Horwath brings vision for better health care to Ottawa town hall

Ottawa families set to pack town hall Tuesday night to talk about better health care

OTTAWA — NDP Official Opposition Leader Andrea Horwath will hold a town hall in Ottawa Tuesday evening to share her vision for better health care in Ottawa, and hear from patients, families and community members.

The town hall comes as Doug Ford plows ahead with a scheme to upend health care in Ontario, ripping decision making away from local communities and opening the door to sweeping privatization of health care services. Ford is also eliminating 25 public health agencies and cutting 59 paramedic and emergency health services down to 10.

“For too long, Ottawa families have been forced to settle for less than the best health care Ontario could be delivering,” said Horwath. “From crushing waits in emergency rooms to hallway medicine, people deserve better.

“Ford’s scheme will make these problems even worse by allowing more private for-profit corporations to get their mitts on our public health dollars.”

New Democrats are holding town halls throughout the province to bring people together to talk about better health care in Ontario. Horwath said her vision for Ontario’s health care is about expanding medicare, not putting holes in it or selling it off part-by-part.

“We envision a future where families can count on their health care system to deliver more, not less,” said Horwath. “We envision a future where upstream solutions like prescription drug and dental coverage are available to all. New Democrats are partnering with Ontario families to build a future where no one empties their wallet just to get the care that they need.”