NDP to force vote on funding new Brampton hospital

BRAMPTON — The Ontario NDP and Leader Andrea Horwath will force a vote at Queen’s Park on the construction of a new hospital in Brampton and the immediate expansion of Peel Memorial, after revealing shocking overcrowding numbers for Brampton Civic Hospital and the Peel Memorial Centre.

A Freedom of Information request filed by the NDP showed that Brampton Civic Hospital was full to capacity — above safe levels — for the last year; and Peel Memorial’s capacity from July 2018 to June 2019 was between 557 per cent and 587 per cent. Horwath’s motion requires the Ford government to allocate the dollars needed in the province’s fall budget update to build a new hospital in Brampton and expand Peel Memorial.

The NDP’s Brampton MPPs held a press conference Friday to announce the proposal.

“We need to take immediate action to alleviate the hallway medicine crisis, because it’s hurting Brampton families,” said Sara Singh, NDP MPP for Brampton Centre. “Hallway medicine means parents are forced to cradle their crying child, waiting hour after hour to see a doctor, and it means patients are often left lying on a stretcher in a hallway at Brampton Civic, with lights on 24/7 and without privacy.”

“The Liberals turned their backs on Brampton with cuts and underfunding,” said Kevin Yarde, NDP MPP for Brampton North. “Things have only gone from bad to worse under Doug Ford as he picks up where the Liberals left off.”

Ford has cut hundreds of health care jobs, laid off hundreds of health care workers, isn’t giving hospitals enough funding to keep up with rising costs and, in his 2019 budget, planned for health care spending to plunge by $2.7 billion over the next two years.

“We are urging the Conservative MPPs from Brampton to show up and vote for our community to get the new hospital we desperately need,” said Gurratan Singh, NDP MPP for Brampton East. “This is an opportunity to deliver critically needed improvements to health care. It’s an opportunity end the painfully long waits and overcrowding for Brampton families.

“The NDP is going to keep fighting to bring a new hospital to Brampton and ensure the Peel Memorial Phase II expansion gets done — and quickly.”

Horwath’s motion is due to be debated, and voted on, in the Ontario legislature on Monday. She and the NDP have been fighting for the new Brampton hospital for more than two years — and vow to keep fighting until the new hospital’s doors are open.