Niagara Falls MP Tony Baldinelli is calling the closure of Fort Erie's Urgent Care Centre unacceptable.
The Conservative politician says closing the centre in the fourth largest community in Niagara will do nothing to support the more than 30,000 people who are vulnerable and need access to timely and available critical medical services.
The Fort Erie centre closes tonight at 11 o'clock as hospital staff are redeployed to other emergency departments facing staffing shortages due to illness and isolation rules.
Baldinelli says its time the federal government properly supported the healthcare system.
"Canada's Premiers have been requesting increased health transfers from the federal government even before the pandemic began. Despite the hundreds of billions spent by the Trudeau government in less than two years, inadequate financial resources have been provided to the provinces to increase surge capacity, which would have helped alleviate the pressures we are seeing today, as COVID cases continue to climb, and hospitalizations increase."
We are now almost exactly two years into this pandemic. Where is the federal leadership, and more importantly, where is the federal plan to assist our provinces and improving our universal healthcare system? Existing capacity issues and the ability to respond to surge issues, such as COVID, have been razor thin for many years. Why aren't we growing our capacity and our resilience, two years into this pandemic? One reason for sure, is that the federal government is not funding the provinces enough in this critical area."
Baldinelli will join CKTB's Tom McConnell at 5:10 p.m. with more details.