Ontario voters split on which political party would best address doctor shortage: Nanos survey

A doctor wears a lab coat and stethoscope in an exam room at a health clinic, Friday, July 14, 2023.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jeff McIntosh

Healthcare is the top election issue for many Ontario voters, but they remain split on which political party is the best one to deal with the doctor shortage in the province.

According to a Nanos survey commissioned for CTV News, 28 per cent of Ontarians say they trust the Ontario Liberal Party to deal with the shortage, 26 per cent believe in the Progressive Consevatives to address the issue and 21 per cent say the Ontario NDP is the party they most trust on the matter.

“Interestingly, none of the major parties have a clear advantage in addressing the doctor shortage,” Nanos Research Chief Data Scientist Nik Nanos said in a statement. “Furthermore, one in five Ontarians express a lack of trust in any provincial party to handle this critical issue.”

The survey finds women trust the Liberals (31.2 per cent) to solve the shortage, while men see the PCs (31.6 per cent) as the party that could deal with the issue.

The Ontario Medical Association has urged party leaders to prioritize healthcare after the number of doctors in the province failed to improve in the past year. The association said there are 2,600 vacant physician positions across Ontario.

The shortage was amplified last month when hundreds of people in Walkerton, Ont. braved the cold and snow to line up for hours, hoping to be added to the roster of a new family doctor.

A separate Nanos survey found that healthcare is the issue that many Ontario voters say will influence how they will cast their ballot in the election.

All parties have promised they will spend billions to recruit more physicians so every resident can have a family doctor within four years.

Nanos Research conducts random interviews with a three-night rolling average of about 900 Ontario voters. Survey results released Friday included 920 Ontario voters who were interviewed between Feb. 8 and Feb. 10. The survey has a margin of error of 3.2 per cent, 19 times out of 20.

Liberals show some ‘upward movement’

New nightly tracking from Nanos, CTV News’ officials pollster, shows that while Ford’s support has dipped slightly, the PC Leader still maintains a significant lead over the second-place Liberals.

About 43.9 per cent of respondents of the survey, released Friday, said they support the PCs, compared to 30.9 per cent who support Bonnie Crombie’s Liberals. According to the survey, which interviewed 945 Ontarians between Feb. 11 and Feb. 13, 17.1 per cent of respondents said they support the NDP and 5.8 per cent said the support the Green Party.

“As the campaign unfolds the Ford PCs lead the Liberals by 13 percentage points,” Nik Nanos, chief data scientist for Nanos Research, said in analysis accompanying the survey.

“Of note, in the last few days the Crombie Liberals have shown some upward movement in the Toronto Region, numerically ahead of the PCs.”

Ford remains the top choice for premier, with 38.8 per cent support, compared to 26.8 per cent for Crombie, 16.1 per cent for NDP Leader Marit Stiles, and 7.6 per cent for Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner.

The random survey has a margin of error of plus or minus 3.2 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.