access to mental health supports, whether it's reducing the surgery backlog. There are lots of things that we're working on with the provinces," Trudeau said.
