Election: Pringle on six-month waits for surgery

NEWS RELEASE

JOSH PRINGLE PROGRESSIVE CONSERVATIVE CANDIDATE SAULT STE. MARIE

************************* Pringle says: A John Tory government will strengthen health care

Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory today committed to decisive action to bring universal access to public health care to all Ontarians. “I am fiercely committed to the principles of our publicly-funded health-care system,” said Tory. “We all believe in the promise of our health-care system, yet too often today we fall short on delivery. The fact is, ‘access’ is just a word if it means you have to wait six months for an essential procedure.” Over the past four years, Dalton McGuinty has presided over a worsening doctor shortage while waiting lists remain far longer than acceptable norms.

Tory cited the deterioration of health care despite Dalton McGuinty’s increased spending as clear evidence that the health-care system badly needs to open up to new innovation and new approaches. “The Supreme Court itself has warned us that ‘access to a waiting list is not access to health care’, yet Dalton McGuinty continues to put ideology ahead of new ideas that could reduce wait times and save lives,” explained Tory. The conditions for any partnership with the private sector would be that: - A John Tory government would reject any attempt to implement two-tier medicine. No Ontarian will ever pay for necessary health care services with anything other than their OHIP card. - The only private sector partners that would be considered by a John Tory government would be those who could demonstrate that they could provide a superior level of service at a competitive cost to the taxpayer. - A John Tory PC government would reject any private sector proposal that would replace a publicly-funded health care service. The doctors, nurses and other health-care professionals in the fully public system would still provide the foundation for public services, with private sector services supplementing those services areas of greatest strain. “I believe in publicly-funded universal health care and I will always protect and fund publicly funded universal health care,” Mr. Tory said. “But I will never let political posturing hold that system back from embracing new ideas and new approaches that provide families with superior health-care services. Mr. McGuinty has let ideology and political games hold our health care system back. That’s why we need new leadership.”

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