By Adam Martin-Robbins
July 21, 2011
It’s official.
Vaughan is getting a hospital. But exactly when still remains a bit of a question mark.
Health Minister Deb Matthews this morning announced at city hall that the province gave York Central Hospital the go-ahead to build a new hospital in Vaughan at Major Mackenzie Drive and Jane Street. Ms Matthews also noted there’s still a long road to travel before shovels pierce the ground.
“I am absolutely thrilled to announce that the McGuinty government has approved the construction. We will build a new public hospital in Vaughan,” Ms Matthews told the crowd packed into a glass-walled meeting room near the building’s main entrance.
Although she couldn’t provide exact timing for when the hospital’s walls will start going up, Ms Matthews told reporters the aim is to have the project at the tender phase in the next three to four years.
“There’s a tremendous amount of planning that has to take place to make sure that we anticipate the needs of the future and that we work as an integrated health-care system.
That work begins today,” she said. “We are rolling out our infrastructure plan. The Vaughan hospital is on that plan ... when we’re ready to go we’ll be ready to go, so we’re looking at 2014 to 2015 when we’ll begin procurement.”
Vaughan Liberal MPP Greg Sorbara, who called this the happiest day of his career, said digging at the hospital site could be underway within the next term of government, provided the Liberals stay in power.
“If we don’t get re-elected, I wouldn’t bank on having a hospital in Vaughan. I’m serious about that because the Tories propose massive cutbacks in expenditures and when a government cuts back in expenditures, generally, the first thing they do is cancel infrastructure. But we expect to be re-elected and we expect to begin this hospital during our next term,” he said.
The new hospital is to be built on the north side of Major Mackenzie Drive, across from Canada’s Wonderland, on the land that the city put up $80 million to purchase and develop for a health campus of care in 2009.
Today’s announcement comes a few months after York Central Hospital, which is in charge of planning the project, turned in its stage one planning submission to the Health Ministry for approval. It must still complete four more stages of the provincial approval process before the hospital can be built.
“They have, in effect, agreed to fund us the planning dollars to go all the way to stage three (tender) so we just now need to get the work done,” York Central president and CEO Altaf Stationwala said. “I’m just ecstatic because we’ve jumped so far ahead today, it’s remarkable. ... This is a big deal.”
It’s not just planning work that needs to be completed in the next few years. The community also has to raise its share of the funding for the project.
The total price tag for the hospital has been pegged at around $1.2 billion.
The province pays 90 per cent of the cost to build it while the community must put up 10 per cent plus the cost of equipment.
So far, York Region has committed $117 million to the future Vaughan hospital while the city has put up $80 million.
“I welcome this announcement from the bottom of my heart,” Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua told the crowd gathered at city hall, which included residents, current and past councillors as well as representatives of the Vaughan Health Campus of Care and the Vaughan Health Care Foundation.
“I think this announcement speaks to the higher purpose that we as citizens of Vaughan play in every day life here in this province,” Mr. Bevilacqua said. “I think everyone in this room and outside of this room would say it was about time that we got a hospital.”
But not everyone was excited about the announcement.
A small group of protesters gathered outside waving professionally made signs with slogans such as We Need Our Hospital Now, More Liberal Camouflage and Deliver the Goods.
Thornhill Conservative MPP Peter Shurman also slammed the announcement, calling it little more than a political tactic designed to garner votes in the Oct. 6 election.
“This is nothing more than a political tactic to win votes in Vaughan,” he said in a statement. “They continue to grandstand about this important issue but won’t actually put the dollars behind the project. There was no mention of money, no timeline for when shovels will be in the ground. I think the people of York Region and the families in Vaughan deserve better.”