Two years ago, Putin launched his brutal & illegal war that has murdered thousands of Ukrainians. He can never win. Ukrainians fight for their independence & ours.

New Democrats joined UCC Toronto and thousands in Toronto this weekend to rise for peace, justice & solidarity.

Pharmacare Wins Ahead

We are excited by recent news that Trudeau’s Liberals are being forced to agree to pharmacare by Jagmeet Singh and Canada’s NDP. Everyone should have access to the medication they need with their health card, not their credit card. But right now, nearly one in four Canadians have reported splitting pills, skipping doses, or deciding not to renew or fill their prescriptions due to high costs. Pharmacare will keep people health and save Canadians money. People need this coverage to stay healthy and to save money.

The Liberals have promised Pharmacare for 30 years – but they cave into the interests’ of Big Pharma and big Insurance companies every time. The Trudeau Liberals have met with big Pharma and big insurance companies 264 times in less than two years. It’s clear that Liberals don’t want to do Pharmacare; they are more interested in continuing to waste money on private consultant scandals. And Canadians can’t count on Pierre Poilievre – his team is full of lobbyists for big pharma. He will protect their profits over helping Canadians with the cost of their medication.

We are watching this news story closely and are looking forward to sharing these breaking updates soon! So far, here is what we know.

Care about Healthcare?

We’re asking Etobicoke-Lakeshore residents to send a short message to our MPP Christine Hogarth urging her to make sure the new $3.1-billion federal-provincial health care funding for Ontario will be dedicated to funding public health care, not private, to ensure the most cost-effective improvements to our healthcare system.

Good Medicine for Poor Healthcare–What’s the Prescription for Healthcare in Ontario?

In January, we co-hosted an informative discussion on healthcare in Ontario. Four health experts/advocates shared their urgent information in our online panel.  

To skip to the ‘prescription’--we need to replace Doug Ford’s government. We need to advocate for public health care, public home care, public hospitals, public long-term care, community-based health care and –-as MPP France Gélinas (NDP Health Critic) said, ensuring our “health care is based on need, not the ability to pay”!      

Presenters Natalie Mehra (Ontario Health Coalition), Kingsley Kwok (Ontario Public Service Employees Union) joined MPP France Gélinas and all pointed out the Ford government‘s exorbitant spending in privatizing healthcare across the board. This has resulted in Emergency Room (ER) closures without notice (meaning that folks in the North can spend hours trying to find an open ER). The Ford agenda has allowed extra billing for such procedures as cataract surgery usually done in public hospitals and has depleted staff in hospitals and clinics. And the list goes on and on.  

Moderator Clare Hacksel, a leader in healthcare and social services, highlighted even more glitches. Our system has been under stress since Premier Mike Harris started dismantling hospitals in the late 90’s. This continued with the McGuinty/Wynne governments, expanding bureaucratic control at the expense of patient care. We are heading for a crisis caused by 30 years of governmental mismanagement. If we let the system fail, those in power are pointing to the private sector as the solution.

⇨ Clearly there is lots of work to do and it’s time to confront Ford on undermining healthcare in Ontario.

Calling New ELNDP Policy Committee Members

If you are interested in the issues we’re facing today–please join! Here’s what we do (and hope to do):

• survey and reflect key concerns of NDP constituents

• advocate for new, topical or revised policies needed to fulfill NDP's mission (see the constitution's preamble) and the NDP statement of principles (peace over war, cooperation and mutual responsibility over private gain and competition– as the guiding principles of social and economic life and a compassionate and caring society, servicing the needs of all).

• review NDP federal and provincial policies, identify gaps and suggest new policies

• support candidates by providing background information on any priority policies

We meet online about once a month and carry out our initiatives as we go on–

If interested, please send us an email.

Support the Gender Affirming Health Care Act

On Wednesday 28, 2024, NDP MPP Kristyn Wong-Tam will be hosting a Community Assembly on Gender Affirming Care alongside some very special guests!

The Gender Affirming Healthcare Act is being brought forward at a time when social conservatives are using the rights and care of Trans people to start a culture war. Danielle Smith, Pierre Poilievre, and countless US lawmakers are announcing policies that take away the rights of Trans youth to be their authentic selves. These policies are founded on transphobia, hatred, and a fundamental disregard for science. Study after study concludes the same thing: Trans folks' mental health improves when healthcare and social support honours their gender — the regret rates for gender-affirming surgeries are about 1%, dramatically lower than those for common surgeries like knee replacements.

Tragically, this anti-Trans rhetoric has serious consequences. CSIS just published a warning that the 'anti-gender movement' poses a threat of 'extreme violence.’ And we are already seeing that violence – many of you have probably heard about the heartbreaking death of Nex Benedict, an Indigenous, nonbinary teenager in Oklahoma who was beaten by peers in a school bathroom after the state passed a law saying that students must use the bathroom that aligns with the gender assigned to them at birth. Throughout this week, we will keep Nex’s memory in my heart as a reminder of what we are fighting for.

Bill 124 Ruled Unconstitutional!

This month, Ontario’s Court of Appeal ruled that Bill 124, the PC’s wage suppression legislation, was unconstitutional. The decision concluded that the Bill unduly interfered with workers’ rights to collective bargaining.

This is a huge win, a win that belongs to the workers, unions, and advocates from across the province who stood firm against the Conservatives’ unconstitutional attack on their rights.

Bill 124 hurt our province. It forced health care and education workers out of the profession, cut people’s wages during an affordability crisis, and eroded people’s trust in their government.

It is unconscionable that this government wasted many years and untold taxpayer dollars fighting workers in court to uphold an unconstitutional Bill and take away wages. Thankfully, the government has stated that they will not challenge this ruling at the Supreme Court and will repeal it in full. But that is not enough.

This government has to make up for lost time and wasted energy and start fixing their mess by hiring health care workers into our public system and paying back workers for lost wages.

We are proud to always stand with workers and we celebrate this win alongside them.

Happy Lunar New Year

We wish good health and prosperity to all our neighbours recognizing Lunar New Year celebrations this month! Tibetan communities are celebrating the year of the Wood Dragon, and Vietnamese, Korean, and Chinese communities are celebrating the Year of the Dragon!