THUNDER BAY, ON – Although Thunder Bay’s population is aging, Ontario’s Conservative government is planning multiple years of deep budget cuts to the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre (TBRHSC) and the hospital component of the
St. Joseph’s Care Group.
“What’s coming will be bigger because the cuts compound,” says Michael Hurley, the president of the Ontario Council of Hospital Unions (OCHU).
Hurley will hold a media conference at 10:00 a.m. on Sunday, September 22, 2019, at Slovak Legion Branch 129 – Boardroom, 801 Atlantic Avenue, Thunder Bay.
He will release projected provincial funding shortfalls for the Thunder Bay hospital based on Conservative fiscal plans to 2023.
The Conservative’s April 2019 budget cut hospital operating costs in real terms by
3 per cent. Those cuts build to 15 per cent by 2023.
Over the next two decades, the share of seniors in the Thunder Bay population is projected at between 30 and 35 per cent.
The demographic indicator is that Thunder Bay’s senior population is increasing. There will be more people using the health system – and hospitals in particular – not fewer. Although the Premier has said his Conservative government will end hallway health care within a year, Thunder Bay’s hospital patients will face increasing overcrowding and care in hospital corridors. But it doesn’t stop there because these cuts are projected to continue to 2023.
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For more information, please contact:
Michael Hurley, President, OCHU/CUPE, 416-884-0770
Stella Yeadon, CUPE Communications, 416-559-9300, [email protected]
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