Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy says it is “completely unacceptable” that Ontario’s 2023 budget didn’t include the $3-million planning grant that is needed for a proposed new hospital in Durham.
“I am extremely disappointed that Ontario’s 2023 Budget released today does not include the planning grant required to support a new hospital in Durham Region,” Roy said in a statement on March 23. “This is completely unacceptable.”
It’s been more than a year since Lakeridge Health announced that an expert panel had selected a site in Whitby as the location for a new proposed hospital in Durham Region.
Yet the process is now stalled, after the Ontario 2023 budget failed to include a requested $3-million planning grant from the Province, that would be needed to push the hospital project forward.
That prompted Roy to issue her March 23 statement calling on the government of Ontario to immediately release funds for the planning grant, and in addition, to confirm support for Durham’s new hospital to be located in Whitby.
“Healthcare is in such dire straits,” Roy said. “This is the fastest growing community in Durham and Ontario. It was identified in 2015 that there needed to be a hospital within our proximities, and this is what Lakeridge went forward with in 2019.”
“I don’t understand why we are having this conversation today,” Roy said in an interview with Global News. “It’s actually disheartening.”
The concern is growing as this is the second provincial budget to leave out funding for this planning grant, and it comes as the region continues to see overwhelming strains on healthcare.
The proposed new hospital is expected to be for acute, cardiac and trauma care. The proposed land, located south of Highway 407 and west of Highway 412, is currently owned by the Ministry of Transportation. Roy said Whitby is in the final steps of obtaining the property, and said acquiring the land won’t be a concern.
Mayor Roy adds that the Ministry of Transportation also has given the Town of Whitby a commitment letter that the site would be used for the hospital.
With the stalling of the process, some municipalities are voicing their concerns with the expert panel that designated Whitby as the preferred hospital location. Pickering Mayor Kevin Ashe said his community had concerns with the decision that was made.
“It was made of entirely people outside of Durham who lacked a complete understanding of the region as a whole, and how Pickering was going to explode in terms of population,” said Ashe, adding that his city has free land versus the Whitby taxpayers’ land.
With no planning grant yet allocated to the Whitby site, Ashe has decided to “throw his hat back into the ring” and advocate for Pickering.
“We thought we had a better proposal, free land, which is a significant advantage over the Whitby site,”Ashe said. “We are saying to the province that we know Pickering is going to be the biggest community in Durham, with the most population, the most jobs, and we need to have better and quicker access to hospitals and healthcare.”
Ashe said the province has made Pickering a growth centre, with the greenbelt, new developments and growing population. “I think as the province, they need to follow up with the proper infrastructure requirements, and that requires new healthcare and a hospital.”
Ashe said he has plans to reopen the process, which he told stakeholders ahead of the budget being announced.
Roy said the location of this new hospital shouldn’t be influenced by politics or developer interests, and the process shouldn’t be delayed any further.
“We all entered as municipalities into a process that we approved,” Roy said. “For Pickering to say they want to open up the process, well, the process is not opened up. We are done the process.”
As for Ashe, he says he’s just advocating for Pickering. “I have the upmost respect for Mayor Roy and her council, and I understand she is trying to do the best for her community. But, I will too.”
Read more:
Hospitals, paramedics in Durham under pressure from ‘critical’ staff shortage (Oct. 29, 2022)
In a statement, Lakeridge Health told Global News that Whitby is still the proposed location. “A fair and transparent process was undertaken that involved an exhaustive public and expert consultation and a competitive bidding process,” adding that the process included evaluations that measured all site proposals against a set of criteria.
“The Expert Panel unanimously recommended that the proposed new hospital be located on land in Whitby,” Lakeridge said. “The Lakeridge Health Board of Trustees approved this recommendation. Lakeridge Health stands by the site selection process.”
All municipalities can agree on one thing: that healthcare in the region is necessary.
“All of Durham Region, we require more healthcare services,” said Whitby Mayor Roy. “No matter if we are Pickering, Oshawa, Ajax, Whitby North, Clarington, the need for healthcare in the community is dire, and we need to put our differences aside and find a way to see how this can move forward.”
“That joint support for a regional hospital is unequivocal in terms of all the mayors,” added Pickering Mayor Ashe. “There is just a friendly disagreement on the best site, but at the end of the day it’s not the expert panel that will make the determination, it’s the government of Ontario, Ministry of Health, and Finance.”
While she is discouraged, Roy said she will continue to fight, and will continue to work with her local community, and chamber of commerce. The Town of Whitby task force will be meeting in the coming weeks to discuss next steps.
“We are looking at how we can get ourselves in front of those who are making decisions, to make the decision to get this project to move forward,” Roy said.
