“It’s time to restore full services to both Fort Erie and Port Colborne urgent care centres, make real investments to address the staffing shortages, and ensure people in Niagara – and across the province – have access to timely, reliable care.”
News from Ontario’s NDP Official Opposition Party
Posted August 1st, 2025 on Niagara At Large
Ontario NDP Leader Marit Stiles
NIAGARA FALLS – Marit Stiles, Leader of the Official Opposition NDP brought her All in for Ontario tour to the Niagara region (this July 30th), focusing on the urgent need to restore local urgent care services and invest in a stronger public health care system.
Stiles was joined by local NDP MPPs Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls), Jennie Stevens (St. Catharines), and Jeff Burch (Niagara Centre).
“Urgent care centres in Fort Erie and Port Colborne are being forced to reduce hours, leaving families without access to care,” said Stiles.
“This did not happen overnight. It is a familiar story unfolding in communities across the province: closed emergency rooms, shuttered urgent care centres, a growing staffing shortage, and millions left without access to primary care. All of this is the result of years of underfunding and a dangerous push toward privatization.”
“It’s time to restore full services to both Fort Erie and Port Colborne urgent care centres, make real investments to address the staffing shortages, and ensure people in Niagara – and across the province – have access to timely, reliable care.”
“Let me be clear: Fort Erie, and all of Niagara, deserve nothing less than 24/7, year-round emergency and urgent care services in their communities,” said Gates. “Here in Fort Erie, we have an urgent care centre which has faced years of service reductions, making access harder for the community. Without urgent action, this crisis will only get worse.”
“This is what happens when a government refuses to invest in public health care,” said Stevens. “Doug Ford continues to ignore the physician shortage, neglect frontline health care workers, and let them burn out without support. The result is a public health care system in crisis, and it’s communities like ours that pay the price.”
“Families are arriving at hospitals and urgent care centres only to face hours-long wait times, overcrowded emergency rooms, or worse — locked doors,” said Burch. “People in Niagara are being forced to navigate a system that is underfunded, understaffed, and overburdened. That is unacceptable. We need action now.”
NIAGARA AT LARGE Encourages You To Join The Conversation By Sharing Your Views O This Post In The Space Following The Bernie Sanders Quote Below.
“A Politician Thinks Of The Next Election. A Leader Thinks Of The Next Generation.” – Bernie Sanders
Niagara At Large 