Ward 2 deserves high-quality health care close to home

Posted on September 5, 2026

為您發聲 Advocacy
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Haohui Yu, in a dark suit, standing in a clinic lounge listening to three young residents

I attended the opening of a new medical facility in Cachet this morning. The Mayor and Regional Councillor Alan Ho were there, along with many professionals dedicated to building health services in our region. My goal was simple: to understand the current medical options in Ward 2 and explore how a City Councillor can tangibly help improve the quality and availability of health services.

Guests at the opening gathered for a group photograph outside the entrance of the new medical facility

A guest speaking to the crowd outside the entrance, with staff and a floral arrangement alongside

We often treat “seeing a doctor” as a simple binary, either you have access or you don’t. But that’s not the reality. A service you cannot practically reach is, for all intents and purposes, a service you do not have.

For a senior who no longer drives, a clinic on the other side of the city isn’t just a clinic; it’s a logistical challenge that requires someone else’s time and coordination. For a parent with a newborn, the circumstances differ, but the outcome is often the same: appointments get postponed, again and again. For a family where the only fluent English speaker works full-time, a doctor’s visit is more than a trip. It is a translation job that has to be scheduled around someone else’s work shift.

My team and I have worked with over 6,000 Markham residents on their health. Those who fell out of care rarely did so because they didn’t care; they fell out because the barriers kept piling up, the drive became longer, booking became harder, and the same situation had to be explained over and over again.

Haohui Yu in conversation with two attendees in a corridor of the facility

Getting care is a dozen small hurdles stacked on top of each other. If we can remove just two or three, we can keep people in the system.

What can a City Councillor actually do?

A City Councillor can exert influence in specific areas:

Land use and zoning. The City decides where medical uses are permitted and under what conditions. If current regulations make it difficult to open a clinic where people actually live, that is something the Council can reform.
Development approvals. When new mixed-use developments are proposed, the Council has a say in what goes on the ground floor. Health space should be part of that conversation, rather than an afterthought.
Removing process friction. Permits, inspections, and site plan approvals. Whether a clinic takes nine months to open or eighteen largely depends on the City’s administrative efficiency.
Effective advocacy. Funding and physician supply rest with the Provincial government and York Region. A Councillor’s job is to bring evidence-based, specific needs of Ward 2 to the decision-makers’ desks, repeatedly.

I promise that if elected, I will work tirelessly to advocate for optimising the location and approval efficiency of health facilities at the City level.

Haohui Yu with two other guests at the opening reception

How far do you have to travel to see a doctor? Have you ever skipped an appointment because of the distance? Please leave a comment below, I want to hear your stories so I can fight for the medical resources you deserve.