Ward 4 candidates debate urgent care, school fire at Crystal Ridge forum

Ward 4 council candidates laid out competing plans to keep urgent care in Fort Erie at a Ridgeway forum Thursday, four days before Monday’s municipal election.

Ridgeway resident John Florio organized the forum at the Crystal Ridge Community Centre, where Councillor Joan Christensen, who is seeking a second term, faced Daniel Turner and Tavis McGlashan. A fourth candidate, Matt Paul, missed it because of work.

The candidates also answered a resident’s questions about the August arson at the former Ridgeway-Crystal Beach High School, which sat vacant for nine years before it burned.

Urgent care in Fort Erie

Christensen, a former senior policy adviser with Ontario’s Ministry of Health, wants a community-run non-profit corporation to deliver round-the-clock access to doctors, nurse practitioners, X-rays and blood work.

Christensen said Niagara Health “ignored the growing needs” of Fort Erie for 30 years, and wants to keep beds at Douglas Memorial Hospital for patients who no longer need hospital treatment but cannot yet go home, beds she called “the safety valve” for Niagara’s hospitals.

Turner, who works in economic development for Niagara Region and previously for the Town of Fort Erie, said residents who “pay provincial taxes” deserve provincial investment.

He vowed to press the province on why it approved the nearly $250-million West Lincoln Memorial Hospital in Grimsby while local patients must drive 20 minutes to Niagara Falls.

Turner said a family member of his recently crossed into Buffalo for care in the middle of the night because the trip was shorter than driving to Niagara Falls.

McGlashan supports 24-hour urgent care with diagnostic testing, but doubted Niagara Health would keep the Douglas Memorial building open.

“I’m not against Douglas Memorial staying open. I just don’t realistically think it’s going to happen,” said McGlashan. “I think we should be more focused on trying to keep an urgent care and do what it takes for that.”

McGlashan’s campaign has argued the Douglas Memorial building, which opened in 1931, costs too much to serve as Fort Erie’s long-term answer for urgent care.

Ridgeway-Crystal Beach High School fire

Firefighters from all four Fort Erie stations battled the August 10 fire at the vacant school on Ridge Road North through the night, which Niagara Regional Police ruled as arson.

One resident pressed Christensen during the question period to publish her calls and emails about the vandalized school before Monday’s vote.

Christensen said she kept no records, but called bylaw officers every time the plywood came off the school’s windows and followed up regularly with bylaw services manager Jim McCaffrey.

“I don’t think that meaningful action was taken by the developer at any time,” said Christensen.

Demolition crews began clearing the school in late July to make way for a planned subdivision of 113 homes.

McGlashan, who has run Our Corner Cafe in Ridgeway with his wife, Janice, for 13 years, said anyone who lived nearby or drove past “could see the grass getting overgrown, windows broken,” and said the town should have stepped in before the fire.

Turner, a volunteer firefighter at Ridgeway Station 4, said he spent almost 10 hours at the fire, and that firefighters had long talked among themselves about the empty school eventually burning.

“It wasn’t a matter of if, but when,” said Turner. “Unfortunately, it did happen.”

Taxes and infrastructure

Turner pitched himself as the candidate who would hold the line on taxes by stretching every budget dollar.

“Economics is really about maximizing our results with a limited budget,” said Turner. “I think it’s really important to not always ask for more resources, but to do as much as we can with what we have available.”

Turner said Fort Erie could save money without raising taxes by sharing staff, such as a town solicitor, with other municipalities and by buying road salt and equipment with them–however, he opposes amalgamation.

Christensen said she was ‘extremely proud’ the town won $4.5 million from Ontario’s Municipal Housing Infrastructure Program to replace an aging three-kilometre lakeshore watermain serving 84 properties on Colony Road and two nearby streets.

“One of the options was to revert to the old form of water access, cisterns, and I said, ‘Over my dead body,'” said Christensen. “So we didn’t do cisterns.”

Christensen said council must pressure the province for long-term infrastructure funding and lure industry to broaden the town’s tax base.

McGlashan said council needs to “do more with less,” and wants larger culverts installed at blockage points to stop flooding on Hazel Street.

“I’d like to take care of some of the small stuff for people,” said McGlashan.

In-person polls and online voting both close at 8 p.m. on Monday, October 26.

Stay Informed

Events, offers, contests, and breaking news, all delivered straight to your inbox.

Please enable JavaScript in your browser to complete this form.

Subscribe