TORONTO, Ont. – Ontario Conservative leader John Tory must cancel the nomination of Randy Hillier, Ontario Conservative candidate for Lanark-Frontenac-Lennox and Addington, for praising pre-Medicare health care in an opinion piece this past Friday.
Hillier, in a rambling diatribe against “monopolies”, wrote in the July 20 edition of the Kingston Whig-Standard that “in the days when…private health care was available, there were no concerns about hospital wait times. Health care ran smoothly and was generally affordable and efficient. Seldom was heard a discouraging word about hospitals or health care.”
“Is Hillier seriously suggesting that pre-Medicare health care was something to be admired and should be restored?” asked Michael Hurley, President of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions/Canadian Union of Public Employees. “Hillier’s views clearly reveal that he is not fit to be a candidate. John Tory must temper his own support for private health care and cancel Hillier’s candidacy.”
Unfortunately, Hillier’s rosy picture of pre-Medicare health care reflects Tory’s own health care election platform, which includes an unprecedented call for moving public health services to private, for-profit clinics. Taken together, these views should sound the alarm among the electorate that the Conservatives are dangerous on health care.
“The Conservatives seem keen to take us back to the 19th century when it comes to health care,” Hurley said. “No thanks – we’ve been there and done that. We should leave behind the days when the poor get sicker and the rich get care.”
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For further information, please contact:
Michael Hurley, President, Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU)/
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE), cell 416.884.0770
David Robbins, CUPE Communications, cell 613.878.1431