By Emily Stonehouse
The Minden Emergency Room closure has once again ruffled feathers at a provincial level.
As the official opposition, the NDP caucus put forward a motion asking the Conservative government to fund a number of hospital projects, including the re-opening of the Minden ER when they met on May 12.
“Today, we are giving the Premier the opportunity to say yes to a solution that would connect communities to care, create good union jobs, and strengthen the future of our province,” said NDP leader Marit Stiles. “At a time when our province is facing unprecedented economic uncertainty, no community should be left with closed emergency rooms, urgent cares, and delayed hospital projects.”
“We’ve seen a lot of hospital closures,” echoed NDP Robin Lennox, who is an MPP for Hamilton Centre, and a former resident of Minden Hills. “This seems like low hanging fruit to increase funding for hospital infrastructure.”
Lennox grew up in Minden – attending both Archie Stouffer Elementary School and Haliburton Highlands Secondary School. She moved to Hamilton to pursue her dream of becoming a doctor, and has called it home ever since. Now a practicing family physician, Lennox took to the political stage when she saw first-hand the impacts Conservative decisions have made on the medical system across Ontario. She is a newly elected Member of Provincial Parliament, but holds Minden near and dear while her party puts forward motions for debate.
“There are opportunities to increase that funding, and re-open some of the doors that have been closed,” said Lennox. It wasn’t just Minden that the NDP put on the table; in total, 18 other health facilities across the province were identified as needing support due to budget cuts, closures, expansions, and renovations.
“In the opinion of the House, the Government must designate critical hospital infrastructure as nation-building projects and fund them in the 2025 Budget,” said the NDP motion at Queen’s Park.
While the Liberals followed suit and backed up the NDP to prioritize funding to healthcare, the Conservatives shut it down. It was noted that the MPP for Haliburton – Kawartha Lakes, Conservative Laurie Scott, was not present at the time of the vote, but her fellow Conservative caucus members who were present all voted against the motion. “We thought this would be a good opportunity for unanimous support,” said Lennox. “But the Conservatives claimed that the investments had already been made in healthcare. But their words and votes are not quite adding up.”
Despite the motion not being approved, Lennox is adamant about keeping the topic on the table. “We had a chance to debate it, and talked about our reasons for support,” she said. “It would make our province stronger when our people are healthier, and we know that when we invest in the healthcare system, those investments pay for themselves.”
