Ma question est pour la ministre de la Santé.

Residents of Minden and surrounding area are here today in the gallery and on the front lawn. They were shocked last week to learn that their emergency room will close on June 1. So in one week, they have gathered thousands of names on a petition for a simple ask to the minister: a one-year moratorium on that decision.

Will the minister listen to the good people of Minden and grant the one-year moratorium on the closing of their emergency room?

Speaker, the people of Minden stand with their city council and will leave no stone unturned to alter this ill-advised, ill-timed and ill-planned decision. The Minden emergency department had 13,000 visits last year, and the numbers are only going up. This town of 7,000 people triples in size through the summer with the seasonal residents and tourists who come to the area, yet no one was consulted on this decision to close the emergency department.

The government has the opportunity to act. Will they help keep the Minden hospital emergency department open for one more year?