Ontario Premier Doug Ford repeated a promise on Wednesday that the province will construct a brand new hospital in Durham Area, however stated his authorities will determine the placement.
“The parents at Durham, we have proven them an amazing quantity of affection. They will be getting a hospital and we’ll decide the location,” Ford instructed reporters at an unrelated information convention in Toronto.
Ford’s feedback come after an unbiased panel arrange by Lakeridge Well being, a Durham Area hospital community, chosen Whitby as the popular web site for a brand new hospital in January 2022. The land on which the popular web site sits is owned by the Ontario transportation ministry.
In February, Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy launched a marketing campaign to induce the province to make good on its promise to construct a hospital in Durham Area, east of Toronto.
On the time, she stated a brand new acute care hospital is required within the area as a result of the prevailing hospital system can not sustain with demand and the area is rising. She stated its inhabitants is predicted to be a couple of million in lower than 20 years.
Residents have skilled overcrowded emergency rooms and excessively lengthy wait instances, Roy has stated.
After the popular web site was introduced, Lakeridge Well being requested $3 million from the Ontario well being ministry as a capital planning grant for the power within the spring of 2022. Within the Ontario authorities’s newest funds on March 26, there was no funding for a brand new Durham hospital.
Ford first promised Durham Area a hospital in 2015, in keeping with Roy.
Ford alleges improper strategies used to collect assist
On the information convention, Ford criticized Roy, saying he disagrees together with her strategies to solicit neighborhood assist for a Whitby hospital and that he thinks they aren’t “correct.” He accused her of amassing names and e mail addresses, holding a lottery and awarding “treats,” corresponding to fitness center memberships and iPhone watches.
The premier additionally accused the mayor of bullying him — an accusation that city officers say is disrespectful.
Ford stated: “People, that’s incorrect. You may’t be doing that. Elected officers can’t be pulling these video games. We have dedicated to ensure we’ve got a hospital in Durham. We will undergo the method and I am not going to be bullied by that mayor on the market that is consistently going, going on the market and providing every little thing below the kitchen sink.”
Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy is pictured right here in February at a information convention, the place she referred to as on the Ontario authorities to construct a hospital in Whitby. (CBC)
In a information launch on Wednesday, Roy and Whitby chief administrative officer Matt Gaskell stated: “Many municipalities use prizing to encourage engagement in vital issues that impression them and their neighborhood.”
The city of Whitby stated it supplied 4 prizes to interact residents in the marketing campaign: a 12-month City of Whitby well being membership household membership; one in every of two exercise prize packs, together with a backpack, towel and two exercise passes; and an Apple Watch SE (GPS) 44mm Midnight Sport Band, paid for by the city.
Advocating for hospital ‘doing my job,’ mayor says
Roy stated within the launch: “The premier is misdirecting the general public with inaccurate allegations which can be frankly disrespectful to the 1000’s of people that took the time to assist our marketing campaign and share private tales. Standing up for the residents of Whitby shouldn’t be being a bully. It is doing my job.
“The province continues to say {that a} hospital for Durham is coming. What I am asking is, when? I’ll proceed to ask till we get a solution.”
Roy stated she is worried about Ford saying the province will choose the location and that is why Whitby is continuous to advocate.
Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy held a information convention on Wednesday to announce subsequent steps in her marketing campaign for a brand new hospital on the town. (CBC)
Gaskell agreed, saying the premier’s feedback are “completely inaccurate and admittedly disrespectful” of the letters and private tales shared by almost 4,000 residents about why a brand new hospital issues to them.
“Residents signed as much as present their assist for a brand new Durham hospital, not for an opportunity to win one in every of 4 prizes,” he stated.
“The provide of prizing to assist drive participation is customary apply utilized by many municipalities.”
Gaskell stated emails are collected as a method of validating submissions to stop spam and the mayor and council shouldn’t have entry to emails supplied.
Earlier on Wednesday, Roy introduced subsequent steps within the marketing campaign. The city will paper municipal amenities with orange hearts, with every coronary heart representing a resident who has supported the marketing campaign.
“We’re not giving up,” Roy stated.
In keeping with Lakeridge Well being, the popular web site for the brand new hospital is in north Whitby, south of Freeway 407, west of Freeway 412, east of Lake Ridge Highway and north of Freeway 7/Winchester Highway.
On its web site, the community says it runs 5 hospitals, 4 emergency departments and three important care models, in addition to neighborhood areas, a long-term care residence and a surgical centre.
