Defend Public Healthcare

Soon after the Budget, the government announced they would spend $27 billion on hospital infrastructure over ten years and create 3,000 more hospital beds. For a moment, it may have seemed that we had prized a small victory from the Ford government.  The movement did, after all, force them to run on a promise of ending hospital hallway healthcare, and squeezed out a bit more in-year funding for hospitals last fall.   Unfortunately, as with so much from this government, the rhetoric does not match the reality.  Here's why this is much less than it might appear on first blush. [1] While the government promises to “create” 3,000 more beds over ten years, they do not promise that the hospitals will operate 3,000 more beds than they currently do.  There is no promise to increase hospital bed capacity.   There isn't even a promise to have 3,000 more spaces for beds.  As our hospitals are aging, spaces for some existing beds will no longer be usable in ten years. Will they