Ministry fires back at Tory leader over health care comments

It’s a war of words between the Ontario Progressive Conservatives and health ministry over health costs in Ontario.   A day after Tory leader Patrick Brown claimed the Liberals are piling on health care bureaucracy, the ministry is countering the claim.  The ministry says the reality is that within the Ministry of Health, there are now 3,000 fewer employees and since 2003, the management count is down almost 10 percent.  The ministry also says that the vice presidents being hired at the Local Health Integration Networks will help save about $10-million by identifying inefficiencies in the system.   It says there will be no impact to patient care.  The ministry says Brown’s only commitment is to cut jobs while it’s committed to health care.  As an example the ministry points out it added $1-billion dollars to health in the 2016 budget.