Liberal leader pledges more family doctors while in Thunder Bay

THUNDER BAY — The Ontario Liberal party is pledging to ensure everyone in the province has a family doctor within four years. 

Liberal party leader Bonnie Crombie continued to make improving health care a main focus of her visit to Thunder Bay this week as she toured Confederation College on Friday. 

Crombie said there are 28,000 people in the Thunder Bay area that do not have access to a family doctor.

“That’s absurd and has to change,” she added.

People are dying waiting for treatment, with 2,000 people being treated in a hallway, she said.

“The premier, seven years ago, told us he would end hallway medicine. He didn’t get it done. He said he would cut your taxes, and he didn’t get it done. He said he would build 1.5 million homes, and he didn’t get it done. But we will,” Crombie said.

She said the plan is to open up more spaces at NOSM University to allow for more medical students, and bring more foreign trained doctors through the program. They will also increase residency spaces and get them through the mentorship program called Practice Ready Ontario.

Stephen Margarit, Liberal candidate for Thunder Bay-Atikokan, shared his story of not having access to a family doctor.

Margarit said his doctor had to abruptly retire, which left him and his family members scrambling. He said he signed up online for waitlists, and waited and waited. He never got a call back.

He added that while being without a doctor he attended a walk-in clinic, where that practitioner actually took Margarit on.

He went seven years without a doctor.

“I thought about my mother, my grandmother, who are older who need that access to a doctor and who need to see one much more regularly than I would. Luckily, they did find some nurse practitioner clinics in Thunder Bay, but again, it was years before we found that healthcare that we so desperately need,” Margarit said.

Crombie said she thinks this is a ‘change election’ and that people are looking at the alternatives.

“If you don't have a family doctor and if you waited hours and hours in the hospital, I hope you'll consider change because I want to change that,” she said.

The people in Thunder Bay and the Northwestern Ontario have unique needs, the Liberal leader said. On Thursday, she promised free medical school for students who commit to working in the north.

“At the same time, everyone should have a family doctor, whether it's tracking your medical history, your annual physical . . . and if you need a referral to a specialist, you can't get that at a walk-in clinic very easily.

Crombie also talked about cutting small business taxes from 3.2 per cent to 1.6 per cent.

Brian Hamilton, the Liberal candidate for Thunder Bay-Superior North, owns a local business.

“Businesses right now are struggling, not just here in Thunder Bay but right across the region. As matter of fact, my business is really struggling. I don't even know if we're going to be able to survive into the springtime, so, we need help. We are in a crisis moment."

“It all comes back to that element of affordability. People, through no fault of their own, have less and less disposable income, and it's having an impact on Main Street,” Hamilton said.