For Immediate Release
June 15, 2006
Elliott calls on McGuinty Government to Increase
Healthcare Funding in Durham Region to the Provincial Average
(Queen’s Park) - Christine Elliott, Whitby-Ajax M.P.P., honoured her campaign promise with respect to healthcare today in the Legislature by moving a resolution pressuring the government to increase healthcare funding in Durham Region to the provincial average.
“The single most important issue that arose as I went door-to-door during the course of the recent byelection campaign in Whitby-Ajax concerned healthcare, and the residents of Whitby-Ajax expressed their frustration about Durham Region not receiving its fair share of healthcare dollars,” said Elliott today.
Elliott commended the work of the physicians and other healthcare workers in Durham Region. “They have shown diligence and dedication in the face of increasingly difficult working conditions,” remarked Elliott. “They have been able to manage with very few resources, but this is not sustainable over time, as the population growth continues apace.”
The latter part of Elliott’s resolution addressed the rapid expansion of population in Durham Region, as she urged the government to allocate healthcare funding based on growth rates. In acknowledging the hard work of the GTA/905 Healthcare Alliance, she reported that their research shows a widening gap in funding levels between GTA/905 regions and the rest of the province. “This situation cannot be allowed to continue,” stated Elliott. “The growth in Durham Region and the health of its residents demands a solution.”
Declaring support for Elliott’s resolution included the M.P.P. for Durham, John O’Toole, and Deputy Leader, former Health Minister, and M.P.P. for Kitchener-Waterloo, Elizabeth Witmer. “I indicated in a statement back before she was elected, that [Christine Elliott] would fight for fair funding for the people in Durham,” stated Witmer. “Here she is just a few months later doing exactly what she had committed to the constituents who she now represents.”
Despite a clear and convincing argument by Elliott substantiating the immediate need for increased levels of healthcare funding in Durham Region, the government voted down her resolution, once again ignoring the concerns of community residents. Notwithstanding this move, Elliott remains undeterred. “I promised the voters of Whitby-Ajax that, if they saw fit to elect me as M.P.P., I would press the McGuinty government to increase our Region’s healthcare funding to the provincial average, and then implement a funding formula based on population growth. I intend to honour that promise, starting with this resolution,” stated Elliott.
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For more information contact:
Christine Elliott, M.P.P
Whitby-Ajax
416.325.1331
