John Tory Leader of the Oppositon

Chris Savard
Seaway News

November 3, 2006:

In the past week, the Ontario Provincial government announced funding of $142 million through what is being described as a three-point Emergency Department Action Plan. According to the Ministry of Health release, monies will be directed to retain and recruit emergency room physicians, spent to create “A Better Access To Emergency Care Fund” to reduce wait times, and utilized to provide more services in the community.

The funding announcement was as a result of three years of inaction by the McGuinty Liberals which has lead to an Emergency Room crisis in our province, which the government continues to downplay.

The McGuinty Liberals during the 2003 Election campaign promised to unclog Ontario’s Emergency rooms and add 1,600 beds. Instead of acting on this promise, the government has waited until there is a full-blown provincial crisis in Emergency rooms to announce that they would increase spending. So really, what Mr. McGuinty is indicating - and people in this riding have come to understand - is that his own election promises have no value or merit.

Last week Ontario PC Leader John Tory was quoted as saying, “If just money was the answer, why isn’t this situation solved by now? We’ve seen a track record by the McGuinty Liberals of lots of public relations, big spending and very few results. Are Ontarians supposed to congratulate Dalton McGuinty for finally noticing there is a crisis in our Emergency Rooms? I think they will be saying we’ll wait and see if there is any improvement or results.”

On Monday of this week, PC Deputy Leader Elizabeth Witmer noted during Question Period, that after three years of delay and denial, the government finally realized that there was a crisis in emergency rooms across Ontario. She commented that the government’s announcement contained no timelines and no measurements.

Witmer then asked the Minister of Health George Smitherman this question, “Will you tell us why Friday's announcement did not contain timelines or measurements?” In his typical style, Mr. Smitherman skirted the question and did not provide any insight into what the benchmarks or performance measures are for this new initiative.

It is commonly felt in the private sector and beyond, that what gets measured gets accomplished. Based on the lack of performance measures and the track record of the McGuinty Liberals over the last three years, it is no wonder that people in the Province of Ontario are skeptical about seeing any real improvement in our emergency room wait times.

People from our area are very familiar with the long emergency wait times and time will tell if there will be any improvement.

chris@chrissavard.ca