A local politician chalks concerns over proposed cuts to health services nothing more than fear mongering.
Close to 300 people gathered at the Bradley Centre over the weekend to protest plans for reducing the number of public health units and ambulance dispatchers across the province.
However, Chatham-Kent-Leamington MPP Rick Nicholls says it’s misleading.
“We have actually increased the budget in health care,” Nicholls says. “Of course you look at some of the announcement we’ve made in regards to hospitals, there’s about a million moving parts in this new plan that our Minister of Health, Christine Elliot, is working (on) with her team day in and day out.”
Nicholls says the Ministry of Health has been consulting with health care providers as it tries to streamline services across Ontario.
“I believe the person doing the job on the front line is the person that can best tell us how to improve that situation and to make it better.”
The Chatham rally, organized by the Ontario Health Coalition, was the first in a series of protests scheduled across the province.