PC MPP says Throne Speech doesn?t mention $100 million promised by McGuinty Liberals
November 30, 2007 - Progressive Conservative MPP Peter Shurman of Thornhill today said the McGuinty Liberals failed to address the important issue of health care funding for high growth communities in yesterday?s Throne Speech.
?The Throne Speech failed to even make mention of the McGuinty Liberals platform promise to invest $100 million in health care services for high growth communities,? said Shurman. ?Dalton McGuinty had four years to deliver results for the people of Thronhill but residents are still being forced to seek treatment outside of their own communities.?
Shurman said families in the GTA/905 region have not seen investments in their local health system to cope with the huge population growth. He pointed to the need for a hospital in Vaughan as an example.
?People in Thornhill should be able to count on their local health care services,? added Shurman. ?The communities surrounding the GTA are growing at twice the rate of most communities in Ontario but Dalton McGuinty has done little more than deliver empty words to deal with this issue.?
For the past ten years, the population in the GTA/905 has grown by 100,000 per year. That is twice the rate of the rest of Ontario and is expected to continue. As a result, Shurman called on the government to increase funding for healthcare in the 905 region.
?Families in Thornhill and the rest of the GTA/905 region don?t have the access to the health care services that they deserve,? said Shurman. ?The fact that yesterday?s Throne Speech did not even address this issue is proof of Dalton McGuinty?s continued neglect of this issue. It?s time he stepped up and delivered the level of health care services that the people of Thornhill deserve.?