Opinion: Ontario is sliding toward a two-tiered, U.S.-style healthcare system

July 23, 2025

Wayne Gates Special to Niagara Now/The Lake Report

Niagara Health's St. Catharines site. "Far too many people are forced into crowded emergency rooms or left to suffer in silence," writes Wayne Gates, due to red tape and "endless barriers" for internationally trained physicians to being able to practice in Canada. KEVIN MACLEAN

Ontario’s healthcare system is in crisis.

In our community in Niagara-on-the-Lake — and throughout smaller, rural communities — the promise of universal, accessible medical care is collapsing under the deeply flawed priorities of Premier Doug Ford’s government.

Year after year, the Conservative government has underinvested in primary care, abandoned rural communities and advanced private clinics at the expense of our public health system. This trend must stop.

Let’s begin with primary care. More than two and a half million Ontarians remain without a family doctor.

I have worked strongly with the lord mayor and town council to get a nurse practitioner back in Niagara-on-the-Lake, which was a big win for the community.

We have also recently worked together across all levels of government to welcome much-needed investment, attaching thousands of people to community health centres.

But the reality is, these are patchwork solutions to a systemic and growing problem.

Across Ontario, family doctors are overwhelmed by red tape, and internationally trained physicians face endless barriers to being able to practice in our communities.

Meanwhile, this government shrugs and offers no meaningful reform.

Read more at Niagara Now