Hundreds of local protestors headed to Queen’s Park tomorrow as Minden’s ER closure plan looms

Hundreds of Kawartha Lakes and Haliburton residents are expected at Queen’s Park tomorrow for a rally protesting the scheduled closing of the Minden emergency department on June 1.

Dozens of private cars and at least one chartered bus will be leaving the area early tomorrow so that they can arrive at the legislature in time to fill the visitors’ gallery and be present for Question Period. It is expected that sympathetic opposition politicians from all three non-government parties will be asking questions to the ruling Conservatives about this deeply unpopular hospital closing.

Patrick Porzuczek, one of the rally’s organizers, posted on Save Minden Ontario ER that the goal of the convoy is to remind the premier that the closing of the emergency department at Minden is wildly unpopular with the residents of Haliburton County and Kawartha Lakes.

The itinerary of the protestors includes being present for Question Period, holding a press conference at noon and then reading their petitions publicly starting at 1 p.m.

Organizers say that dozens of petitions will be presented tomorrow with as many as 16,000 signatures collected over the last two weeks in communities right across Haliburton, Kinmount, Bobcaygeon and Fenelon Falls.

Protestors on Save Minden Ontario ER say that Minden “is the little village that could” and marvel how this issue is not only galvanizing permanent residents in both Haliburton and Kawartha Lakes but also thousands of seasonal residents from as far away as St. Catharines and Ottawa.

Deborah Brohm addressed the size and significance of the petitions to be presented in one of her posts on Save Minden Ontario ER:

“That is potentially 16,000 (people) looking for their MPP (Laurie Scott) to step up and do something as well. That is worthy of attention, Laurie Scott.”

Others on the same site, which has grown to over 4,500 members in less than a month, write why this scheduled closing has motivated people from across the socio-economic and political spectrum, many of whom have never signed a petition or put a sign on their lawn before.

“It is a long way from Kinmount,” writes Daphne Tomaszewski, “to Lindsay or Haliburton. Those are times that may make a difference in saving someone’s life. Doug Ford’s priorities are all wrong.”

Shawn Salo was even more forthright on why the Minden emergency department needs to stay open when he wrote, “People will die over this and those lives are on the ones who voted to close it.”

Protestors are hoping that their trip to Toronto will at least slow, if not outright prevent, the closing of the Minden emergency ward. Organizers also believe that other communities like Bancroft and Alliston whose small hospitals may be on the chopping block next will learn that political activism like what has taken root in Minden may get positive results for those who are willing to organize to protect healthcare in their local communities.