Ontario NDP promises new hospital, construction of 1.5 million new homes in 10 years

 Ontario's New Democrats are promising to expand an urgent care centre in Brampton and build a new hospital in the city if elected to form government in June.

Party Leader Andrea Horwath says the growing Toronto-area community hasn't had its fair share of health facilities and her party wants to change that.

The NDP says it would pay for an expansion of Peel Memorial Centre for Integrated Health and Wellness that would include a 24-hour emergency department.

Horwath says timelines and costs for various projects will be included in her party's costed platform, which she has repeatedly said is coming soon.

She pledged, however, that work on the projects would start "immediately."

"People in Brampton have waited too long and they've been ripped off," she said at the Friday announcement hosted outside Brampton Civic Hospital, the city's only full-service hospital.

"We're not going to rip off the people of Brampton, we're going to get these things done because they deserve no less. They deserve to have their healthcare needs addressed."

Brampton, a city with a population of 656,480 as of the 2021 census that's home to many essential frontline workers, was hit particularly hard by COVID-19.

The impact of the pandemic has prompted renewed calls for governments to address the relative dearth of health-care services in the community.

Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford also made several health-care focused stops in the city in the lead-up to the election call, including a promise to establish a new medical school in Brampton.

Navjit Kaur said her community's healthcare needs factored into her decision to run as the NDP's candidate in Brampton West.

The registered respiratory therapist said she treated families sick with COVID-19 during the pandemic who had to be separated due to lack of local resources, with some people transferred as far away as London, Ont.

"It was devastating," she said after the announcement. "That's one of the things that motivated me to run, to make sure we're helping the people in Brampton and making sure this does not happen again."

Kaur said she has also treated people in the community with long COVID who have severe complications after being  infected with the virus, and said having more local health facilities would hopefully help those patients with their long-term needs.