For Immediate Release

December 2, 1997
NDP Health Critic Marion Boyd tours Street Health as part of
NDP's Dialogue for Change

TORONTO -- Cutbacks and crackdowns by the Harris
Conservative governmentare making it more difficult for
street nurses to treat their patients, NDP Health Critic
Marion Boyd said today.

Boyd made the comments following a tour this morning of
Street Health. Street Health offers weekly nursing care
clinics for the homeless in downtown Toronto.  Today's tour
is part of the NDP's ongoing Dialogue for Change  initiative
to help develop a clear, realistic alternative for Ontario
that puts the needs of people and their communities first.

"We have to take our Dialogue for Change to the streets
where many people hurt by the Harris Conservatives' cuts
live," said Boyd.

In September, the Harris government announced a crackdown on
health care fraud that will delay or deny access to health
care services to people without valid Ontario health cards.
"The Harris Conservatives' new health card rules create more
barriers to care and treatment for homeless people.  The
demand for Street Health services underlines the crisis of
access to health care created by the Conservatives'
cuts,"she said.

Today the Harris Conservatives passed Bill 152 which
downloads the cost of many services, including public
health, onto municipal taxpayers. The resulting cash crunch
faced by  public health units will threaten important
education and prevention initiatives to stop the spread of
diseases like AIDS and drug resistant strains of
tuberculosis.

"Yesterday was World AIDS Day which reminds us all of the
desperate need to reach the very people Street Health helps
with education programs and initiatives like needle
exchanges," said Boyd.

Boyd said that the NDP's Dialogue for Change will help in
developing a plan for a better and more accountable public
health care system.

"Through the Dialogue for Change, we will engage people in
Ontario in real discussion on what we can and should expect
from our publicly funded health care system."

For more information, please call Jeff Connell at (416)
325-7361.

e-mail the NDP Caucus at [log in to unmask]

   ***************************************************
  From new transmitters came the old stupidities.
  Wisdom was passed on from mouth to mouth.
            -Bertolt Brecht
  ***************************************************

Dennis Raphael, Ph.D.
Associate Professor and Acting Director,
Masters of Health Science Program in Health Promotion
Department of Public Health Sciences
Graduate Department of Community Health
University of Toronto
McMurrich Building, Room 101
Toronto, Ontario, CANADA M5S 1A8