OTTAWA — An southern Interior B.C. mayor is asking Ottawa to help keep area emergency rooms open while firefighters and thousands of evacuees contend with nearby wildfires.
Mike Goetz, mayor of Merritt, B.C., sent a formal request for help to federal Health Minister Marjorie Michel this week, with the city’s local emergency room facing its 10th scheduled temporary shutdown of the year this weekend.
Goetz is asking Michel to launch an immediate investigation into the rolling closures and potentially take over the management of local hospitals in the southern Interior.
His municipality is currently sheltering some 300 wildfire evacuees and 150 firefighters. A wildfire outbreak last weekend forced roughly 13,000 residents to flee the nearby town of Summerland.
Goetz told local media that his community’s emergency room was an indispensable source of 24-hour medical care for first responders putting their lives on the line.
“These firefighters are working shift, they’re out there on the fire… and somebody gets hurt, well you know, now they’re making a one-hour trip to Kamloops or Kelowna,” said Goetz.
Goetz didn’t respond to an interview request from National Post.
Merritt, a community of 7,000 permanent residents, is one of several small towns in the southern Interior that have been hit by intermittent emergency room closures, due primarily to a lack of available doctors and nurses.
According to data previously cited by Mayor Goetz, there were 137 emergency room closures across B.C.’s Interior in 2025, averaging one closure every 2.6 days.
Goetz said he’d lost confidence in the B.C. government’s ability to handle the situation, and criticized provincial Health Minister Josie Osborne for what he called a lack of communication about the situation.
“There has to be some sort of a higher power look at this because whatever they’re trying to do right now isn’t working,” said Goetz.
Goetz has been a staunch critic of the rolling emergency room closures, sending B.C. Premier David Eby a $103,831.87 invoice for the service interruptions last month.
Osborne’s office did not reply to a request for comment from National Post by deadline.
Spokesperson Emilie Gauduchon-Campbell said Michel received Goetz’s letter on Tuesday and is monitoring the situation closely.
Gauduchon-Campbell didn’t comment on the substance of the letter but said that Michel is in regular contact with Osbourne.
“Minister Michel has regular conversations with her provincial and territorial counterparts, including Minister Osborne in BC, and remains committed to working closely with the Province to support British Columbians,” wrote Gauduchon-Campbell in an email.
MLA Anna Kindy, health critic for the Opposition B.C. Conservatives, expressed support for Goetz in a statement.
“It’s deeply unfortunate that the situation has gotten so critical that Merritt’s mayor, Mike Goetz, has had to make an extraordinary call for Ottawa to assert control over provincial jurisdiction,” said Kindy.
“Merritt is not only sheltering wildfire evacuees but firefighters who are putting their lives at risk. Major burns and inhalation injuries need immediate airway (respiratory) management as well as cardiovascular resuscitation. Travelling a further hour due to an ER closure could be fatal.”
National Post
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