Mayor Peter Chirico,<\/span>\u00a0Coun. Gary Gardiner and Mark King voted against the motion that would see council call on the province to rescind Bill 60.<\/p>\n <\/span>Bill 60, otherwise<\/span>\u00a0known as Your Health Act, has drawn criticism across the province including in council chambers.<\/p>\n <\/span>The health-reform bill<\/span>\u00a0will allow more private clinics to offer certain public-funded surgeries as a way to cut down long wait times for health care and reduce a massive backlog of surgeries.<\/p>\n <\/span>Chirico told council<\/span>\u00a0during Tuesday\u2019s meeting he didn\u2019t think this was the proper locale for this discussion.<\/p>\n <\/span>He said while<\/span>\u00a0Bill 60 could have a local impact he would like to see council deal with what they\u2019re responsible for \u2013 municipal issues.<\/p>\n In the same<\/span>\u00a0breath he said Bill 60 has already passed and received royal ascent.<\/p>\n <\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s done,\u201d Chirico<\/span>\u00a0told council. \u201cI\u2019m very supportive of the investments we\u2019ve made into the hospital to retain and attract doctors and nurses. We are doing well.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Chirico acknowledged there<\/span>\u00a0are wait times in the emergency room.<\/p>\n <\/span>As of Wednesday,<\/span>\u00a0at midnight the average wait time in North Bay\u2019s emergency room was six hours and 29 minutes and the longest wait time is 11 hours and 18 minutes.<\/p>\n <\/span>Deputy Mayor Maggie<\/span>\u00a0Horsfield put forward the motion, which was seconded by Coun. Justine Mallah, calling on the provincial government \u201cto reconsider its proposal to create private for-profit hospitals and clinics and rescind Bill 60.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>A copy of<\/span>\u00a0the resolution is being forwarded to the Premier of Ontario Doug Ford, Minister of Health, Minister Vic Fedeli, Association of Municipalities of Ontario, Federation of Northern Ontario Municipalities, Rural Ontario Municipalities Association and Ontario Small Urban Municipalities.<\/p>\n The motion comes<\/span>\u00a0after Giroux, made a presentation to council during Tuesday\u2019s council meeting.<\/p>\n <\/span>He rang the<\/span>\u00a0alarm bells and issued a stark warning that funding will be further lost and the already dwindling number of health care workers working in public health institutions will be poached by for-profit clinics.<\/p>\n <\/span>\u201cIt\u2019s already well<\/span>\u00a0documented that non-hospital based for-profit medical clinics will divert resources from public sector to the private, for-profit sector,\u201d Giroux said.<\/p>\n <\/span>\u201cPrivate clinics will<\/span>\u00a0probably be more of day shift and higher pay job that would entice health care workers to leave the public system. There is no real protection against staff poaching from our local public hospitals.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>Giroux, who worked<\/span>\u00a0in long-term care for decades, said Canada has no surplus of health care workers.<\/p>\n \u201cOntario has the<\/span>\u00a0worst staffing crisis we have ever seen.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/span>He told council<\/span>\u00a0the province capping nurses wages at one per cent also didn\u2019t help attract and keep qualified staff working in the field.<\/p>\n