LIBERAL Party Leader Justin Trudeau said on Friday in Hamilton, Ontario, that in this important election, Canadians have a clear choice: move forward with the Liberal plan to invest in and build a better public health care system for everyone or let Conservative Party Leader Erin O’Toole take us backward by bringing more privatization to Canada.

He said that our health care system and frontline health care workers helped get Canadians through the pandemic, from the earliest days and greatest surges, to delivering vaccines across the country. Now’s the time to further invest in our health care system and its workers. While O’Toole has misled Canadians about his level of commitment to health care and mental health services, the Liberals have a plan to eliminate the health care backlog, build better mental health services and long-term care facilities, and hire up to 7,500 new doctors and nurses.

“Erin O’Toole continues to show that he will say anything to get elected,” said Trudeau. “In the middle of the pandemic, he wants Canadians to think he’ll support public health care, but in reality, he’s now revealed how little he’s willing to do to invest in Canadians’ health care needs. Canadians need real leadership to get us out of the pandemic, but Erin O’Toole will only deliver longer wait lists and more privatization in our health care system. We deserve better.”

To keep moving forward and build a better health care system, a re-elected Liberal government will:

• Support better access to primary care teams for everyone by hiring 7,500 new family doctors, nurses, and nurse practitioners nationwide.
• Invest in ending waitlists, including ensuring the backlog of services created by COVID-19 is fully eliminated across the country.
• Expand virtual health care services to make it easier for Canadians to access our health care system.
• Create a dedicated mental health transfer to the provinces and territories.
• Invest in long term care, including by raising wages for personal support workers, with a guaranteed minimum wage of at least $25 per hour.
• Build capacity to increase the number of doctors and health care professionals in rural and remote parts of the country.

“Erin O’Toole is out of touch with what Canadians need,” said Trudeau. “By starving the health system of needed support as we emerge from the COVID-19 crisis, Erin O’Toole’s Conservatives will force deep cuts, longer wait lists, and more privatization to Canada’s health system — which will only benefit the wealthy. Now more than ever, we need to build a stronger public health care system, and move forward for everyone.”