“It is not sustainable that the federal government is giving us 22 percent.  We pay 78 percent.  And that across the country.  Unacceptable,” Ford said at an unrelated news conference in Stratford, Ont.  on Wednesday.
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“We will continue to ask the federal government to step up and do its share.  There has never been a more important time to do so.”
Ford’s comments followed the closure of a number of emergency hospitals and intensive care units across the province over the weekend, with about 25 hospitals forced to make operational changes.
Additionally, on Tuesday, University Health Network (UHN) told CP24 that three intensive care units at one of Toronto’s busiest hospitals, Toronto General, are at or near capacity, citing a staffing limit.
It is worth noting that Ford did not offer new solutions to deal with the personnel crisis.  He added that calling in the military for help — an action the province took early in the COVID-19 pandemic — is not being actively considered.
Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones addressed the issue Tuesday after weeks of radio silence, but stopped short of calling the string of terminations unacceptable.
“It’s always a very difficult decision when they have to close an emergency department, whether it’s for four hours, for one shift or in some cases over the weekend.  I know it’s very difficult for them to do that and make those decisions,” Jones said at the time.
On the provincial side, Ford defended the work his government has done so far to address the issue in Ontario’s struggling health care system.
That includes hiring more than 10,500 new health workers, adding 3,100 hospital beds, streamlining the process for acquiring internationally trained nurses through the College of Nurses of Ontario and a one-time payment of $5,000 announced in March to retain nurses at present.  working in the field.
However, Ford has not said whether or not his government will repeal Bill 124 before it expires in November this year.
The bill, which caps public sector wage increases at one per cent — including those working in the health sector — was introduced in 2019 as a “fair and time-bound approach” to tackling the province’s deficit.
Since then, calls for its repeal have become a rallying cry among Ontario health care workers, some of whom have called the bill itself a “slap in the face.”
Despite those constant and repeated calls, Ford appeared to pay the bills when discussing the measure Wednesday, saying “it’s the hospitals that make the deals with the nurses.”
“But let’s also keep in mind that every other province doesn’t have this [Bill 124] and they feel crisis,” he said.
Ford’s calls for support in Ottawa first came in March of last year, when Canada’s premiers urged the federal government to expand its share of health care costs to 35 percent from 22 percent, which they said , would result in an additional injection.  $28 billion in the sector.
Last month, Ontario’s Financial Accountability Office found that the province spent $1.8 billion over budget on health care during the past fiscal year.
When Ford was asked about that underemployment in the context of Ontario’s health care woes on Wednesday, he said the information presented was “not accurate.”