Member of Provincial Parliament
Mississauga-Streetsville Provincial Liberal Association
Riding Association Web Site
We don't need cuts to front-line nurses
According to the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS), the NDP have promised that, if elected, they will raise the per-student funding to more than the national average. That’s a $1 billion promise. Every year.
But in the costing document the NDP released in late September, there wasn’t a single penny set aside to back up that promise.
“Did the NDP mislead students, or did they simply forget to provide costing for their billion-dollar-per-year promise?” asked Greg Sorbara, Liberal candidate for Vaughan and former Ontario Finance Minister. “Either the NDP is so cynical that they’re making promises behind closed doors that they have no intention of keeping, or they’re completely incompetent and can’t keep track of their commitments.”
“Regardless of why the NDP isn’t including billion-dollar commitments in their costing, the fact that they only released this well past the mid-way point of the campaign, and after voters have started casting ballots is an insult to Ontarians,” continued Sorbara. “This document is a day late and a dollar short – or more accurately, a billion dollars short.”
And now the nurse cuts
With just a few days left in the election campaign, Andrea Horwath has released the costing implications of her election promises. That costing includes a significant error that, if not corrected, will lead to the firing of 850 front-line nurses and home care workers.
Buried in the NDP costing document is a pledge to cut home care “administration” by 20 percent, or $100 million. But a closer look reveals the NDP’s definition of 'administration' includes nurses and other front line home care workers who perform case management at Community Care Access Centres (CCACs).
Case managers, a majority of whom are nurses, are responsible for evaluating what home care is required for Ontario patients, and coordinating the delivery of that care. They also handle complaints about care, and are responsible for monitoring the quality of home care being provided. Without these case managers, patients will backlog in hospitals longer as they await a home care assessment, costing taxpayers more money for more expensive hospital care.
The NDP have based their $100 million (20 percent) savings on an Ontario Health Coalition report suggesting the total cost of administration and case management at CCACs is $500 million. Administration itself is only $180 million of that; the other two thirds is case management. Taking $64 million out of case management (or 2/3 of the identified savings target) translates to 850 nurses and front line home care workers.
Either Horwath and the NDP don’t know what case managers do, or they are planning a major cut to front line health care services. Either way, Ontarians have reason to be concerned.
The front line nurses that Andrea Horwath has targeted for drastic cuts make life easier for families and play an essential role in ensuring patients can leave hospitals and get the care they need in their homes. Whether by incompetence or design, these cuts make it clear that Andrea Horwath is just not worth the risk.