Hospital redevelopment plan delayed because of Provincial Government

By Waterloo-Wellington MPP Ted Arnott

The Board, the Foundation and the Staff of the Groves Memorial Community Hospital in Fergus have conceived an ambitious and visionary redevelopment plan for the Hospital. This plan will enable it to modernize, improve patient care, and provide the health care services that we will need in the future in Centre Wellington and our surrounding area.

Our growing community is digging deep and doing its part to support our Hospital by raising close to $15 million for the redevelopment. The Hospital Staff have done a superb job. All we need from the Provincial Government is the approval to move on to the next stage of planning.

Therein lies the problem. The McGuinty Government so far has refused to grant our approval, subjecting us to a ‘hospital wait time’ that has dragged on for more than two years. That’s an unnecessary health care wait time for all the people in our community.

The Minister of Health is familiar with our plan, and yet he refuses to grant the necessary approval. I’ve advocated in support of the Hospital redevelopment repeatedly in the House, in Committee, and in a “Late Show” debate that I forced on the issue - something that I only do rarely and when I think it’s absolutely necessary. What I’ve heard in response from the Government is little more than partisan rants and political excuses made in an attempt to rationalize further delay.

This is why, as MPP for Waterloo-Wellington, my patience is wearing thin.

To see this plan through, we must make sure that the McGuinty Government begins to listen. We must persist in demonstrating the strong community support which exists for our Hospital.

Any further delay is unacceptable to me.