Wynne faces health care questions in Sudbury

With less than a week before Sudbury's Feb. 5 byelection, Premier Kathleen Wynne returned to campaign with Liberal candidate Glenn Thibeault.

“We've got a plan in this province that includes Sudbury,” Wynne said during a visit to the Irish Regiment of Canada, which celebrated its 100th anniversary Saturday. “It's a plan that invests in infrastructure like the four-laning of Highway 69, like Maley Drive, it's a plan that includes investments in students and the training of people in this community, and it's a plan that provides for people in their retirement.”

When asked about labour strike, between many of the province's Community Care Access Centres and the Ontario Nurses Association, and how it might affect Thibeault's chances in the byelection, Wynne defended the Liberals' record on health care.

“We have increased the number of nurses across this province by more than 20,000, and we will continue to make sure that the services and personnel that are needed in our communities are there,” she said.

On the much talked about PET scanner for Health Sciences North, which Thibeault supports, Wynne said it is best to defer to medical experts on the issue.

“For me it's less about a piece of equipment being in a particular place than it is about, 'Does a family have access to service in a timely and efficient way?'” she said.

Ontario's PET Steering Committee, an expert panel responsible for advising the Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care on issues relating to PET access in the province, is currently reviewing a proposal to bring a mobile PET scanner to Sudbury on a weekly basis.

According to Precision Diagnostic Imaging, a Windsor-based clinic that operates the mobile PET scanner, it could serve up to 10 people in Sudbury per day.

Every year, more than 500 people from the northeast travel to Toronto for PET scans.
Thibeault said he will continue to advocate for a PET scanner if he is elected to Queen's Park, but did not elaborate on his views around a mobile scanner.

“If there's a family that is in need of a PET scanner, and they have to wait, or drive down to Toronto to get that service, I think we should be able to get that service here in the north,” he said.

The Sam Bruno PET Steering Committee, which has advocated for a PET scanner in Sudbury since 2010, has said a mobile PET scanner would only be a temporary solution for the northeast, and continues to advocate for a permanent unit at Health Sciences North.

Wynne said she hopes to return to Sudbury Feb. 5 for the byelection.