Jagmeet Singh, leader of Canada’s NDP, responded with the following statement to Premier Doug Ford’s decision to hand part of Ontario’s health care system over to for-profit corporations
MEDIA RELEASE: Canada’s NDP calls on Trudeau to take a stand for Canadian health care
MEDIA RELEASE: Canada’s NDP calls on Trudeau to take a stand for Canadian health care
“World-class health care should be waiting for you when you need it. We can best deliver that by rebuilding and growing our public system — not allowing Conservative premiers to decimate it with American-style for-profit health corporations. Protecting public universal Canadian health care should be a condition that Prime Minister Justin Trudeau puts on provinces to receive funding — but instead, Trudeau is turning his back so Conservatives and their friends can profit off pain and illness.
Premier Doug Ford’s decision to give part of our health care system to for-profit corporations will mean a deeper hospital staffing crisis, longer waits, and inevitable fees for patients.
With privatization, ER and surgery wait times will grow because the private clinics poach nurses and doctors. The urgent care crisis will get worse.
According to Ontario’s Auditor General, you will get a bill. Health care companies upsell OHIP patients, getting you to pay extra to upgrade to brands they recommend, buy physical therapy consultations, and even pay for your hospital bed.
We have seen the kind of care people get when profits are the priority — just look at the brutal, deadly and disgusting conditions in for-profit long-term care homes during the pandemic.
The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario opposes for-profit surgical centres. The Ontario Nurses Association and Registered Nurses of Ontario oppose for-profit medicine. The fact that Ontario’s doctors and nurses oppose this says it all. Privatization is bad for patients.
Trudeau is ready to let the provinces funnel federal health care dollars into the pockets of for-profit corporate investors. I’m not. When I’m Prime Minister, we’ll rebuild the public, universal system.”
Latest posts
The rally is organized by the Hong Kong Pathway Alliance. Similar events are also taking place in Calgary and Toronto.
The pathway allows eligible Hong Kong residents in Canada, including people who studied or worked here, to apply for PR.
People here say they have waited for years and still do not know when their applications will be finished.
“Right now I’m stuck in limbo. It’s been a year and a half. I haven’t heard back from the IRCC regarding my application, and we’re continuously arguing with, we’re continuously hoping that IRCC sees our cases,” said Vikrambir Singh, another demonstrator.
“There’s not just me, there’s 40,000 plus applications that are stuck in limbo, and we don’t know when they’re going to get processed.”
They also point to Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada’s (IRCC) processing time tool, which now suggests new applicants could wait more than 10 years for their PR.
The Immigration Minister recently told Parliament that there have been more than 46,000 applications under the Hong Kong PR pathways, and just over 13,000 had arrived.
“And the minister’s solution is, “don’t apply under the lifeboat scheme”. What is she even talking about? That scheme was specifically designed for Hong Kongers, said MP Jenny Kwan, representing Vancouver East for the NDP.
“So, it is absolutely outrageous that she would renege on the government’s promise in suggesting that the Hong Kongers should apply under a different stream. It is absolutely unacceptable.”
The federal government introduced special measures for Hong Kong residents in 2020, after China imposed the national security law in Hong Kong.
*Click image or link to read or watch the TV news story - https://vancouver.citynews.ca/2026/06/07/demonstrators-rally-hong-kong-pr-processing-backlog/
OTTAWA—The Canadian government is considering the use of artificial intelligence to save time creating influential assessment profile reports of offenders as they go to federal prisons, and is running a small-scale trial to test it, the Star has learned.
Carney government releases AI road map that aims to make Canada a leader
Federal Politics
Carney government releases AI road map that aims to make Canada a leader
Mentioned in lengthy documents tabled in Parliament last month and confirmed by Correctional Service Canada (CSC), the test run comes as the Carney government tries to ramp up AI adoption, including with billions in a national strategy released this week.
But the prison trial, which CSC says has not yet been used in real cases, is raising concerns from AI experts, criminal defence lawyers and the federal NDP’s public safety critic, who argue a widespread adoption could lead to crucial errors, exacerbate racial biases and put offenders and victims at risk.
Criminal profile reports, as they are called, are detailed “foundational documents” prepared by CSC staff during a prisoner’s intake process that identify risks and play a role in major decisions like access to programs and likelihood of parole.
Drawing from scores of official documents, they include details about an offender’s criminal history, the circumstances of their crimes, patterns of violence or behavioural, mental health and addiction issues, family and social background, trauma history, education and employment records, and even victim impact statements.
“This is what defines your offence cycle,” criminal defence lawyer Nora Demnati said of those reports. “It will have an impact on everything else that comes.”
That’s why the Carney government should slow down and consult widely, including with the CSC union, its lawyers and the Privacy Commissioner of Canada before going further, said NDP MP Jenny Kwan, the party’s public safety critic. Neither the Union of Safety and Justice Employees or the Office of the Privacy Commissioner have been consulted yet, they told the Star.
Kwan warned of a multitude of legal concerns that go both ways and can have a “cascading impact”: Violating the rights of inmates if mistakes are added to reports, on one hand, or hurting victims and prison staff if crucial information is missed by the AI summaries, on the other.
“When you have those kinds of risks associated with correctional policing matters, you can imagine what the huge ramifications might be,” Kwan told the Star. “You could potentially compromise people’s legal rights.”