A joke about the province’s slow-paced health-care system by Premier Doug Ford isn’t going over well with Ontarians.
The premier attended a ribbon cutting ceremony on Tuesday for the newly-opened King Animal Hospital facility in King City, located north of Toronto, where he seemed to make light of Ontario’s ongoing health-care crisis.
“By the looks of it, we know where we can send the overflow patients now for MRIs, CAT scans, and everything else,” Ford joked to the hospital administration standing behind him.
“Keep an extra room for some other patients,” he added.
Bursts of giggles could be heard from the audience, including from Minister of Energy and Electrification Stephen Lecce, but many Ontarians think the dire state of the province’s burdened health-care system is not a laughing matter.
“This is probably the most insensitive & callous he’s come across in 6+ years as Premier. This is not something a ‘man of the people’ would ever say,” Canadian Global News Radio 640 radio host Greg Brady wrote on X.
“Doug Ford thinks it’s funny that our health care system is struggling,” another X user said. “What a disgraceful leader and absolute shambles of a man.”
Ontario political leaders have also responded to Ford’s comments, some blaming the premier for the state of the province’s health-care system.
“After six years of deliberately underfunding our healthcare system in order to justify his agenda to sell it off and privatize, Ford is now joking that if you’re waiting for an MRI, you should just visit a veterinary clinic,” Ontario Liberal leader Bonnie Crombie posted on X.
“This isn’t funny. It’s disgraceful.”
New Democratic Party provincial leader Marit Stiles also spoke out on X, calling for a change in government.
“Doug Ford thinks the crisis & chaos he’s created is a laughing matter. The jokes on you, Doug,” Stiles wrote.
“Ontarians are tired of being taken for granted. It’s time for change.”
Some residents, like emergency physician and health-care access advocate Dr. Raghu Venugopal, are joking back at the absurdity of the premier’s humour.
In a video posted to X, the doctor makes a pretend phone call to King Animal Hospital, discussing their options for taking overflow patients while sarcastically highlighting many of the Ford government’s controversial decisions.
“My patient’s family likes to have a drink of alcohol while they’re waiting,” he said. “Oh, you do sell alcohol as part of the expanded alcohol purchasing program of Ontario!”
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Ontario’s health-care crisis has been increasingly evident in recent years, and doctors warn that it will only worsen in the coming years without government intervention.
More than two million people in the province are without a family doctor, according to the Ontario Medical Association, and that number is expected to nearly double in only two years.
On average, Ontario high-urgency patients, such as those suffering from heart attacks or overdoses, spend 4.6 hours in emergency rooms without being admitted to the hospital, according to Ontario Health data from June this year. Patients waiting for a bed can expect to wait in emergency departments for 19 hours on average.
