(Please click on www.niagaraatlarge for Niagara At Large and more news and commentary on this and other matters of interest and concern to our binational region.)
The following April 26 report, from Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey,
Port Colborne Mayor Vance Badawey, speaking earlier this spring on hospital cuts, at a town hall meeting in neighbouring Welland, Ontario. Photo by Doug Draper
calls on Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty and his government to release a report by the province’s ombudsman, Andre Marin, on the state of the Local Health Integration Network (LHIN) that is supposed to be representing Niagara and surrounding regions, around hospital services in the region.
Port Colborne’s council, along with those of Fort Erie and Niagara Falls, called on the Ombudsman’s office to do an investigation of the LHIN’s possible role in cuts to hospital services in Niagara last year. But since then, the McGuinty government has decided to possibly not renew Marin’s term as the province’s head ombudsman – a position he has reportedly put on the map by being one of the more aggressive advocates in Ontario for concerns people have over their public services.
“If (Marin’s) report is in fact complete, Premier Dalton McGuinty must ask Mr. Marin to release it,” said Badawey in his address to his city council this April 26.
Niagara At Large is posting the mayor’s full address on this issue, for the record.
Council Meeting
April 26, 2010
Correspondence has gone out to Premier McGuinty and Minister Deb Matthews and today I have had contact with the minister’s office regarding the following:
o An invitation to come to our community to see and hear, first hand, what we are putting in place…our work in progress.
Whether it is here or at Queen’s Park, it is extremely important that the minister be brought up to date respecting where we are at with Community Based Primary Health Care and Emergency Care.
o The need to move forward with the UCC renovations.
Two years ago, we began a collaboration with all local health care enablers that are necessary in order to transcend change as a positive outcome. To date, we feel we have been very successful, in particular as it relates to Community Based Primary Health Care. However, at this point in the evaluation process, we feel it can be far more successful if we take a measured approach by introducing a valuable Allied Health Profession into a better model of Emergency Care in small communities such as Port Colborne.
To date, we have an excellent, positive working relationship with our partners, most importantly, local physicians that practice medicine here in Port Colborne on a daily basis. This collaborative approach has brought us to this point of requesting a meeting with the minister, to discuss our progress and move forward with our recommendations.
Citizens of the HNHB LHIN Deserve to know contents of Ombudsman Report:
As of Friday, April 23, Andre Marin had yet to release his investigation into the HNHB LHIN.
Pat Mandy, CEO of the LHIN told the City of Port Colborne on Friday April 23, 2010 that it is up to Mr. Marin’s office as to when that report is released.
The same response was given by the Ombudsman Communications Director, Linda Williamson on Friday April 23, 2010.
This is not acceptable!!
If the report is in fact complete, Premier Dalton McGuinty must ask Mr. Marin to release his findings.
I am currently pursuing the premier’s attention to this.
Here in the City of Port Colborne, we are involved in a process. This process involves working in partnership with our local docs, the ministry, LHIN, NHS and the public, all contributing to re-building a health care system that we deserve.
We have completed with due diligence what we were asked to do by the LHIN. We have worked tirelessly to form a collaborative network to improve health care in South Niagara. We now demand that the Office of the Ombudsman release their findings so that we may move forward with tangible solutions to access equitable health care here in our area. We have a lot of questions, but we also have many answers that deserve to be heard.
Simply put, it is a loose end that must be addressed.
Niagara At Large 
First, the Good News.
As of March 24, 2010, Mr. Marin’s appointment as Ombudsman of Ontario was extended another six months.
The Bad News:
He has not yet made a determination as to the manner or date of the release of his findings regarding the investigation of the HNHB LHIN.
Who is holding up the release, Mr. Marin or Mr. McGuinty?
We are like the proverbial mushroom – they keep us in the dark and feed us crap.
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It is their sworn duty to serve the PEOPLE NOT their egos or their salaries…… they OWE Us the results of the Ombudsman and Mr. Mc can only HIDE for so long from the answers the people pay dearly for from their taxes and from the lack of services that he STRIPPED them of!!
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