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Call
for Final Approval on WGH Mr. Speaker, I stand today to call attention to a very pressing issue in my riding of Oxford—the building of the new Woodstock General Hospital. Since the early 1990’s, community teams have worked hard to make the government of Ontario understand our community has outgrown the 150-year-old facility in which the Woodstock General Hospital presently resides. And since my election to provincial parliament in 1995, I have done whatever I could to bring that message to Queen’s Park on behalf of my constituents. So, I was extremely pleased to announce my government’s approval for a new hospital in Woodstock in December of 2000. The Hospital Board spent the following three years jumping through all the hoops necessary to obtain approvals from the Ministry and move the project along. The community showed tremendous support for the new hospital through massive fundraising and the municipalities paved the way for the build. But then there was an election of a new liberal government and everything stalled. This hospital is in the final stages of approval. In fact, the only thing holding construction back is the approval of the pre-tender drawings and estimates by the McGuinty government. The residents of Oxford have become discouraged by the treatment they have received from this government. They have waited patiently and seen another year of construction pass by with no word. Now, people question whether the Minister is more concerned with politics than the health of residents in Ontario. They think this project has stalled because it is a political football in a conservative riding. I would hate to think this government, which campaigned on a platform of bettering healthcare for ALL Ontarians, would choose to delay a much needed hospital—on the brink of being constructed—because it was in an Opposition held riding. Mr. Speaker, I stand today to ask the Minister of Health and Long-term Care to do the right thing and sign off on the final approval immediately, so the residents of Oxford can enjoy better quality health care as soon as possible. I ask that he not play politics with peoples lives, that he remember his obligation and that he get on with the job. -30- |
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