Patients waiting for knee surgery should be allowed to have their operations at private clinics, as long as the procedure is paid for by the public purse, Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader John Tory said Wednesday.
Provincial governments shouldn't try to "score political points" by "vilifying" private health-care services that can offer hope and relief to patients waiting for surgery, Tory said.
Private clinics can take pressure off the public system by performing procedures for the same fee charged by hospitals without requiring patients to get out their credit cards, he said.
"That's what I'm interested in — people having a choice of places they can go to get care faster, to get off the waiting lists and out of pain," Tory said Tuesday at his only scheduled election campaign event before prepping for the televised leaders' debate.
"How they do that — as long as they're providing a quality of care which we would expect is up to the highest levels — is entirely up to them."
The proposal sparked a firestorm of criticism from nurses, health-care activists and opposition critics who accused Tory of deliberately undermining the public system and even putting patients at risk.
But Tory said he has heard too many stories of people waiting in pain for surgery and accused the Liberals of shunning private health-care clinics for political gain at the expense of those patients.
"I simply will not accept anyone facing that kind of unnecessary pain and indignity in a province as prosperous and compassionate as Ontario," he said.
"Throughout the private sector, we find examples of people using innovation and new ideas to get things done sooner and better."
Critics said the proposal would lure top specialists away from the public system, put patients at risk and cost taxpayers more in the long run.
Liberal Health Minister George Smitherman said hip and knee surgeries are complicated procedures that can't just be done "on the street corner."
Opening the door to private clinics will take specialists out of public hospitals and lead to "cherry-picking," Smitherman said. The private clinics will take the least expensive and least serious cases, leaving the complicated procedures to public doctors, he said.
The Ontario election will be on Oct. 10.
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Ontario Votes 2007 »
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- Dalton McGuinty won a second majority government for the Liberals in Ontario on Wednesday night, a triumph for a party that earlier expressed fears of a drop to minority status.
- Ontario rejects electoral reform in referendum
- Ontario voters have rejected a proposed electoral reform that would have seen some provincial legislators chosen based on a party's share of the popular vote, results showed Thursday.
- Ontario voter turnout a record low
- The percentage of eligible voters casting ballots in Wednesday's Ontario election hit an all-time low despite changes introduced in an effort to boost turnout.
- Ont. Green party scores 8 per cent of vote
- No Green party candidates made it to the Ontario legislature in Wednesday's election, but that defeat was sweetened by a swell in their share of the popular vote, which more than doubled.
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District Profiles
More Ontario Votes Headlines »
- McGuinty wins massive majority, Tory loses seat
- Dalton McGuinty won a second majority government for the Liberals in Ontario on Wednesday night, a triumph for a party that earlier expressed fears of a drop to minority status.
- Ontario rejects electoral reform in referendum
- Ontario voters have rejected a proposed electoral reform that would have seen some provincial legislators chosen based on a party's share of the popular vote, results showed Thursday.
- Ontario voter turnout a record low
- The percentage of eligible voters casting ballots in Wednesday's Ontario election hit an all-time low despite changes introduced in an effort to boost turnout.
- Ont. Green party scores 8 per cent of vote
- No Green party candidates made it to the Ontario legislature in Wednesday's election, but that defeat was sweetened by a swell in their share of the popular vote, which more than doubled.
- McGuinty only leader not facing leadership questions
- Liberal Leader Dalton McGuinty won re-election in Ottawa South and NDP Leader Howard Hampton again won his northern Ontario riding of Kenora-Rainy River. PC Leader John Tory was defeated.
