The Minister of Health must intervene to ensure fairness in the provision of ambulance services in Wellington County, says to Wellington-Halton Hills MPP Ted Arnott.
Two months ago, Guelph unilaterally disbanded a joint county and city land ambulance committee. The county was left without a voice on how ambulance services will be managed within its boundaries.
“This has left county taxpayers unrepresented when it comes to the governance of this important local service,” said Arnott in the legislature on April 1. “The ambulance can literally mean the difference between life and death.”
Minister of Health, Deb Matthews, he said, has it within her power to broker a solution to the ambulance impasse between the county and city.
“If we are successful, we could use the resultant goodwill to restart discussions on the other outstanding issues, and hopefully make progress on those as well,” he said.
In response to ambulance issues affecting Erin, Arnott wrote several letters this year, including an open letter to the minister. He also spoke about it in the Ontario Legislature, including conversations with the minister in February.
“In this case, I firmly believe a solution is possible,” he concluded.