News from the Constituency Office of Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch
Posted November 17th, 2025 on Niagara At Large
Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch
QUEEN’S PARK, Ontario — (This November 17th, 2025) Niagara Centre MPP Jeff Burch tabled thousands more petitions calling on the Ontario Government to restore urgent care services in Port Colborne and Fort Erie.
“It’s now been 866 days since Port Colborne and Fort Erie lost their after-hours services, and residents are still waiting for basic answers from this government, including when these essential services will be restored.
Additionally, the community is rapidly growing. This petition rightfully calls for access to diagnostic services, including laboratory testing and medical imaging, as well as the retention of complex care beds,” Burch said.
Port Colborne Health Coalition Co-Chair Barbara Butters said the petitions reflect the determination of the community to restore services.
“The petitions are the voices of my community. We have been busy here in Port Colborne; instead of sitting back and complaining, we have acted,” Butters stated. “We have solid recommendations that would restore 24-hour urgent care services, along with necessary lab and imaging diagnostics, as well as retaining the complex care beds.”
A recent citizens’ demonstration in front of what little remains of a fully functioning hospital in the Niagara municipality of Port Colborne
“Investing in and expanding opportunities in our hospital will relieve the other centres in Niagara,” Butters added.
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Premier Ford, I invite you to work with our community leaders and declare a moratorium on closures until our recommendations can be examined and implemented. Leaving us with nothing is unacceptable. It’s not improving our health system here, it’s abandoning us along the Lake Erie shores. It’s denying our communities vital services. Port Colborne matters. Fort Erie matters. We matter,” Butters stated.
To watch Niagara Centre NDP MPP Jeff Burch table the petitions in the provincial legislature, click on – VIDEO<https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17BFXoWtXf/?mibextid=wwXIfr>
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