It is my pleasure to join the voices of nearly 40,000 people calling on this government to reverse the decision by the board of directors at the Haliburton Highlands Health Services, where they, without any consultation with the community, closed down the Minden hospital ER. As we’ve heard from my colleagues, as we’ve heard from the people who have signed the petition, the people who are here today, this deeply impacts their community, to be forcing them to travel—it could be 20 minutes or more, depending on the weather—outside of their community when they have an urgent situation.

We know that if there is a case of cardiac arrest or other instances of medical emergencies, every second counts when it comes to saving lives. We know that because of underfunding of the publicly funded, publicly delivered, not-for-profit health care system, we have seen many cases across the province where hospitals in different communities are shutting down emergency departments. It is absolutely shameful that that is happening in this province, risking people’s lives.

I join those 40,000 people who are calling on the Minister of Health to use her powers to reopen the Minden ER and to properly fund public health care in this province.