Addressing Ontario’s ER Crisis
Column published in the October 9, 2025 edition of Your Barrhaven Independent — Community Voice.
By: Tyler Watt, MPP
As a nurse, I’ve seen the best and worst of Ontario’s healthcare system up close. Every new challenge reminds us of how fragile our system has become—and how the lack of access to primary care threatens to break it entirely. Here in Nepean, nearly 30,000 residents don’t have a family doctor or nurse practitioner. That number is staggering, impacting a far greater part of the community.
When people can’t see a family doctor, they often turn to emergency departments for issues that could have been treated—or prevented—in a clinic. A patient with early signs of diabetes, a child with recurring infections, or a senior needing a simple medication refill end up in the ER because there’s nowhere else to go. This is not sustainable. Emergency rooms aren’t meant to be the front door to the healthcare system, yet they’ve become exactly that for too many Ontarians. This results in overcrowded hospitals, hallway treatment, and exhausted healthcare workers trying to do more with less. Patients wait longer, staff burn out faster, and resources intended for emergencies are consumed by preventable visits.
An estimated 2.5 million Ontarians don’t have a primary care provider, and that number could rise to 4.4 million by 2026 if nothing changes. Family doctors are retiring, fewer graduates are entering family medicine, and the administrative burden on physicians has become overwhelming. Running a small practice is expensive, and internationally trained physicians continue to face red tape and licensing barriers that keep them on the sidelines while patients go without care.
The consequences are clear: when the foundation of primary care crumbles, the entire healthcare system begins to fail. Hospitals are stretched thin, nurses and physicians are leaving the profession, and patients lose faith in a system that was once among the best in the world. But it doesn’t have to be this way. The solutions are obvious—what’s missing is the political will to act.
We need to expand team-based primary care models that include nurse practitioners, physician assistants, social workers, and pharmacists working alongside doctors. These teams improve access, reduce burnout, and allow physicians to focus on complex care cases while others manage prevention and follow-up. We need to expedite the accreditation of internationally trained doctors and increase family medicine residency spots to meet demand. We need to integrate physician assistants more broadly, support the use of digital tools to cut paperwork, and invest in community health hubs that bring together primary care, mental health, and social services under one roof. These changes won’t happen overnight, but they will help rebuild the foundation of care and alleviate the pressure on hospitals.
I have seen the consequences of inaction every day—patients waiting too long for help, and healthcare workers pushed beyond their limits. To my colleagues across the aisle: fixing primary care is not partisan; it’s essential. And to the people of Nepean: know that I hear you. I’ll keep fighting for the accessible, compassionate, and continuous care that you deserve. Together, we can make Nepean an example of how Ontario can restore its faith in its healthcare system—by ensuring everyone has somewhere to turn before they reach the emergency room.
