Jagmeet Singh, leader of the federal NDP, stopped in Qualicum Beach on Tuesday, Jan. 24, part of a nationwide tour focused on issues in the healthcare industry. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

By Alex Rawnsley

healthcare challenges

Federal NDP leader pushes for action on struggling healthcare system

Jan 24, 2023 | 1:08 PM

QUALICUM BEACH — Jagmeet Singh said he’s heard loud and clear the region’s healthcare system is failing.

The federal NDP leader stopped in Qualicum Beach on Tuesday, Jan. 24 for a roundtable with locals on healthcare and the difficulties many on the mid-Island face. It was part of a tour across Vancouver Island, which includes a Wednesday morning stop in Nanaimo.

“It’s impossible to find a doctor,” Singh said. “For many people on the Island, it is simply just not an option. We know that for so many people going into an emergency room means waiting for hours and hours before you get care and many emergency rooms are being shut down or operating on reduced hours.”

During a media availability following the roundtable, Singh was passionate in speaking about the challenges facing the industry but stopped short of proposing detailed and costed ways to improve the situation.

Singh criticized Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s stance amid turmoil across the country’s healthcare system, stating Trudeau was “not taking this crisis seriously.”

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He also took issue with moves from some provinces, specifically Ontario and Alberta, to invest more into privatized, for-profit healthcare.

But beyond lobbying the government to better support healthcare, Singh did not present much in the way of ideas.

“[Participants in the roundtable] shared with us the problems in long term care, the problems with not being able to get a doctor, the problems with our hospitals, but they also shared with us solutions.”

When asked by NanaimoNewsNOW about further funding public healthcare, to what degree the NDP would like to see and where the money would come from, Singh was non-committal by saying the government could fund it and “there are resources available”.

“It starts with having a federal government that steps up and does its part, properly funds a healthcare system, defends a public-universal system and deals with the immediate crisis of a healthcare worker shortage.”

Singh said he was “open and flexible” on the amount of federal funding devoted to healthcare and was “committed to fighting” for an increase in the short term.

Singh made repeated calls for immediate action on the crisis by recruiting, retaining and training nurses, doctors and other healthcare workers.

He also said he wants to see accountability for any public funds spent by ensuing money from Ottawa is devoted to public healthcare and not for-profit institutions.

The federal NDP are currently supporting the Liberals through an agreement involving Singh and his party backing the government through to 2025, theoretically avoiding an early election.

Singh, however, has publicly said his support may change by the end of the year if there is no concrete movement towards expanded universal dental care in the months to come.

Nanaimo-Ladysmith MP Lisa Marie Barron and Singh will hold a roundtable event in Nanaimo on Wednesday, Jan. 25 at the Nanaimo Museum.

Around a dozen Oceanside residents spoke with federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh on Tuesday in Qualicum Beach. (Alex Rawnsley/NanaimoNewsNOW)

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