Fake news happens in P.E.I.

So on review, one might understand why Islanders, particularly in West Prince and rural P.E.I., may doubt the genuine nature of Mr. Henderson’s epiphany of concern about our health care.

On occasion, I enjoy reading opinion pieces and letters to the editor that are published in the local press. However, seldom am I moved enough to write a reply as a result of reading such articles. This letter is in response to the guest opinion by Liberal MLA Robert Henderson (Concerned about health care, Jan. 29).

To begin, Mr. Henderson's article is rife with misinformation as well as misstatements of fact. It seems to be the sort of article we normally would expect to find coming out of the Trump administration in Washington.

Mr. Henderson advised us that he is unclear about the concept of health-care hubs and incorrectly attributes that concept to the Green party. In point of fact, health-care hubs were first mentioned in the 2019 election platform proposed by the Island New Democrats. It is unlikely that Green Leader Peter BevanBaker would be able to provide details of a program, as suggested by Mr. Henderson in his article when the Green party did not have any input in its creation.

Secondly, the article leads us to believe that the author is concerned by the amount of money that has been set aside for development of health hubs in this province.

The implication offered is that Islanders cannot afford such facilities, which he indicates are not well planned. This statement seems suspect, coming from someone who supported the construction of an unwanted multimillion-dollar bypass road, complete with an unnecessary traffic circle that leads to an ice cream store.

Finally, the “concern” expressed by Mr. Henderson is not congruent with decisions of which he was a part of while acting in the Ghiz and MacLauchlan governments.

Island residents, particularly rural people, will recall that Mr. Henderson while representing the above noted governments, failed to recruit and retain family doctors. This resulted in thousands of Prince Edward Islanders being left without a family physician. The present-day shortage is a direct result of the lack of planning and foresight by Mr. Henderson during the time he served as minister of health in our province.

As health minister, he oversaw regular rural ER closures, allowed interruption of blood collection service at the Tyne Valley Health Centre, and threatened to shut down renal dialysis at Souris and Alberton while wait times in ERs grew dangerously long.

Perhaps the most cynical action of Mr. Henderson and the governments he represented was during the provincial election of 2007 when his party promised to keep both Community Hospital in O'Leary as well as Western Hospital in Alberton open. One year later in 2008, his government closed both ER and acute-care services at Community Hospital. Thereafter, communities in West Prince were starved of doctors leading to the reduction of medical services at Western Hospital and multiple ER closures.

So on review, one might understand why Islanders, particularly in West Prince and rural P.E.I., may doubt the genuine nature of Mr. Henderson's epiphany of concern about our health care.

Islanders know “Fake News” when we read it.