TORONTO -- Ontario's New Democrats are making another demand to prop up the governing Liberals: give the ombudsman oversight of the health-care system.
The minority government needs the NDP to help pass the budget and avoid an election.
The Liberals addressed their list of demands in the budget, but the New Democrats say they want more accountability.
Giving the ombudsman the authority to look into complaints against hospitals, ambulance services, nursing homes and retirement homes would rebuild the trust people have lost in the health-care system, NDP Leader Andrea Horwath said Friday.
The ombudsman would also help ensure that the Liberals meet her demand for a five-day guarantee for home care, she said.
His office would also cover Ontario's troubled air ambulance services and chemotherapy treatment, which has come under fire after just over 1,200 patients received diluted cancer drugs, Horwath said.
"I don't blame people for not believing Liberal promises anymore," she said.
"Their system of just throwing millions at a problem and saying, 'Just trust me' hasn't delivered results. It's given us eHealth, Ornge and other health care scandals."
Horwath has also asked for a financial accountability office, modelled on the parliamentary budget office in Ottawa. She has said there will be more demands next week.
But she said she won't "draw lines in the sand."
Premier Kathleen Wynne has called Horwath's proposal on the accountability office "an interesting idea," but said she had been unable to get a meeting with the NDP leader.
The Conservatives, who are pushing for an election, refused to say whether they'd give the ombudsman the same powers if they form the next government.
Tory Monte McNaughton said the province "has a dirty diaper" in the Liberal government that needs to be changed.
"I think there's never a problem with having more oversight across government... but we need to start at the top," he said.
"We need to change the team that's leading the province of Ontario."
