Bill 7 divides Ontarians as government moves ahead to free up hospital beds
VANCOUVER – The pressures on the health-care system over the past two-and-a-half years have led some governments to make difficult and, at times, unpopular decisions.
Enter Bill 7 in Ontario.
The government recently introduced this bill to amend the 2021 “Fixing Long-Term Care Act.” The provision authorizes hospital staff to move elderly patients waiting for long-term care spots out of hospital and into nursing homes they did not choose.
New data from the non-profit Angus Reid Institute finds Ontarians divided as to whether the measure was necessary (47%) or should not have been considered (53%).
While those who voted for Premier Doug Ford and the PCPO in the June election are more likely to support Bill 7, one-third (34%) among that group do not. Similar proportions of Ontario NDP and Ontario Liberal voters say this is the right move by the government, while most disagree.
Bill 7 was one step taken by Ford and the PCPO government to help a struggling Ontario health-care system. Indeed, three-in-five (58%) Ontarians say this is a top priority facing the province, as many who say the same of cost of living (58%). Those two concerns dwarf all others.
Four-in-five (80%) believe the provincial government is handling health care poorly, including three-in-five (62%) recent PCPO voters.
Health is not the only measure on which Ontarians are critical of their government. At least seven-in-ten say the PCPO government is mishandling the other two top priorities for the province – cost of living (72%) and housing affordability (79%). In fact, for all measures except the response to COVID-19 and the province’s relationship with the federal government, Ontarians are more likely to believe Ford’s government is doing a bad job than a good one.
