Patty Hajdu

Patty Hajdu was Canada's Health Minister through COVID and represents Thunder Bay in Parliament. She's vocal about the needs of Northern Ontario and Indigenous communities — and she's right to be, those communities are genuinely underserved. But knowing the problem and solving the problem are two different things. The north still lacks adequate health services, clean water in some communities, affordable food. I appreciate she speaks up. I'd appreciate it more if the outcomes matched the speeches. People in remote communities have been hearing that help is coming for a long time. They're still waiting.

Patty Hajdu was Canada's Health Minister through COVID and is an MP from Thunder Bay. She's spoken passionately about the crisis in Indigenous communities and the need for federal investment in the north. But the north is still the north — remote communities still lack basic health services, clean water, and affordable food. Thunder Bay has serious challenges that have persisted and worsened despite her being the voice for that region. I appreciate that she at least knows these issues up close. But knowing the problem and solving it are different things, and too many people in Northern Ontario are still waiting for solutions that haven't come.

Patty Hajdu has held some of the most consequential portfolios in the Liberal government — Health during COVID, Indigenous Services, and now Northern Ontario economic development. In each role the record is one of missed targets and deflection. As Health Minister, she admitted she was unaware of Canada's pandemic early warning system when COVID hit — a staggering gap for someone in that position. As Indigenous Services Minister, she oversaw the continued failure to eliminate boil-water advisories on First Nations reserves — a promise years overdue. A Canadian Human Rights Tribunal also found that she misled the public regarding a $20-billion child welfare compensation agreement. That is an extraordinary finding against a sitting minister. When the institutions entrusted to an official keep producing these kinds of conclusions, the pattern becomes impossible to ignore.