Small protest held in Moncton to voice concerns about province's health-care system

The state of New Brunswick's health-care system was the topic of a small protest in Moncton on Sunday.

A handful of demonstrators and opposition politicians gathered outside Moncton City Hall to show their concern.

They say they’re unhappy with the province toying with health-care privatization.

"We're new to New Brunswick and we currently do not have a doctor and we're seeing how hard it's going to be to get a doctor we just wanted to be out here and make a little noise,” said protester Kendra Miller.

The protest primarily attracted opposition politicians. They say they’re wondering what exactly Premier Higgs' plan is since replacing the health minister and firing health authority CEOs.

“We need to hear what the plan is, because a few weeks ago he cleaned house in Horizon and Vitalite,” says Liberal MLA Robert Gauvin. “So if you do something like that you must have a plan because that's a very big move."

"We're on our third health minister in four years,” said Liberal MLA Robert McKee. “They're calling on the failed housing minister now to address this crisis. Under his watch we saw the housing waitlist go from 5,000 to 8,000 people and now we're expecting him to be the saviour to solve the health-care crisis"

Both Moncton and Saint John hospitals asked people to avoid emergency rooms this weekend, unless it was an emergency, due to lack of staffing.

On Friday, New Brunswick Health Minister Bruce Fitch said people have the right the protest, but the issues with health care are not unique to the province.

"I know the four premiers were in the province at the first of the week and it was interesting that from Ontario, New Brunswick, PEI, and Nova Scotia they're all dealing with the same situation,” he said.

While more than 1,300 health care workers have been hired since April, the people protesting Sunday said they just want to see tangible solutions.

"If we have people in our province that hold medical certification, doctors, nurses from Ukraine, fast track them, get them working, just like Nova Scotia is doing,” said organizer Sherry Bertin-MacIsaac.

The health minister says that is already in the works and that the province is trying to remove barriers for international recruitment.