Ontario NDP and leader Andrea Horwath will force a vote at Queen’s Park on Monday, Nov. 4, calling for construction of a second hospital in Brampton and immediate expansion of the Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness.

NDP MPPs Gurratan Singh (Brampton East), Sara Singh (Brampton Centre) and Kevin Yarde (Brampton North) held a news conference Friday, Nov. 1, outside of Brampton Civic Hospital to announce the NDP’s plan to force a vote after a Freedom of Information request revealed both Brampton Civic and Peel Memorial were operating at over capacity.

Peel Memorial was over capacity between 557 and 587 per cent from July 2018 to June 2019, and Brampton Civic was operating over 100 per cent capacity. Both Brampton Civic and Peel Memorial are operated by the William Osler Health System, which also operates Etobicoke General Hospital. Etobicoke General also was over capacity for the same period.

“Those numbers are shocking,” said Sarah Singh. “We need to take immediate action to alleviate the hallway medicine crisis, because it’s hurting Brampton families.”

Horwath’s motion wjill call for the province to allocate additional funding in the fall budget update to build a new hospital in Brampton and expand Peel Memorial.

“Brampton is ground zero for hallway medicine,” said Gurratan Singh. “We are urging the Conservative MPPs from Brampton to show up and vote for our community to get the new hospital we desperately need.”

“We need Conservatives to step up to the plate (and support the forced vote),” added Yarde. “This is not a prescription for fixing hallway medicine.”

When asked whether Doug Ford is withholding funding for a second Brampton hospital because of Patrick Brown, former leader of the Ontario Conservative Party and now mayor of Brampton, Sarah Singh said the premier is punishing the people in Brampton by not prioritizing badly-need health services for the ninth largest city in Canada.

“Osler is currently in the planning stages with the Ministry of Health, for Peel Memorial expansion in alignment with original government approvals for hospital services in the Brampton area,” said Donna Harris, manager of public relations and digital media for Osler Health System.

“With the support of the Ontario government, Osler has been able to increase its capacity to alleviate some challenges,” said Harris, in an email. “Osler has opened 59 additional medicine beds, a 30-bed unit at the Humber Reactivation Care Centre, and a number of surgery beds, which has made some improvements in increasing access to beds for Emergency Department-admitted patients who require an in-patient stay.”

