Moratorium requested on removing primary care from Fort Erie
February 15, 2025 at 5:24 AM
After being ghosted multiple times in recent months, Fort Erie councillors are looking for a response and renewing their request to have primary care services maintained in Fort Erie.
Councillors passed a motion from Councillor George McDermott during a February 11 workshop meeting that asks for responses from correspondence the municipality sent out in recent months regarding health care matters in Fort Erie.
In a followup interview, McDermott said the motion is a chance to get health care front and centre during the provincial election campaign.
“We’re just trying to get answers to questions about where the Province lies with this,” he said.
The Town sent a letter to Premier Doug Ford’s office and the Minister of Health Sylvia Jones’ office last August. They also presented to the ministry’s parliamentary assistant Anthony Leardi at the Rural Ontario Municipalities Association conference, passed a health care related resolution on October 21, and presented to the Niagara Health board last month.
They all revolved around the desire to keep primary care services–namely the urgent care centre at Douglas Memorial Hospital–open until all Fort Erie residents are attached to a primary care physician.
Additionally, the motion asks the Province to “put a moratorium on the closure of urgent care centres and the implicit removal of primary care health services from the Town of Fort Erie and all small and rural communities in Ontario.”
According to the motion the moratorium would remain until Dr. Jane Philpott’s mandate is fulfilled. The Province recently tasked Philpott with finding ways to ensure all Ontarians are attached to a primary care physician.
“We’re just asking that they have some sober, second thought here,” McDermott said.
Finally, the resolution will be forwarded to all Niagara MPPs and those seeking election in the upcoming provincial election.
McDermott encouraged all residents to ask their local candidates about what plans they and their parties have to address health care issues in Ontario.
“I’d hate like heck to have any of them not answer the question,” he said.
According to the motion, more than 8,000 of the town’s 36,000 residents are currently unattached to a primary care physician.
Niagara Health is planning to close the urgent care centre in Fort Erie once the new South Niagara site is open as part of an overall plan to provide the best region wide care it can in the face of severe financial and staffing constraints.
Normally a motion like this would include a notice of motion, with the actual motion debated and voted on at a following council meeting. However councillors voted to waive the procedural rules to allow them to discuss and vote right away.
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About The Author
Luke Edwards
Luke Edwards is a longtime Niagara community journalist who has covered a variety of beats, including business, agriculture, the wine industry and politics. When not writing, there's a good chance he can be found at a baseball diamond or curling rink.
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