A Statement from Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates whose riding represents Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie, Ontario
Posted October 6th, 2026 on Niagara At Large
Niagara Falls NDP MPP Wayne Gates, representing Niagara Falls, Niagara-on-the-Lake and Fort Erie
NIAGARA FALLS – NDP MPP Wayne Gates (Niagara Falls) released a statement following news reports highlighting Ontario hospitals’ debt is putting their operation at risk – Niagara’s hospitals paid $549,000 (https://www.niagarahealth.on.ca/files/NiagaraHealthSystemMarch312026AuditedFSFinalExecutedcopy11.pdf) in interest on short-term borrowing to private banks in 2025-26.
The Ontario Hospital Association says provincial funding has not matched rising costs from inflation, creating a structural deficit of approximately $1 billion across all hospitals in Ontario.
“We have a local aging population in Niagara that is coming to rely on accessible and timely hospital services, and nurses and frontline healthcare staff are working incredibly hard every day to provide it”.
“Instead of addressing the hallway health care crisis over the last eight years, the Ford government is watching public dollars being spent on interest payments to private banks, when those millions of Ontario tax dollars should be available to going back to lowering ER wait times and fixing our family doctor crisis.”
“This is about a province putting patients and health care workers first. We need to bring in reinforcements to end burn out, improve patient care, and deliver the health care Ontarians deserve.
Our hospitals should be focused on one thing:
- treating families and seniors; instead, this government is forcing them into debt with private loans just so hospitals can keep the lights on.
” Ontario’s Financial Accountability Officer reports that under the provincial government’s current health spending plan, there is funding for 2,407 fewer hospital beds and 2,522 fewer nurses in 2028-29 than this year.
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