It's time for change when it comes to Ontario's health care system.
This from CUPE Ontario President Fred Hahn who was one of several guests at a town hall hosted by Windsor-West MPP Lisa Gretzky to discuss the current state of health care in the province.
The meeting took place Wednesday night covering a number of topics including long-term care, hospital wait times, mental health and universal access to medication.
Hahn says, for the past decade, health care has taken a back seat.
"One of the things that the current Liberal government wants us to believe is that everything is rosy, we've balanced the books and everything is good, but we've lived through ten years of austerity budgets and what that's meant is fewer frontline workers, fewer supports and we're now seeing the result of all of these years of neglect."
He says the bar for care gets set lower and lower each year.
"We're so used to doing more with less. When we're talking about people's lives, our parents and grandparents, our children, when we're talking about people with mental health issues, this isn't about whether or not we're being efficient, this is about whether or not there's actually enough money in our system to fund a system that will care for people in the right way."
Residents attend a town hall hosted by Windsor-West MPP Lisa Gretzky to discuss the current state of health care in the province (Photo by AM800's Zander Broeckel)
Hahn adds, frontline workers are being impacted the most.
"The thing about our public services is that you have to keep investing in them in order for them to grow with our communities to grow with the growing need. We haven't had a government that's doing that. What I know our members say to me all the time, the impacts of years of neglect in government budgets is coming home to roost and we need to push to address this."
Hahn was part of a panel with members from the Ontario Nurses Association as well as the Windsor Police Service's Community Outreach and Support Team.
Anyone who wasn't able to attend the meeting is encouraged to leave feedback on Gretzky's website at lisagretzkympp.ca.