Referendum planned on private health care

Niagara Health Coalition opens polling stations across the region for citizen-led referendum

More than 20 polling stations will be open across Niagara this month for residents to take part in a vote as part of a citizen-led referendum focused on Bill 60 and the province’s plans to increase medical procedures in private clinics, as well as plans for Niagara hospitals.

There are about 40 groups under the Ontario Health Coalition umbrella gathering data to be taken to Queen’s Park — one of them being the Niagara coalition, which launched its referendum vote this week and held an event Thursday at Welland hospital.

About 500 stations are expected to be made available across the province.

There are two questions on the ballot for Niagara residents.

One is a question posed across the province by each participating coalition, which asks people if they want to see public hospital services privatized to for-profit hospitals and clinics.

The second question relates specifically to Niagara, asking if people want all existing sites in the region to be maintained, protected and improved without further cuts and closures.

With plans for a hospital to be built in Niagara Falls, this has people from places such as Fort Erie and Port Colborne wondering what the impact will be on their communities, as there are plans for their sites to close.

“People tend to forget there are services being offered in those hospitals that the local people are using,” said Sue Hotte, Niagara Health Coalition president.

Niagara Health recently provided a statement in response to concerns, saying it is “charting a path forward to transform how we deliver services over the next decade, while increasing our capacity and attracting more health-care workers to our community.”

“Our Transforming Care plan will build a leading, modern and responsive health system across three cornerstone hospitals in Niagara Falls, St. Catharines and Welland, and support our work with municipalities on addressing health-care gaps in south Niagara,” the statement said.

“This plan allows us to provide the right care at the right time, for every person in the Niagara region, and at its core is focused on providing acute and emergency services to all residents of Niagara. We look forward to hearing directly from the community ourselves in the coming months to discuss and gather feedback on the plan.”

The plans are also expected to help Niagara Health address staff shortages.

“Expanding and modernizing infrastructure, like the new Niagara South hospital, is a critical part of attracting talent, increasing capacity and transforming service delivery,” the statement said.

Hannah Jensen, press secretary for Health Minister Sylvia Jones, said the new south Niagara hospital will have 159 more beds than the combined total at the current Port Colborne, Fort Erie and Niagara Falls facilities, while Welland hospital will “offer a new model of 24/7 emergency services,” as well as diagnostic services.

Hotte said the coalition believes it will be difficult for people to travel to Niagara Falls from other smaller communities, but also that other sites, such as the new Niagara Falls hospital, may not be able to handle an influx of people who normally would have gone elsewhere for care.

Hotte said a solution to get away from the idea of privatized health care would be the provision of adequate funds to address shortages in staffing at hospitals.

“All governments, for the last 30 years, have not funded health systems appropriately,” she said.

The Ontario Health Coalition plans to deliver its referendum results to the province early next month.

A list of polling stations will be posted at publichospitalvote.ca.