NDP condemns Health Secretary’s support for for-profit agency

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Nickel Belt MPP France Gelinas released a statement this week denouncing the provincial health minister’s support for a Canadian Health Labs, which the NDP health critic described as a “profit-making agency that exploits nurses.”

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Gelinas on Wednesday expressed concern that CHL made a $154 million profit “while evicting nurses from public hospitals,” and slammed Sylvia Jones for meeting with the for-profit recruitment agency six times since she took office as health secretary have.

Gelinas said those meetings raised questions about whether Jones helped the company win contracts in Ontario’s healthcare system.

“It’s incredible that the Secretary of Health had time to meet with this for-profit healthcare company six times while sick Ontario residents drive hours to Queen’s Park to express their displeasure that she’s not doing her job, only to receive no response to stay,” Gelinas said in her statement. “This is not normal. These for-profit healthcare recruitment agencies that she supports are causing serious harm to our hospitals and more importantly to the sick patients who need hospital care.”

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Such agencies lure public-sector health workers, Gelinas said, and resell their services to the same employers who are struggling with the impact of Bill 124. This law, passed by Doug Ford’s PC government in 2019, limited pay rises for nurses and other public sector workers at a rate of 1 percent per year for three years, but was ruled unconstitutional by a court last November, causing the province was forced to give workers nearly $1 billion in back payments.

“This situation has gotten so out of control that by capitalizing on the hard work of 500 healthcare workers, CHL has made a $154 million profit,” Gelinas said.

“Ford’s conservative government continues to neglect its responsibilities. The health minister is creating a domino effect that is straining our already strained public health system. The Secretary must be held accountable for always prioritizing the profits of investors over the care that ailing Ontario residents need and deserve.”