Feds investing $3.1B to alleviate Ontario health-care crisis

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, alongside Premier Doug Ford, are set to announce $3.1 billion in health-care funding for Ontario.

In exchange, the Ford government has committed to spending that money on creating new primary care teams and boost access to family doctors.

“This investment will help increase access to family doctors, reduce wait times, hire more health-care workers, and ensure faster care for Canadians, including mental health care,” the federal government states in a release.

Under the agreement, Ontario is expected to add “hundreds of new family physicians and nurse practioners, as well as thousands of new nurses and personal support workers.”

It’s hoped this investment will also help reduce wait times in emergency rooms and ease the backlog for surgeries.

The agreement will also make it easier for Canadian and internationally trained doctors and health professionals to practise in Ontario.

Trudeau and Ford will officially sign off on the agreement at a news conference in King City set for 10:30 a.m. on Friday.

The new money comes almost a year after the federal government reached a 10-year agreement in principle with the province on a new health-care deal.

The shortage of workers is one of the issues plaguing the province’s health-care system.

Earlier this year, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the union representing some health-care workers in the province, said the province is facing staffing crisis that could only get worse if the province doesn’t step in.

Union leaders say the province needs to invest an additional $1.25 billion annually over the next five years to help improve staffing levels and boost capacity.

With files from Michael Ranger