Social Policy in Ontario

Time for Doug Ford government to act on health care crisis

Posted on August 4, 2022 in Health Delivery System

Source: TheStar.com — Authors: Star Editorial Board

TheStar.com – Opinion/Editorials
Aug. 4, 2022.   By Star Editorial Board

It’s time the Ford government gave evidence of being seized by the urgency of the health-care crisis.

It’s about time Premier Doug Ford and Health Minister Sylvia Jones roused themselves to publicly address the crisis in Ontario’s health-care system.

What they had to say over the last couple of days will not, obviously, address all problems or assuage all anxiety. There is no quick fix to such comprehensive and long developing challenges. People get that.

But it was good, finally, to see the premier and his minister behave as if they actually recognized the crisis.

Until Wednesday, Ford had been largely invisible since winning his second majority government in June. Jones, similarly out of public view, finally deigned to appear for media interviews to deliver bland utterings that amounted, more or less, to, get used to it.

Ontario has seen temporary closures of hospital emergency wards and intensive-care units due to staff shortages. Patients and front-line workers have taken the hit as critical public institutions deal with the consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic and long-term underfunding.

To that, Jones seemed to shrug.

“It is a national and international shortage,” she told the Star’s Rob Ferguson.

The minister unburdened herself of comments so generic they could be saved and applied to almost any situation.

“There have been many, many meetings, conversations, hearing feedback, hearing from the organizers on the ground to say, what can we do today, three months from now and six months from now that will make a difference in your organization?”

The net effect was so unhelpful that Ford apparently felt obliged to perform some damage control Wednesday, with mixed results.

On the one hand, he said his government was throwing “everything in the kitchen sink” at the problem. He said the province was accelerating the accreditation of foreign-trained nurses. On the other, he seemed to deny it was much of a problem at all.

“Ontarians continue to have access to the care they need, when they need it,” he said.

The provincial indolence would be galling at the best of times. But it is infuriating after an election campaign in which Ford’s slogan was “Get it Done.”

Ford, moreover, emerged from a meeting of first ministers in July pledging that Queen’s Park had an “ambitious” plan to rejuvenate and rebuild the health-care system.

In times of crisis, leadership carries a particular responsibility. It is about showing up, demonstrating competence and shoring up confidence.

It’s about accountability, being seen to be in charge, about restoring trust when trust is wavering.

Another responsibility of leadership might be, as Liberal health critic John Fraser pointed out, could be termed “knowability.”

The health-care chaos did not arrive overnight. It is a crisis that’s been unfolding in slow motion.

“There are measures the government should have taken by now,” Fraser said.

Among these, he said, was repealing Bill 124, which limits most public-sector wage increases – including nurses – to one per cent.

That wouldn’t fix everything, he said, but would send a positive signal to nurses and “plug the hole in the boat.” (Ford says that measure won’t apply as new collective contracts are negotiated.)

Signals and symbols are all part of crisis management when many of the solutions are long-term. Ford or Jones certainly could muster greater transparency, clarity, empathy in the face of growing concerns.

It’s time the Ford government gave evidence of being appropriately seized by the urgency of the health-care crisis and with taking responsibility for addressing public anxiety about it.

Getting it done demands no less.

https://www.thestar.com/opinion/editorials/2022/08/04/act-on-health-care-crisis.html

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