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Wednesday February 12, 2025

February 12, 2025 by Graeme MacKay

Ontario's healthcare faces significant challenges under Doug Ford's leadership, with election promises from all parties aiming to address systemic issues but requiring long-term commitment rather than quick fixes.

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday February 12, 2025 (also, The Toronto Star.)

Doug Ford’s Abysmal Healthcare Performance in Ontario

Doug Ford needs to stop blaming vulnerable individuals for homelessness and instead focus on providing real solutions like affordable housing, mental health services, and job support to help lift people out of poverty.

September 26, 2024

Healthcare in Ontario has been a hot topic for years, and under Doug Ford’s leadership, the debate has only heated up. As election promises flood in from all parties, each claiming to fix the family doctor shortage and other issues, it’s important to examine what the current government has done—and hasn’t done—about healthcare.

Doug Ford’s time in office has seen plenty of criticism for how healthcare has been handled. Emergency rooms are closing more often, especially in rural areas, leaving people with fewer options when they need urgent care. The problem of finding family doctors has only grown, with millions more Ontarians expected to lose their family doctor soon. For people like Louise Lee and her family, this means a constant struggle to find basic medical care.

Analysis: 2024 worst year for Ontario ER closures, CBC analysis finds

May 19, 2023

Instead of focusing on these urgent healthcare needs, Ford’s government has been accused of chasing short-term, flashy policies. Expanding beer sales in convenience stores seemed to take priority over real healthcare reform, raising questions about what truly matters to this administration.

Privatization efforts have also worried many. By shifting funding towards private providers, there’s a risk that healthcare could become less accessible and affordable, potentially leading to a system where only those who can pay get the best care.
Promises to end hallway medicine have yet to materialize, with overcrowded hospitals still a common issue. This failure to deliver on key promises is part of a larger pattern of unmet commitments.

March 1, 2023

While appointing Dr. Jane Philpott to oversee primary care access was a positive step, it doesn’t address the bigger issues without a full strategy in place.

As the election approaches, political parties are offering solutions to Ontario’s healthcare problems. Bonnie Crombie’s Liberals want to bring in 3,100 family doctors by 2029, spending $3.1 billion. Doug Ford’s Conservatives plan to create 305 new primary care teams to help two million more Ontarians, with $1.8 billion in funding. Marit Stiles and the NDP promise to recruit 3,500 new doctors, spending $4.05 billion—the boldest plan of all.

These promises are supported by additional federal funding, with Justin Trudeau’s government committing $11.4 billion over 10 years to Ontario’s healthcare. This money aims to support team-based care models, which could make the system more efficient.

Analysis: Ontario parties are promising family doctors for all

August 19, 2022

But there’s plenty of doubt. How will these parties find all the new doctors they promise? Can they really fix the problems that have been around for decades?

The truth is, Ontario’s healthcare system has been declining for years, and it’s not just Ford’s fault. Long-standing issues like underfunding, an aging population, and workforce challenges have all played a part. Our healthcare system struggles to keep up with modern demands.

Election promises alone won’t bring the big changes needed. We need a long-term plan, backed by solid policies and cooperation across political lines, to truly improve Ontario’s healthcare. This plan must focus on fair access, updated infrastructure, and fixing systemic problems.

January 27, 2021

As voters prepare to make their choice, it’s important to look closely at what all parties are promising. Doug Ford’s record on healthcare shows many challenges, and while some new proposals give hope, they need to be realistic and impactful. Ontario’s healthcare system needs more than quick fixes or campaign talk; it requires a real commitment to lasting improvement. Only then can we hope to turn things around and build a healthcare system that works for everyone in Ontario.


Ontario’s Election – Continued: Ford Focus

I don’t think you have to be from Ontario to understand it. Public health care is undergoing significant challenges not just in this province, but across Canada and around the world where universal healthcare is crumbling. The struggles with doctor and nursing shortages, long wait times for procedures, and overcrowded emergency rooms are issues that many regions are grappling with, not just Doug Ford’s Ontario.

And let’s be real, if politicians want to brand themselves as superheroes, editorial cartoonists are definitely going to play along! I keep saying it, but we are facing an unnecessary election in Ontario right now. Just like President Trump has a knack for drawing attention to himself, Doug Ford seems to be trying to distract voters from his own record by shifting focus to Trump. Honestly, leave the Trump distractions to the Feds, Doug, and focus on defending your own record!

This piece took me back to those classic Superman episodes, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I enjoyed putting it together. And if you’re a voter in Ontario, don’t be part of the apathetic 57% who didn’t bother to cast a ballot last time! It’s so important to get informed and make your voice heard. Mark your calendars—election day is on February 27, 2025. Let’s make sure we all step up and participate in shaping the future of our province!

Please enjoy the February 12, 2024 making-of animated editorial cartoon below.  Posts come out every Saturday as I summarize the week that was in my editorial cartoons. What you’re reading now is regarded as a “note”, which is used to help compose my weekly posts and showcase the animated versions of my daily editorial cartoons. If you like my editorial cartoons and animations, please subscribe to my Substack newsletter, if you haven’t already. A lot of work goes into these cartoons and commentary — Best of all, it’s free!

– The Graeme Gallery

Read on Substack

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2025-03, access, Captain Canada, commitment, crumbing, doctors, Doug Ford, election, emergency, funding, healthcare, LTC, Ontario, OntElection2025, privatization, promises, Substack, Universal health

Saturday August 20, 2022

August 21, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Saturday August 20, 2022

Ambulance use in Ontario has grown far faster than population, study finds

A new study finds ambulance use in Ontario increased significantly in the years leading up to the pandemic, outpacing the growth in both population and hospital emergency room visits by other means. 

September 15, 2021

The study was led by researchers at Hamilton’s McMaster University and it looked at the yearly numbers of patients transported by ambulance paramedics to hospital emergency rooms across Ontario from 2010 to 2019. 

It found a 38.3 per cent increase in the number of ambulance patient transports to ERs over the decade, an increase four times larger than the province’s 9.6 per cent population growth over the same period. 

“What our work points to is that this current model of [emergency department] transports is likely unsustainable for the province,” said Ryan Strum, the lead researcher for the paper and a PhD student at McMaster who also works as a paramedic.

Posted in: Canada, Ontario Tagged: 2022-27, ambulance, Canada, crisis, emergency, health, health care, Ontario, paramedic, park, patient

Wednesday August 3, 2022

August 3, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

‘People are suffering’: ICU nurse says staffing shortages at hospitals are getting worse

September 15, 2021

Nearly two-and-a-half years since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, one front-line nurse says emergency rooms are stretched thin amid constant staffing shortages.

“Things are worse now. And I don’t think the general public understands how difficult it is to be a patient or a nurse right now,” Birgit Umaigba, an intensive care unit nurse based in Toronto, told CTV News Channel on Monday.

Several hospitals across Ontario announced this weekend they’d be closing temporarily closing or reducing services in their emergency rooms and ICUs due to the ongoing staffing crunch.

Posted in: Canada, International, Ontario Tagged: 2022-25, architecture, Canada, emergency, health care, Hospital, ICU, International, nursing, Ontario

Tuesday February 15, 2022

February 15, 2022 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Tuesday February 15, 2022

Invoking Emergencies Act is a last resort but this situation is a failure by police

Many will cheer the Trudeau government’s decision to invoke the Emergencies Act to deal with border blockades and the occupation of Ottawa. They’re fed up with the protests and that’s entirely understandable.

But we will not join the cheering. Federal emergency powers may now be necessary as a last resort, but going that route is a shocking admission of failure by governments at all levels.

This was and remains a policing issue. Right from the start, even before the truckers’ convoy rolled into Ottawa, there were laws on the books adequate to deal with this.

The situation could and should already have been resolved by good intelligence, smart planning and effective co-ordination among police forces.

But in Ottawa, in particular, we’ve seen none of that over the past two and a half weeks. Instead, we’ve seen dithering and buck-passing all round. Indeed, until a couple of days ago, the federal government’s position was that local authorities had “all the tools and resources they need” to deal with the occupation.

Posted in: Canada Tagged: 2022-06, Canada, convoy, Doug Ford, emergency, father, freedom, Justin Trudeau, pandemic, Pierre Trudeau, protest, War measures

Wednesday June 16, 2021

June 23, 2021 by Graeme MacKay

Editorial Cartoon by Graeme MacKay, The Hamilton Spectator – Wednesday June 16, 2021

Ford government pushes through controversial election spending bill with notwithstanding clause

The government of Premier Doug Ford has pushed a controversial bill through the Ontario legislature limiting third-party election advertising by employing a rarely used legislative power.

June 11, 2021

Bill 307, which used the notwithstanding clause to reintroduce parts of a law struck down by a judge last week, passed Monday by a margin of 63 votes to 47.

The clause allows legislatures to override portions of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms for a five-year term.

A judge found it was unconstitutional for the government to double the restricted pre-election spending period for third-party advertisements to 12 months before an election call.

The Progressive Conservative government argued the extended restriction was necessary to protect elections from outside influence.

The bill passed Monday afternoon after a marathon weekend debate in which opposition politicians argued the government was trying to silence criticism ahead of next June’s provincial election.

“It’s obviously a move from a man who’s desperate to cling to power,” said NDP Leader Andrea Horwath.

December 9, 2010

The New Democrats spent the day trying to drag out the process by introducing a variety of motions on pandemic-related issues they argued should be the focus of the sitting. Ford said earlier on Monday that he wouldn’t be swayed.

“We’re fighting for democracy,” Ford said at Queen’s Park. “I’ll work all day, all night to protect the people.”

Last week, Ontario Superior Court Justice Edward Morgan found it was unconstitutional for the Progressive Conservative government to double the restricted pre-election spending period for third-party advertisements to 12 months before an election call.

A bill that took effect this spring had stretched the restricted spending period from six months to one year before an election is called, but kept the spending limit of $600,000 the same.

Morgan found that the government didn’t provide an explanation for doubling the limit, and his decision meant sections of the law involved in the court challenge were no longer in effect.  (CBC) 

 

Posted in: Ontario Tagged: 2021-22, alarm, autocracy, autocrat, Constitution, Democracy, dictator, Doug Ford, emergency, justice, Notwithstanding, Ontario, scales, sledgehammer
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This website contains satirical commentaries of current events going back several decades. Some readers may not share this sense of humour nor the opinions expressed by the artist. To understand editorial cartoons it is important to understand their effectiveness as a counterweight to power. It is presumed readers approach satire with a broad minded foundation and healthy knowledge of objective facts of the subjects depicted.

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