Skip to main content

The continuing story of bungalow bill - LHIN style. PCs pound Liberals on health care

The Liberals continue to pay a heavy price for their health care sins.  And for the Progressive Conservatives (now leading in the latest poll), the LHINs are the gift that just keeps on giving. 

The Erie St. Clair LHIN boss has now issued an apology for making his, er, 'frank' remarks regarding Progressive Conservative leader Tim Hudak:  “Let’s be very clear — this guy is making this crap up and it’s false. I don’t think the public is stupid enough to believe him.” Notably, the 'apology' does not extend to Hudak, just to the local population.  (But for all the groveling, see the What's New section of the Erie St. Clair LHIN web site.)

Adding to the joy of Progressive Conservatives everywhere, the chair of that very same LHIN claimed  "I don't think it's a lot of money" when asked about the $54,075 in per diem payments that she received last year (a 29% increase over the year before).

The Chair, Mina Grossman-Ianni has donated $2,422 to the Liberal party since 2003. So, naturally, the local Conservatives are gleefully demanding her resignation, to much media attention.

'Beleaguered' is the word that comes to mind when I think of the LHINs now.  But the Liberals may think, sometime before the next election, that 'cursed' is a better description.

It's not like we didn't warn 'em.


dallan@cupe.ca

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

More spending on new hospitals and new beds? Nope

Hospital funding:  There is something off about the provincial government's Budget claims on hospital capital funding (funding to build and renovate hospital beds and facilities).    For what it is worth (which is not that much, given the long time frame the government cites), the province claims it will increase hospital capital spending over the next 10 years from $11 billion to $20 billion – or on average to about $2 billion per year.   But, this is just a notional increase from the previous announcement of future hospital capital spending.  Moreover, even if we did take this as a serious promise and not just a wisp of smoke, the government's own reports shows they have actually funded hospital infrastructure about $3 billion a year over the 2011/12-2015/16 period. So this “increase” is really a decrease from past actual spending. Even last year's (2016-17) hospital capital funding increase was reported in this Budget at $2.3 billion - i.e. about 15% more th

Ford government fails to respond to 72% increase in COVID inpatient days, deepening the capacity crisis

COVID infections continue to drive up hospital costs and inpatient hospitalizations in Ontario. For the most recent fiscal year (April 1, 2022- March 31, 2023) hospital stays related to COVID cost $1.221 billion, according to new CIHI data.   This is about 4% of total hospital spending, creating a very significant new cost pressure beyond the usual pressures of population growth, aging, inflation, and rising utilization.   Costs for COVID related hospitalizations increased 22.2% in Ontario in 2022/23 from the previous fiscal year, rising from $999 million to $1.221 billion.  That rise is particularly notable as the OMICRON spike of late 2021 and early 2022 had passed by the the 2022/23 fiscal year.   The $222 million increase in COVID hospitalization costs came in the same year as the Ford government cut special COVID funding and, in fact, cut total hospital funding by $156 million.     In total, there were 60,653 COVID hospitalizations in Ontario in 2022/3, up from 47,543 in 2021/2. 

Paramedic Services in Canada: Structure, Privatization, Unionization and other issues

Governance and Funding :  While police and fire services are usually municipal services, Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are typically controlled by provincial governments.  In Ontario, regional municipal governments have responsibility for delivering and funding EMS.  But even in Ontario the province plays a key role, strictly regulating EMS, providing funding for 50% of the approved land ambulance costs, and paying 100% of the approved costs for air ambulance, dispatch, base hospitals, First Nation EMS, and for territories without municipal government. Delivery :  Like police and fire services, EMS is predominantly a publicly provided service in Canada.   But businesses have now made some significant in-roads into EMS, primarily  Medavie,  a private corporation based in the Maritimes that describes itself as not-for-profit.  Medavie goes back over 70 years, with its roots in health insurance.  It still operates Medavie Blue Cross with 1,900 employees.  It now a