Ontario Liberals Portray Themselves As ‘Builders’ And ‘Renewers’ Of Our Hospitals

By Doug Draper

Guess which party in Ontario is doing a great job of building and renewing hospitals in communities across the province?

Niagara's new 'regional hospital' under construction in the outskirts of west St. Catharines.

Why it’s the governing Liberals, of course.  At least that’s according to a media release circulated this September 22 by the Liberal Party’s central campaign office emphasizing that along with expanding services at existing hospital sites, the Liberals have been funding the building of 18 new hospitals across the province.

Among those new hospitals is the one the Niagara Health System, with the complicity of the province’s Liberal government, has been allowed to build in the west end of St. Catharines rather than in a more central location where it would be more accessible to all residents across our region.

With the daily newspapers in this region performing as willing accomplices, the Liberals sat back and allowed the NHS to move forward with its plans to build this major hospital complex there despite the fact that this location violates the Liberals’ own ‘Places To Grow’ planning policies to locate major public institutions like this in “urban centres” and despite the fact that it will cost the region’s property taxpayers millions of dollars to improve the roads and other infrastructure for a major facility that is almost out in the country.
Liberal Premier Dalton McGuinty and his successive group of health ministers, George Smitherman, Dave Caplan and Deb Matthews, never demonstrated a lick of interest in the concerns expressed by many Niagara doctors and by thousands of Niagara residents that this hospital complex, expected to cost more than $1.5 billion, was about to be built at a location that is remote for more than half of Niagara’s population. They allowed the NHS to carry through with the groundbreaking at this west St. Catharines site, knowing full well that most of the acute care hospital services in the region would be moved from other Niagara hospitals to this site.

There is the back story behind the building of one of the 18 new hospitals the Liberals are bragging about.

As for renewing or expanding existing hospitals, the residents of Port Colborne and Fort Erie might be wondering where that is occurring given the closing of acute care services, including the emergency rooms, at the hospitals in their communities..

Niagara At Large is posting the Liberal media release below for your information, and below that we encourage you to share your comments on this post. Please remember that we only post comments by individuals who share there real first and last names.

ONTARIO LIBERAL PLAN BUILDING WORLD-CLASS HOSPITALS FOR FAMILIES
Ontario Liberals Only Party Committed To Mount Sinai Expansion

 TORONTO — “Only the Ontario Liberals have a plan to build and renew hospitals across Ontario, including a major surgery, critical care and emergency room expansion at Mount Sinai Hospital,” said Premier Dalton McGuinty.

“For the past eight years we’ve moved forward, together with Mount Sinai Hospital — to provide better care to the thousands of Ontario families it serves every year,” McGuinty said. “This new expansion will mean faster and easier access to high-quality health care for families when they need it most.”

The Premier made his remarks following a tour of Mount Sinai’s maternity wing. Ontario Liberals’ unwavering commitment to improving our hospitals is already bringing a new Centre of Excellence for Women’s and Infants’ Health to Mount Sinai.

Now, Ontario Liberals are committed to another major capital project at the hospital that will help meet growing demand. Highlights include:

·    ·         Renovation and expansion of the emergency department, including dedicated space for mental health services
·    ·         A new surgical suite with 19 operating rooms
·    ·         Redevelopment of ambulatory care
·    ·         Relocation of adult critical care unit to allow better patient flow

Ontario Liberals are building 18 new hospitals and are dedicated to bringing new hospitals and redevelopments to communities across Ontario. Most recently, Ontario Liberals have pledged to move forward with major projects for Cambridge Memorial Hospital, Milton District Hospital and Sudbury Regional Hospital — to name a few.

The Harris-Hudak PCs closed 28 hospitals and now they will put new hospitals and redevelopments throughout the province at risk. The $14 billion in unfunded giveaways and tax cuts in the Hudak PCs platform would mean deep cuts to health care.

The last NDP government closed 8,000 hospital beds and cut medical school spaces, which helped create a province-wide doctor shortage. Now the Horwath NDP platform doesn’t address the big challenges we’re facing in health care.

“Our plan is working, we’re delivering the very best health care to Ontario families by expanding hospitals like Mount Sinai,” McGuinty said. “We’ll continue to move forward, together.”