The Welland hospital is a full-service hospital that serves the fastest-growing area of the Niagara region. This hospital would not exist without the endless support from our community. In 1945, the Welland hospital auxiliary formed to help fundraise for the site. Over the years, they’ve continued that work, raising $750,000 to renovate the ICU and $1 million towards a dialysis unit named after them. Countless community organizations, like the Hungarian cultural society, saw the need for this hospital and contributed what they could.

Unfortunately, Niagara Health recently confirmed that services at the Welland hospital will be significantly reduced. As of February 27, emergency surgical services in Welland will be cut in the evenings and on weekends. Families in Welland, Port Colborne, Thorold and Pelham who show up at this hospital and need to be in an operating room within the hour will have to wait for an ambulance to take them to another hospital. Doctors and nurses at the hospital have told us this will create dangerous situations for patients, leading to poor outcomes and unnecessary deaths.

In April 2022, this House passed my motion to maintain full emergency department services and acute-care services in Welland to ensure that there are safe, equitable hospital services throughout the Niagara region. I look forward to working with the minister and this House to ensure the government honours its commitment to maintain these crucial emergency services.

The opposition’s objective is fighting change. Our objective is improving Ontario’s publicly funded, OHIP-covered services for patients.

As journalist Kelly McParland recently stated, the opposition’s approach “is a big reason health care in Canada has reached a cliff edge. Even as cries for improvement go up, any effort to change a system that clearly isn’t functioning effectively is met by an avalanche of objections from organizations skilled in the art of ... delay and obstruction, convinced only their” initiatives and “remedies are acceptable, and only if implemented as they prefer.

“Alarmism and obstruction got us to where we are now, and if it has its way we’ll stay stuck with a crumbling system for years to come.”

That is not good enough for this government. We are taking action to improve services for patients.

“I want to write to you about my successful surgery. Premier Ford is absolutely correct about getting the private medical clinics and hospitals involved to ease the backlog of surgeries. Had it not been for the private hospital I had my treatment at, I would still be dealing with the pain and suffering of my medical issue. I got the surgery done in two months instead of having to endure the pain and suffering for an additional 18 months. All options should be on the table—options for the benefit of the patient and not the political agenda of the other political parties. In fact, the NDP suggested I go to a private hospital”—that’s the Shouldice hospital in Thornhill. “Full speed ahead with this caring legislation. At least the PCs are concerned with my well-being and others like me.

“Sincerely,

“Jon Swaggart”—

Interjections.

Speaker, through you to the Minister of Health: Back in April, all parties in this House supported my motion to keep full emergency department services and acute-care services at the Welland hospital. Yet, recently, folks across my riding in Welland, Port Colborne, Thorold and Pelham were shocked to learn that Niagara Health is permanently removing after-hours emergency services in Welland as of February 27, next week. So if someone in need of emergency surgery shows up at the Welland site, they will be put in an ambulance and sent to another hospital.

What specific steps will this government take to stop these cuts and uphold my motion to ensure that full services remain at the Welland hospital so that families in south Niagara have safe and equitable access to health care?

Is the government willing to leave the people of south Niagara without timely access to life-saving care, or will the minister honour my request and meet with me immediately to resolve this dangerous situation?

Well, we’ll allow the Ontario Hospital Association to continue its negotiation with our nurses. I think that’s the right thing to do.

At the same time, no, we’re not going to stop calling our nurses and front-line workers heroes, because that’s what they are—it’s not just during the pandemic; it is all the time—and we’ve always felt that they are. So I’ll let the NDP go down that road. We will continue to thank them for their service, and we’ll continue to do it by building and investing more in health care across the province, because we think that’s the right thing to do.

Health care is not just about people and making our communities better and providing better service for people; it’s also about building a better economy. So when the Minister of Economic Development, Job Creation and Trade goes out there to sell Ontario, he can sell the investments that we are making in health care as an opportunity, another reason why to come to Ontario, where we build broadband across northern parts of Ontario. It is another opportunity.

So, no, we will not stop calling our front-line workers and our nurses heroes, because that’s what they are. And we’ll respect them by investing in those services.

My question is to the Premier.

Residents of the James Bay coast do not have access to adequate health services. These fly-in First Nations must travel from one community to another, or even further, such as to Timmins or Kingston, for adequate care. The travel, as we know, is very costly for the province and poses a burden on these families. Fort Albany has space for such a department in their hospital and has many patients who require daily support.

My question: What will this government do to get adequate dialysis care for these fly-in First Nations?