Ontario Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie is making health care the key issue of her election campaign, saying many Ontarians aren’t getting the care they need.
Crombie kicked off her campaign outside a medical office in Barrie, Ont., on Jan. 29, by promising to tackle the province’s family physician shortage while criticizing Premier Doug Ford’s decision to call an early election.
Crombie said the $175 million being spent on an election “we don’t need” should instead be spent on tackling the family doctor shortage.
“More than 2.5 million Ontarians don’t have access to a family doctor,” Crombie said, adding her priority is to ensure “everyone in Ontario has access to a family doctor within four years.”
Her comments come two days after the Progressive Conservative government pledged funding to connect an additional two million people to a publicly funded family doctor or primary care team within the next four years.
Crombie called the funding “too little, too late.” She said the Liberals will hire 3,100 doctors specializing in family medicine to address the shortage while also tackling “hallway health care” in the province’s hospitals.
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Unlike Ford and NDP Leader Marit Stiles, Crombie was not surrounded by supporters at her campaign launch, appearing only with the Liberal’s Barrie-Springwater-Oro Medonte candidate Rose Zacharias, who is past president of the Ontario Medical Association.
Both Crombie and Zacharias sported hats with the slogan “Real Leaders Fix Healthcare” emblazoned across the front.
Crombie also vowed to form a ministry to address the homelessness and addictions crisis should she be elected premier. She said her party has developed a strategy to tackle both homelessness and drug use, but did not provide any specific details.
Axing the HST from home heating and hydro and tax cuts for small businesses and the middle class are also on the agenda, Crombie said, promising that those earning less than $75,000 annually will “see a 22 percent reduction.”
A central part of Ford’s campaign is dealing with the impending 25 percent tariffs that U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to slap on Canadian goods unless Canada tightens border security to prevent illegal migration and drug trafficking. Crombie did not address the tariffs issue, but criticized Ford for not focusing on issues like health care.
The Liberal party is attempting to regain official party status at Queen’s Park with Crombie at the helm. The party currently holds nine seats in the 124-seat legislature.
Crombie, the former mayor of Mississauga, said she will run in the riding of Mississauga East-Cooksville in the Feb. 27 election.
