Health care top Niagara Centre issue: candidates
Health care and keeping Welland hospital open are common themes Niagara Centre candidates hear as they go door-to-door.
Last Tuesday, PC Leader Doug Ford and PC candidate April Jeffs paid a visit to the hospital on a campaign stop in the riding.
Ford said the two spoke with nurses and doctors and that he told them his government would improve health care in the province. He said his government would support moving forward with a new hospital expected to be ready in Niagara Falls in 2023 — as well as keeping Welland’s open.
“Health care is No. 1 at the doors …” said Jeffs, after the hospital visit with her party’s leader.
NDP candidate Jeff Burch echoed comments of his political rival and said it’s one of the top concerns he’s hearing at doorsteps.
“The Welland hospital is bursting at the seams. I’m hearing stories of patients being treated in hallways, frontline workers stretched thin and staff being forced to do so much with so little. Kathleen Wynne’s Liberals had 15 years to fix this mess and instead they chose to put our very own hospital on the chopping block.”
Burch said little is known of Ford’s plans.
“What we know for sure is that he’s promised $6 billion in acrossthe-board cuts. To do that, he’d have to close 36 hospitals, fire 28,000 nurses …”
As a former labour negotiator in the health sector and as a municipal politician, Burch said health care is something he’s passionate about and has spent years advocating for.
Liberal candidate Benoit Mercier said when his party proposed to shut down Welland hospital, he expressed dissatisfaction with this decision.
“I was totally against it. I knew that many people from the GTHA (Greater Toronto Hamilton Area) were going to move to Niagara Centre and that new companies would call south Niagara home,” he said.
Green party candidate Joe Dias
said health care is a major topic in the election, and no less so in Welland with the discussions/ protests against the closing of the city’s main health-care artery over the years.
“Health care, basic income guarantee, mental health issues … none are easy issues, but Greens have a costed plan and we know where the money is coming from for our platform.”
Keeping hospitals close to the people to remove the need for the elderly to have to commute long distances is paramount, Dias said.
He said in 2018 no one should be talking any more about hospital closures from a jobs perspective alone.
“If we want companies to locate in the region they will come for … good health-care system to support their staff. No hospital, no companies will look at Welland,” he said.
Dario Smagata-Bryan, of the Peoples Political Party, said he’s in favour of keeping the hospital open.
“I think it’s important for our community to have a local hospital we can rely on.
“However, I have to wonder if this will be an empty promise from the PC’s, as many reports suggest that they will cut healthcare funding by a significant margin.”
“The hospital provides a valuable service to the people of Welland and with better funding and allocation of resources, it can be improved further,” he said.
Libertarian Patrick Pietruszko said his party proposes to expand the health-care system, by increasing the supply of health-care professionals without increasing government spending.
“The most recent statistics show that over 26,000 people left Ontario for medical care outside of Canada.
“The jobs that would have been created in Ontario are lost. The skills acquired by health-care professionals had those people stayed here, are lost,” said Pietruszko. He said Welland hospital should be kept open but allow for non-government insurance options in addition to OHIP.
“We need to give patients the option to pay for their treatments using their savings or their tax dollars. People need more choices,” Pietruszko said.
None of the Above Party candidate Joe Crawford hopes that any politician who’s elected will take care of the hospitals in the riding and equip them with more nurses and doctors.
– with files from Kris Dube