Singh promises to 'put pressure' on Trudeau to address health-care crisis at Vancouver Island rally
Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh was on Vancouver Island on Tuesday speaking about health care.
His visit brought him to Courtenay and Qualicum Beach, where health-care access is in short supply.
In Courtenay, a sign on a walk-in clinic notifies the public that it will close for good on April 28.
Residents told CTV News it's becoming "next to impossible" to find a doctor in the area.
Paul Berger, a parent of two young children, says his family has a doctor but the doctor's office is more than an hour away.
"We'll call 811, we'll wait on the phone for 45 minutes to talk to somebody and their advice is always, 'Go to the hospital,'" said Berger.
"Then we go to the hospital and they say, 'You don't need to be here,'" he said.
Singh says he's hearing about similar issues from residents across Canada.
"We have a prime minister who’s not taking this crisis seriously, doesn’t understand how serious it is and is not responding to the crisis with the urgency required," he said in Qualicum Beach.
The NDP leader says his party plans to hold Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accountable for improving health care.
"I’m going to make it very clear to him that it’s serious and we expect action and we’ll use the pressure that we have, the tools that we have, to apply that pressure," he said.
Singh said the NDP doesn't plan on withdrawing from its coalition with the Liberals.
"Certainly not today," he said. "Today, what we’re doing is fighting for our health care."
Political science instructor and former B.C. health ministry assistant Daniel Reeve says the Liberals are in a tough spot, but he doesn’t see any major changes happening soon.
"They're a little bit vulnerable," said Reeve.
"The halo that used to exist around Trudeau in his first term is well and truly gone," he said. "What's the NDP's leverage? Their polling is about the same – 21 per cent – and who knows what that looks like in an election."
Singh says the NDP will continue to work with the Liberals as the health-care crisis worsens across the country.
"We are using the power that we have to put pressure on this government to fight to defend a universal health-care system," he said.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
BREAKING Alice Munro, Nobel literature winner revered as short story master, dead at 92
Nobel laureate Alice Munro, the Canadian literary giant who became one of the world's most esteemed contemporary authors and one of history's most honoured short story writers, has died at age 92.
Latest updates on air quality alerts, and when the smoke may reach Ontario and Quebec
Wildfires have led Environment Canada to issue air quality advisories for parts of B.C., Alberta, Manitoba, Saskatchewan and the Northwest Territories, as forecasters warn the smoke could drift farther east.
Are these Canada's best restaurants? Annual top 100 list revealed
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
Attack on prison van in France kills 2 officers, inmate escapes
Armed assailants killed two French prison officers and seriously wounded three others in an attack on a convoy in Normandy on Tuesday and an inmate escaped, officials said.
Maximum payout for LifeLabs class-action drops from $150 estimate to $7.86
Canadian LifeLabs customers who filed an application for a class-action settlement began receiving their payments this week, though at a much lower amount than initially expected.
Steal a car, lose your driver's licence for 10 years under new Ontario proposal
Repeat car thieves may face lengthy licence bans under proposed changes to Ontario’s Highway Traffic Act.
$1.6B parts plant for Honda electric vehicle batteries coming to Niagara Region
A Japanese company has announced it will build an approximately $1.6-billion plant in Ontario's Niagara Region that will make a key electric vehicle battery component as part of Honda's supply chain in the province.
B.C. brings in law on name changes on day that child killer's new identity revealed
The BC NDP have tabled legislation aimed at stopping people who have committed certain heinous acts from changing their names.
Manitoba premier to visit areas impacted by wildfire
Manitoba Premier Wab Kinew will get a close-up look at the devastation from a large wildfire burning in northern Manitoba Tuesday.