Doug Ford's joke about sending overflow patients to vet draws ire

'This is Doug Ford's let them eat cake moment,' says Ontario Liberal health critic

The Canadian Press · Posted: Aug 14, 2024 4:29 PM EDT

Ontario Premier Doug Ford speaks to reporters at a meeting in Halifax on July 15. Ontario's opposition parties are criticizing the premier for a joke he made at a new veterinary facility north of Toronto Tuesday. (Darren Calabrese/The Canadian Press)

Ontario's opposition parties are criticizing Premier Doug Ford for joking about sending "overflow" human patients to a new animal hospital.

Ford spoke Tuesday at the opening of a large new veterinary facility north of Toronto, an event attended by several other cabinet ministers, and said, "by the looks of it we know where we can send the overflow patients now for MRIs and CAT scans and everything else."

A spokesperson for the premier says he was making a joke referring to the size of the 60,000-square-foot, four-storey hospital and that the government has made record investments in the public health-care system, including dozens of new MRI machines and CT scanners in hospitals.

But opposition parties say the state of Ontario's health-care system isn't humorous, as patients can face long waits for diagnostic tests and emergency care.

Ontario seeks more private MRI, CT clinics for public scans

NDP Leader Marit Stiles says Ford thinks the "chaos and crisis" he has created is a laughing matter.

Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie says the joke is not funny, it's "repulsive."

Read more at CBC.ca