MPP West demands Ford preserve Laurentian’s midwifery, cancer therapy programs

QUEEN’S PARK — Doug Ford must preserve Laurentian’s midwifery and radiation therapy programs, said MPP Jamie West during question period Monday, after the Ford government failed to provide assurances these programs will not be cut.

“The elimination of the midwifery and radiation therapy programs at Laurentian is a deep cut to northern health care,” said West. “It means northerners will have less medical help and attention when they need it during the most trying times of their lives.”

“This government has refused to stop the cuts at Laurentian. Instead, the Ford Conservatives chose to play a cruel joke with northerners by making claims in the media that they have refused to back up.”

Romano claimed the program was a priority — only for his ministry to clarify that didn’t mean Romano has any plans to save the midwifery program.

“So I ask the premier today, will he commit to ensuring that a tri-cultural, bilingual midwifery program in Northern Ontario will be available this fall? Will Doug Ford do the right thing and save both of these irreplaceable health care programs in Northern Ontario?” said West.

West pressed Doug Ford to stop the elimination of the four-year program to train radiation therapists in Northern Ontario.

“Because Doug Ford has refused to stop the cuts at Laurentian, the medical physicists who provided training in radiation therapy, have lost their jobs. It means the elimination of 15 radiation therapists that used to graduate from Laurentian every year,” said West.

“These are the students that operate the machines used in radiation therapy for cancer patients. This is essential treatment for cancer patients in northern Ontario. How can this premier and this government stand by and allow this to happen?”