Green Party candidate Brown joined by party leader Schreiner for health care announcement

February 20, 2025 · 0 Comments

Ontario Greens would cancel Highway 413, spend money saved on health care

By ZACHARY ROMAN

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The Green Party of Ontario candidate for Dufferin-Caledon, Sandy Brown, recently shared his party’s pledge to cancel Highway 413 and spend the money on health care instead.

Brown made the announcement alongside Ontario Greens’ leader Mike Schreiner on February 13 at Spirit Tree Estate Cidery in Caledon.

Advocacy groups like Headwaters Against Highway 413, Halton Hills Climate Action, and the Stop Highway 413 Now community group attended the announcement.

Brown said as Minister of Health, incumbent Dufferin-Caledon MPP Sylvia Jones has not supported the health care needs of the community, and Ontarians as a whole.

“There are over 15,000 people in Dufferin-Caledon who don’t have a family doctor, and the riding needs to recruit 43 family doctors in the next six years to meet demand,” said Brown. “As your MPP, I’ll take real action to protect our communities and ensure that everyone has access to a family doctor so that rural Ontarians aren’t left behind.”

Schreiner said stopping Highway 413 is a pillar of the Ontario Greens’ plan to “protect the people and places we love against Doug Ford’s anti-Greenbelt agenda.”

“That’s why I’m announcing today that Ontario Greens would cancel Highway 413 and redirect the $10 billion into desperately needed health care and mental health care,” said Schreiner. “Sandy knows Ontarians can’t afford to waste $10 billion dollars on a highway that will pave over 2,000 acres of prime farmland and slice through the Greenbelt when people in our rural communities don’t have access to health care.”

The Ontario Greens plan to ensure all Ontarians have a primary care provider within three to four years by recruiting 3,500 more doctors in Ontario through more medical school positions and more residency opportunities for international medical graduates.

The Greens also plan to address health care staffing shortages by providing equal pay for nurses, doctors and personal support workers across all communities and health care settings; the party says this will benefit rural and remote communities.

Additionally, the Greens plan to cover mental health care for all under OHIP.