Gearing up for the Ontario election

Dr. Douglas MarkI'm sure it will come as no surprise to most of my fellow Ontarians that the time has come to do something about the mess that premier Kathleen Wynne and the Liberals have made of healthcare.As doctors, we’re forced to try to arrange appropriate care for our patients, while dealing with a system that has little to do with healthcare and a whole lot to do with finances. Choose wisely? If only that were possible. In Ontario in 2018, more and more the only choice we have is how we’re going to break the news to our patients that while we know exactly what needs to be done to alleviate their pain and suffering, unfortunately they’re going to have to wait and wait and wait before we can get them in to see a specialist.To mention nothing of how long it will take for those tests or that surgery to actually be scheduled, assuming the procedure isn’t then postponed due to a lack of funding, or the patient isn’t “bumped” for some other reason.Then there’s the Ontario Medical Association—our so-called “representative.” Doctors continually make excuses for our colleagues’ inability to get the job done at the bargaining table.“They did the best they could,” you’ll hear doctors say. Well, good enough isn’t good enough anymore.As you’re likely aware, the Ontario Medical Association and the Wynne government have “agreed to disagree,” and to send the whole matter to arbitration. I have no doubt that when all is said and done, doctors will get screwed once again. This, after the province’s doctors have been without a contract for almost four years now.In the meantime, the premier and her government must be chortling at just how easy it was to silence Ontario’s doctors in the weeks and months leading up to the June provincial election. In exchange for having agreed to send this dispute to arbitration, the OMA assured the government it wouldn’t be stirring the pot come election time, and that the province’s doctors would be their usual docile selves, politically speaking.Well, DoctorsOntario made no such promise. We don’t accept the premise that the OMA represents Ontario’s doctors or has right to bargain with the provincial government on our behalf.Instead, we’ll be very active over the next few months, ensuring that our patients and the rest of Ontarians know just who’s responsible for the mess we’re in.We’ll be targeting cabinet ministers, including health minister Dr. Eric Hoskins. And we’ll be addressing Wynne, whose father is a doctor. I can’t help but wonder what he must think.So, yes, DoctorsOntario will do everything in its power to make sure that election night—June 7—is every bit as miserable for Wynne as the last 15 years have been for doctors and our patients.Government might think the people we care for are just statistics for bean counters to manipulate, or inconveniences for administrators to ignore. But our patients are people with real names and real faces, and their well-being matters a great deal to Ontario’s doctors.They’re also voters.Dr. Douglas Mark is the interim president of DoctorsOntario. Follow him on Twitter @DocsOntario.Opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, and do not necessarily reflect those of CanadianHealthcareNetwork.ca or its parent company.

Gearing up for the Ontario election

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