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Federal NDP leader says during Victoria visit that Trudeau failing on health care

Jagmeet Singh calls situation a ‘crisis’
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Federal NPD Leader Jagmeet Singh thinks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t “taking the health care crisis seriously” enough. (Ella Matte, News contributor)

By Ella Matte, contributor

Federal NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh thinks Prime Minister Justin Trudeau isn’t “taking the health care crisis seriously” enough.

But during a press conference Friday in Victoria at the KWENCH Studio, Singh also took aim at the Alberta and Ontario provincial governments for pushing privatizing health care.

“Conservative premiers in Alberta and Ontario want … more for-profit care,” Singh said. “For-profit care will cannibalize the public sector. It pulls workers away from the public (ER) rooms and makes wait times even longer.”

He wants to partner with the BC NDP to address the issue of shortage of health-care workers and praised them for what they have already done.

“The BC NDP is taking some bold steps to deal with the health-care crisis,” Singh said. “With innovative ways with bringing back more public health care and fighting against private care. They need a partner - they need someone who is also willing to stand up for public, universal health care.”

RELATED: NDP to call for emergency debate in House of Commons over private health care

He addressed the many immigrants and individuals who are licensed outside of Canada. He suggested a way for those workers to fast-track getting licensed in Canada.

“We need to streamline that process and we need to make sure it’s easier,” Singh said. “We can maintain the good quality but there has to be a way for people with international training can work in the fields they’re trained to work in.”