Articles from July 2009

35,000 people in Milton had their say.  They want the governments at all levels to make the expansion of Milton’s Hospital a priority…and NOW!  The only question that remains is will David Caplan, Minister of Health and George Smitherman, Minister of Infrastructure listen???  Only time will tell.

A volunteer group dedicated to securing provincial approval and funding for an expanded Milton District Hospital says it has collected signatures from close to 35,000 people on postcards addressed to Ontario’s Minister of Health.

“The incredible enthusiasm in this community is amazing,” said Pete Pomeroy, co-chair of the Friends of Milton Hospital, which started its postcard signing blitz about two months ago assisted by $25,000 in funding from the Town of Milton.

The group is now hoping to deliver the postcards personally to the Minister of Health, David Caplan, and it also wants to meet with the Minister of Infrastructure, George Smitherman. The two ministries are expected to make final decisions on which of 58 proposed hospital capital projects will get put onto an updated 10-year infrastructure plan, expected to be released this fall.

“We need a hospital (expansion), we need a place to go that ourselves and our family feel we’re going to get the care that we need, they (the hospital) have the specialties that we need, that we can have faith in our hospital,” said Cari Kovachik-MacNeil, co-chair along with Pomeroy.

The duo met last Wednesday to present their case to Dr. Sacha Bhatia, healthy policy advisor to Ontario Premier Dalton McGunity.

Bhatia listened to the group’s concerns but advised them they should be working with officials from the ministries of health and infrastructure and the Mississauga-Halton Local Health Integration Network (LHIN), said Karman Wong, a spokesperson from the Premier’s Office. LHINs are responsible for planning, funding and integrating health care services locally.

“At the end of the day, decisions on which hospitals should get funding shouldn’t be political,” said Wong. “They should be based on where the need is.”

The criteria for assessing that need is what concerns Pomeroy and Kovachik-MacNeil. They said at least one criterion the Province will be using is wait time statistics for hospital emergency rooms (ER).

In this respect, statistics show Milton District Hospital fares better than most hospitals. For the first quarter of this year, the average wait time for a serious condition at the hospital ER was just under five hours, a couple hours better than the provincial average and about half the time spent by patients at hospitals in Burlington and Mississauga.

“Having said that, health care is more than emergency (service),” argued Kovachik-MacNeil. She said patients from Milton should not be forced to go to other hospitals for specialized services.

Pomeroy added many people believe HHS’s new Oakville-Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, expected to begin construction over the next couple years, will be a regional hospital built to accommodate the needs of Miltonians.

“But it isn’t true, that isn’t the case,” said Pomeroy.

While the Friends of Milton Hospital’s postcard campaign has wrapped up, a similar petition for a Milton hospital expansion is still being circulated.

Led by former director of development with the Milton District Hospital Foundation, Donna McLaughlin, the Milton Hospital Action Committee said in April it wanted to collect 50,000 signatures on a petition to be presented to the provincial legislature by Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh on June 6.

“It (the petition) was about 8,000 (signatures) at the end of June and we decided to hold it for the summer,” said Chudleigh. “They’re still collecting signatures and I’m going to present it in the House in September.”

Tim Foran can be reached at tforan@miltoncanadianchampion.com

Dont you just hate it when you forget someones birthday?  On Facebook its easy to remember friends birthdays with the reminders on the front page and then all you have to do is go to their page and put “HAPPY B DAY (insert name here).  I always find it horrible to remember someones big day a week or so after the fact.

I have some good excuses mind you, what with the baptism of our daughter, my parents in from Newfoundland for a vist, work (obvious choice) and planning our move which is rapidly approaching the one month mark.  I dont think the Town of Milton will mind though.

July 4, 2009 was the Town of Milton’s 152nd birthday.  What seems ages ago, back in 2007, we celebrated Milton’s 150th Birthday.  I was honoured to be part of the master committee in charge of planning all the events for 2007, which included such things as the Winter Festival and the Amazing Race (sadly, no one has picked up that ball and run with it).  One of the events we as a committee were part of that we are so glad has continued was the annual Milton Street Festival last month.  That was the 3rd annual event with plans already started for next years celebration.

So yes, very quietly Milton grew one year older.  There is no facebook page for Milton that has this information so sadly it went unnoticed.  So from me and others who live in this great town we have one thing to say…

Pat, Miranda and yours truly at Milton's Canada Day...Anthony not here because he was at the rides!!!

Has anyone else noticed the new street sign posts popping up around Milton?

I’ve begun to see them around the Hawthorne Village area, mainly near major intersections that already have signs on the light and street posts.  These signs are unique as they are half the normal height of standard ones.  The nameplates on the sign are abnormally huge while the posts are short.

Aren’t our streets labelled well enough now, without adding more signs on corners?  For instance, drive around the Derry and Thompson Road area where you will find large signs on the posts that hold the traffic lights, each on Derry Road and Thompson Road.  Now if you stand at the south west corner you will find the short sign (I like that term better) along with another short sign at the north east corner.  Each one of these signs have the LARGE nameplate on them.  SO…in case you didnt see the large ones on the traffic lights, you’re bound to see them on the corners.  That would work if the posts were taller.  But isnt that sign overkill?  And why so short?  Is it because of cutbacks at the town level?  I know, I laughed too.

Other intersections have them as well, mainly along Derry Road at Trudeau among others.  I will endevour to get a picture of these signs for you to see, if you haven’t already seen them. 

One resident remarked to me earlier that its just another thing for people to hang signs on and block peoples views while trying to turn corners.  Well, that remains to be seen.

A voice from my youth is gone.  Martin Streek from CFNY (The Spirit of Radio) and the Edge 102.1 (I know the same station, but not to me)

http://www.torontomike.com/2009/07/martin_streek_dead.html

From Toronto Mike

Martin Streek Dead

Published July 6, 2009 @ 23:11 in Edge 102 ~ CFNY, Radio

I’m not sure how to write this one, so I’m just going to tell you what I know.

As a long time fan of CFNY / Edge 102, I was sad to learn recently that Martin Streek had been fired after over 20 years of service. As of this writing, that entry had 88 comments from others who wanted to wish Martin well. Soon enough, Martin Streek himself chimed in to say thanks.

Thank to those of you who made comments, both good and bad…either way, it’s proof that you listened and/or cared about the scene I/we were part of…

Earlier today, Martin Streek updated his Facebook status message with words that sound so ominous now. This, it turns out, is Martin’s farewell to the world.

So…I guess that’s it…thanks everyone…I’m sorry to those I should be sorry to, I love you to those that I love, and I will see you all again soon (not too soon though)… Let the stories begin.

My entry about Martin Streek leaving CFNY / Edge102 is #1 when you Google his name, and Steve did just that an hour ago.

I just heard that Martin has passed away… very sad to hear…. (I was a cfny staffer back in the 80s and just heard this from Earl J.)

At first, I thought it was a cruel joke. Martin Streek seemed so vibrant, so full of life. But after chatting with Steve, and seeing the Facebook status message, I’m afraid it’s true.

Martin Streek has taken his own life.

An interesting letter to the editor earlier this week from Zeeshan Hamid regarding Milton Town Council.  In his letter he outlines that Milton Town Council directed staff to apply for some funding from the federally run Recreation Infrastructure Canada and the provincially run REC for two projects of interest.

In a motion earlier in June, town council had approved the application for $5.3 million for renovations and improvements for John Tonelli Sports Centre and the Nassagewaya Tennis Club.  In that application, $2.9 million would be directed to improve the NTC which has approximately 200 members.

The Town of Milton already has arrangements with the NTC which include $100 per year rental and a 50% sharing of some improvement costs among other perks.  As Mr. Hamid points out, that funding works out to be roughly $15,000 per member.

Is this a priority for the Town of Milton?

The problem that comes up is the NTC is a membership only club.  Does council have the justification to apply for and spend that much taxpayers money on a club of 200 people when the organization receives so much already?  Can that funding be used for something else that would benefit more people in the town of Milton?

Here’s his letter.