NDP commit to funding a new hospital in Brampton, alongside pharmacare for all Canadians

Standing on the sidewalk in front of Brampton Civic Hospital, New Democratic Party leader Jagmeet Singh promised a brand new hospital for the city where he earned his political stripes. 

He also pledged to bring in universal pharmaceutical care by 2020, but the theme today, the first full day of the official federal election campaign, was much-needed new infrastructure for Brampton.

Featuring a line of campaigners and candidates representing the “thousands” waiting for healthcare across the country, the NDP’s launch event was the epitome of political imagery. However, Singh’s promise to Brampton was crystal clear — elect an NDP government and we’ll build the hospital this city needs.

“We are committed to building a new hospital in Brampton,” the NDP leader told assembled press and candidates. “And we will support the funding for this hospital. We also commit to supporting the expansion of Peel Memorial [Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness].” The NDP leader went on to promise free pharmaceutical care for all Canadians to reduce the strain on emergency rooms around the country, adding: “This is a crisis here in Brampton, but it is a reality for far too many people. We will invest more in healthcare to turn things around.”

Singh’s pledge is one the city has been crying out for. Referring to two-year-old statistics, the prime ministerial hopeful said 4,352 people were treated in hospital hallways at Civic Hospital in 2017 alone, highlighting the crisis engulfing healthcare in the fast-growing city. In June, Ontario registered record wait times of 16 hours for hospital beds across the province, while Brampton Civic’s wait times were at a monumental 21 hours. The city’s expanding population has created a situation where there is less than one emergency bed for every thousand residents, compounding the crisis.

However, the responsibility to build new hospital infrastructure sits squarely with Queen’s Park and Doug Ford’s Progressive Conservatives, who have shied away from new capital projects and attempted to make various cuts to healthcare spending across the province. As with all issues, the federal government can choose to provide infrastructure funding for such projects, but ultimately the discretion rests with the province. Still, Singh was upbeat at the prospect of successfully funding Brampton’s much-needed hospital expansion. 

“We are committed to building this hospital, and we know we have to work with the provincial government [to do that],” Singh explained. “We can’t just stand by and give up when we have a Conservative government that doesn’t see the importance of building and investing in healthcare. It’s going to be difficult to work with a Conservative premier who has not made health services a priority and instead is cutting services. But just because it is a challenge doesn’t mean we should give up. New Democrats don’t give up on people. That means we are going to fight hard.”

Today’s announcement marks the official adoption of a policy Singh shared with The Pointer at Carabram in July, when he said another hospital in Brampton would be a “massive priority” for any New Democratic government on Parliament Hill. With the campaign period now officially in its second day, this announcement illustrates the New Democrats’ desire to win in Brampton’s five ridings — all of which went red in 2015. 

However, polls across the country show the NDP are in deep trouble. Poll aggregator 338Canada puts the New Democrats at 9.5 percent in the GTA-905 as a whole. In Brampton West, the party has registered support of 12.7 percent, while Brampton Centre has them at 13.9 percent. In Brampton North, where Civic Hospital is located, the NDP are polling at 15.4 percent, with the Liberals out in front at 41 percent. Brampton South will worry the party leadership, as the Greens are snapping at their orange heels; polls show the NDP with less than 10 percent support. Brampton East, contested by Saranjit Singh for the NDP, represents their best chance of victory, running a close third, 1.8 points behind the Conservatives, who are at 23.8 percent. 

With that in mind, the announcement that the party would fund a new hospital in Brampton is an interesting play. On the one hand, it is a clear vote winner in the Flower City, despite ignoring jurisdictional issues. However, announcing projects in Brampton won’t resonate across Canada. Will Singh make specific promises to every municipality in the country, or just those he thinks he and his party have a chance of winning? 

Singh was unapologetic in his advocacy for the city where he cut his political teeth as an MPP in 2011. “The issue is truly across Canada, but if you look at hallway medicine, it is really here in Brampton Civic where it’s at real crisis level. I mentioned that in 2017, 4,352 people were treated in hallways, and that’s a number that far exceeds anywhere else in Canada. It’s one of the highest numbers for hallway medicine.”

Zeroing-in on the issues faced by Brampton’s 600,000 residents, he said: “It’s at crisis level here, and what we’re saying is that we are committed to providing the funding needed to address this crisis. There’s a crisis in Brampton, and it’s been neglected.”

Speaking to The Pointer in front of his campaign bus after the event finished, Singh reiterated his commitment to solving Brampton’s infrastructure crisis, regardless of whether responsibility rests with Queen’s Park or Ottawa. “Brampton is one of the fastest growing cities in the country; it has really been neglected and really been put to the side,” Singh said. He added that the concerns of the city had been “ignored” and vowed to “no longer take Brampton for granted.”

The NDP’s pitch for Brampton’s votes doesn’t end with a new hospital, though. Infrastructure around the city is desperate for investments from senior governments, an issue the party is keen to push onto the federal election agenda this year. “When funding was cut for a Brampton university campus, we said very clearly that we would step in and help out,” Singh continued, making reference to the Progressive Conservative decision to cancel a planned $90-million contribution to a Ryerson University campus in Brampton. 

“It’s important for us to invest in communities, especially Brampton, being a city as large as it is. We made an announcement earlier last year and said we would step up and support the building of a university. These are some major infrastructures that need support, to help Brampton really get back up and not be taken for granted or ignored.”

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