McGUINTY NEGLECTING WORKERS AND PUBLIC HEALTH SINCE SARS

location: Queen's Park

date: January 9, 2007 - 3:00pm

body:

NDP Labour Critic Peter Kormos says today’s SARS Commission Report shows the McGuinty Liberals continue to fail to protect public health in Ontario and put the health and safety of front-line health care workers at risk.

“Hospitals are dangerous places to work. The McGuinty Liberals must address health and safety issues in the health care sector, and the health and safety of workers must be made a priority,” said Kormos. “The McGuinty government must start listening to front-line health care workers and their unions - their voices and expertise must be heard,” said Kormos.

Post SARS, the McGuinty Liberals are still failing to protect the health and safety of front-line health care workers in Ontario:

The McGuinty Liberals continue to under-fund and under-resource public health. Many public health units still lack a trained Medical Officer of Health, they struggle to deliver core programs like restaurant inspections, and they lack the resources and “surge capacity” required in case of an outbreak.

The McGuinty Liberals continue to ignore front-line workers and unions. The Ministry of Labour has a duty to protect health care workers, but it was all but forgotten during SARS. It was sidelined again when legionnaire’s disease broke out in a Toronto-area nursing home under McGuinty’s watch in 2005.

The McGuinty Liberals are stalling on safety equipment for health care workers, including the N-95 safety masks health care workers needed during the SARS outbreak. They have also ignored repeated NDP calls for mandatory safety-engineered needles in hospitals. Justice Campbell notes that the precautionary principle is vital in protecting health and safety – but the government refuses to abide by this principle. As Justice Campbell notes, “reasonable action to reduce risk, like the use of a fitted N95 respirator, need not await scientific certainty.”

The McGuinty Liberals refuse to revisit their emergency management legislation. Justice Campbell says the current emergency management law gives extraordinary powers to the government – but recommendations on legal and accountability issues from earlier SARS reports have all but been ignored.

“In a health crisis, front-line workers must be protected in order to properly protect Ontarians. Ontario’s hardworking health care workers deserve no less,” said Kormos.