NEW DEMOCRATS SURGE TO BIG LEAD IN FORUM POLL
Horwath thinking about chair to transition team
NDP Leader Andrea Horwath is looking ahead to the June 7 election, promising to hire 4,500 nurses — and thinking about who will chair her transi- tion team should she win the premier’s job.
Enjoying momentum in the polls against embattled Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford and well ahead of the Liberals, Horwath acknowledged Thursday her campaign is quietly preparing for a victory that appears within reach.
“I’m not far along at all because you never really count your chickens before they hatch,” she told reporters in Regent Park, unveiling the nurse pledge that was not detailed in the party’s platform book.
“But we’re two weeks before the election. It’s very clear people that people have said that they’re not interested in having Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals in office anymore.”
Horwath first hinted late Wednesday that a transition head to map out a transfer of power to the second NDP government in Ontario history was on her mind.
“I’m talking to someone about doing that position,” she confirmed.
“I’ve been contemplating these things.” Ontario’s only NDP premier wwas Bob Rae, who led during a recession from1990 to1995 and later became a Liberal, seeking the federal party’s leadership and serving as an adviser on domestic and international issues such as the Rohingya refugee crisis. Asked if she would seek his advice, Horwath replied, “Not likely.”
The nursing announcement came after a roundtable discussion with health-care workers, including an emergency room doctor who talked of problems such as overcrowding and treating patients in hallways.
An extra 4,500 nurses in hospitals in the first year of an NDP government, along with opening 2,000 beds for a total cost of $1.2 billion, would improve patient care, Horwath said.
“The system is breaking,” she added, calling the added nurses “a big piece of the puzzle.”
NDP officials said the cost is included in the party’s platform, even though the nursing jobs were not specifically mentioned. Horwath maintained the New Democrats, who would increase taxes on wealthy individuals and corporations, can affford the promise despite mak- ing a $1.4-billion error in their platform that would balloon the province’s annual deficit to $4.8 billion in her first year.
Horwath also said she would put a moratorium on layoffs of front- line health care workers aand pledged 15,000 more long- term care beds over the next ffive years to shorten waiting lists and get chronic patients out of hospitals.
At an afternoon stop across the street from Fairview Lodge nursing home in Whitby, she said 1,500 of those beds will be in the Whitby-Oshawa area.
Although Ford has said he will not cut Ontario’s health budget, Horwath said she doesn’t believe that, given he is promising $6 billion in cuts to overall government spending.
About 1,600 nurses have been laid off from hospitals under the Liberal government since 2015, Horwath said.