Wayne Gates
Special to The Lake Report

It has now been 11 weeks since the Ontario Legislature has sat at Queen’s Park.

Doug Ford chose to start the summer break early — on June 6 — and he isn’t going to have us return until Oct. 21, nearly two months from now.

That means for 19 weeks — more than a third of the year — MPPs will not have sat at Queen’s Park. 

I think this is utterly disgraceful. 

Don’t get me wrong, while I am not at Queen’s Park, my work as your MPP continues. I am in my constituency offices every day, meeting with residents and working with my staff to solve problems and address concerns. 

I am also out in the community, supporting local events and celebrating the opening of new businesses right here in our community.

Just recently, I have been to such great local events as the annual Peach Festival on Queen Street and the St. Vincent de Paul Parishioners Peace Festival, the Past is Present Heritage Festival at the Niagara-on-the-Lake Museum and the St. Davids Lions Carnival. 

But as we enjoy the company of neighbours at these community events and we celebrate all communities from St. Davids to Virgil to Old Town, we know that both here in Niagara and as a province, we face a series of serious challenges.

And as provincial legislators, that means we must be up at Queen’s Park in the legislature, debating these issues, introducing bills and amendments, questioning the government where appropriate, and highlighting the concerns of residents. 

Take two major issues we face as a community: housing and health care. 

We have made some progress on the health care file, as I was able to work collaboratively with Lord Mayor Gary Zalepa and town council to get a nurse practitioner back practising in town earlier this year. But we know we have a lot more work to do, particularly when it comes to primary care. 

We know that that percentage of physicians practising family medicine has dropped from 77 per cent in 2008 to 65 per cent in 2022, and that 2.3 million Ontarians don’t have a family doctor.

About 36 per cent of NOTL’s population in 2021 was 65 years and over — almost double the provincial average — and we know seniors have more complex health care challenges. And, as of earlier this year, close to 8,000 residents in Niagara-on-the-Lake are not registered to receive services through the Niagara North Family Health Team. 

We must do more as a province to recruit and retain physicians to communities such as Niagara-on-the-Lake, and we must fund our publicly delivered health care system appropriately to address these growing challenges. And, to speak frankly, the solutions to these problems can only be dealt with at Queen’s Park. 

Then there are issues regarding housing, particularly for seniors in our community. We know there is a growing demand for seniors housing in NOTL that allows seniors to age in place.

Seniors want to stay in the community they love in their golden years and that means the province must invest more retirement, long-term care and assisted living facilities that can provide appropriate housing for seniors. 

The province must also work proactively with municipal governments like NOTL’s to invest in infrastructure that can support this type of housing. 

Additionally, passing my motion to create a caregiver support benefit — a direct financial benefit for unpaid — will take some of the burden off our long-term care and retirement home system by allowing more seniors to age in place with supports from their families and loved ones.

A caregiving benefit of just $400 could save the province close to half a billion dollars.

We must be back at Queen’s Park as soon as possible to address these problems and work proactively and collaboratively to find solutions.

I’m calling on the Premier to do the right thing and have us back at the Legislature immediately to get back to work for the people of Ontario.

Wayne Gates is the NDP member for Niagara Falls riding, which includes NOTL and Fort Erie.