NSNDP

August 2nd, 2018

NDP Leader visits Cape Breton with focus on health care issues

SYDNEY - NDP Leader Gary Burrill is spending the weekend in Cape Breton, with stops planned in Sydney, North Sydney and Glace Bay. Burrill is focused on hearing from Cape Bretoners about the doctor shortage and the closures of community hospitals.

“The Liberals can dress it up all they like, but at the end of the day what they are doing in North Sydney and New Waterford is taking health care services out of communities,” said Burrill. “If they think this isn’t going to have negative impacts, then they are out of touch with the reality of people’s lives.”

North Sydney resident Ronald Crowther lives with a chronic illness and has a three-year-old child who suffers from epileptic seizures. He and his partner are concerned about the impact the current ER closure at the Northside General, and the hospital’s future closure, will have on their family.

“A drive to the Cape Breton Regional might be time that my 3-year-old or I don’t have,” said Crowther. “Living in a community without an emergency department is not an option for us. The closure of the Northside General means we will likely have to move.”

Burrill will spend time going door-to-door asking people to sign a petition to keep community hospitals open and to contact the Premier and Minister of Health to oppose the closures.

“Together, we can tell the Liberal government that taking health care services out of communities is the opposite of what is required in Cape Breton,” said Burrill.

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