This marks the third time in a year where  a “high profile” member of the Ontario government has visited Milton to make a speech and failed to acknowledge the importance of the expansion of Milton District Hospital. 

Earlier this year at the Mayors Breakfast for the Milton Chamber of Commerce, Infrastructure Minister Bob Chiarelli also spoke at lengths about what the McGuinty government has done, but failed to even mention the number one issue in Milton. 

Before that Premier Dalton McGuinty was asked directly about Milton’s chances for hospital expansion given the fact that council had approved at 1% tax levy for the hospital expansion reserve account and he replied with this…

“It’s obviously a sign of a strong committment on the part of the community, but I think that there is a lot of factors that we have to take into account when it comes to what we’re going to put something next.”

He continued…

“At this point in time, we’re talking about a long term plan and none of those decisions have been made yet.  One of the things we have to look at is where do we go going forward with respect to our capital plan.”

“We’re in a significant deficit , its a matter of modest growth, its a time of still too high unemployment.”

Now we have the other minister responsible for making the decision on the expansion of MDH failing to mention it.

Disappointment doesnt cover what the people of Milton are thinking right now.

Kathy Yanchus, CANADIAN CHAMPION STAFF

It was what Ontario Health and Longterm Care Minister Deb Matthews didn’t say that sparked discussion following her quick departure from a shortened version of her ‘Women and Politics’ speech, hosted Wednesday morning by Liberal provincial candidate Indira Naidoo-Harris.

Disappointment was expressed among the small group assembled at Casa Americo Italian Restaurant that Matthews didn’t touch on some of the subjects they had hoped, including the proposed Milton District Hospital (MDH) expansion.

As Matthews was hastened into her waiting vehicle by ministry staff to address a matter of urgency in Question Period, Naidoo-Harris assured those in attendance that she had invited the minister to tour MDH in the near future and mentioned the 18 new hospitals built since the Liberals took office in 2003.

With a slideshow operating behind her, Matthews introduced herself as a mother and grandmother, factors, she said, that influence her decisions as head of one of the largest ministries in the provincial government and one of the many influential women in the Liberal caucus. She interspersed talk about government costs and savings and initiatives with comments about the influence and values women bring to their positions.

“Women bring different experiences, different priorities to the job,” she said. “We want more women and are absolutely committed to bringing more women into caucus.”

When she looks into the eyes of her four grandchildren, Matthews said she sees not just their potential, but that of all Ontario children, and it’s the government’s job to ensure the province’s youth have what they need to reach that potential.

“Education is the key to unlocking that potential,” said Matthews.

She identified the Liberals’ full day kindergarten initiative as a courageous one in tough economic times. Currently there are 35,000 children enrolled in full day kindergarten and the plan is to implement it into all Ontario schools by 2014. So far, said Matthews, the children enrolled  are “very much up to the job” and it represents a savings in daycare costs to parents.

Decreasing high school dropout rates and increasing post-secondary enrollment represent tremendous improvements in education in the province, she said.

“And we wouldn’t be talking about poverty reduction if not for women in caucus,” said Matthews, crediting Liberal tax changes and an increase to the minimum wage for boosting the incomes of struggling single moms working fulltime. “This takes us back to education; we have to ensure children get the education they need to break the cycle of poverty.

“If we didn’t have a strong caucus of women we wouldn’t have this kind of social justice.”

Shaving hundreds of millions off the cost of drugs, increasing Ontarians access to primary care, adding more long-term care beds and improving seniors’ programs to allow them to stay in their own homes longer are other successful and ongoing Liberal initiatives on her ministry’s agenda, said Matthews. “Maybe it takes a woman to understand you have to shake things up and do what’s right.”

From the Milton Canadian Champion

TigerFest returns to festival – High school strength challenge added to pro wrestling show

Wrestling fans, the countdown is on.

Just over two weeks remain until the return of TigerFest, which — as part of the Milton Downtown Street Festival — attracted more than a thousand onlookers last year.

Put on by international wrestling legend Tiger Jeet Singh and his son Tiger Ali Singh, this year’s event — set for Saturday, June 4 across from Troy’s Diner on Main Street — promises to pack ’em in once again. But not just because of the squared circle action.

Local teens are sure to come out in droves to watch their peers take part in Tiger’s High School Challenge, which will see five-guy, five-girl teams from each of the three high schools test themselves in strongman style competition.

Along with bragging rights, the challenge — culminating with a giant tire flipping contest — will serve as a fundraiser for the schools.

TigerFest t-shirts, with personalized school colours, will be sold leading up to the event, with net proceeds being donated back to each of the schools by the Tiger Jeet Singh Foundation.

The idea originated from Milton District’s request for assistance in its ongoing efforts to raise money for a new fitness room.

Set to begin around noon, the high school challenge kicks off a full slate of TigerFest activities, which continue with boxing and CrossFit demonstrations by Milton’s FirePower and performances by pop recording artist Prita Chhabra and Milton’s own soul singer/songwriter Khalel.

From there, the pro wrestling — which is scheduled to include former WWE stars Tatanka and Robbie McAllister and ex-TNA star Sonjay Dutt, as well as some notable names from the independent circuit — gets underway at 5 p.m.

Wrapping up with a wrestlers autograph session, the card won’t include a competitive showing by Tiger Jr. this time around, as an Achilles injury will keep him out of action.

However, an in-ring cameo role by the former WWE heel — who won last year’s card-ending battle royal — is a distinct possibility.

While the event is free, organizers are asking for a minimum donation of $5 for a spot in the provided seating area. Proceeds from this will go to the Milton Salvation Army.

In conjunction with this, Miltonians are asked to drop off non-perishable food items to local Scotiabank locations starting in mid-May in support of the food bank.

TigerFest t-shirts will also be sold during the day, with the money raised going to the Tiger Jeet Singh Foundation in support of the Japan Relief Campaign, Halton Learning Foundation and McMaster Children’s Hospital.

For more information and regular updates on TigerFest, visit www.tigerjeetsinghfoundation.com.

Although Milton Today TV was’nt there all day covering McHappy Day in Milton, they did get a chance to speak with Allan Halls from Milton District Hospital, Mayor Gord Krantz and the owner of the McDonalds Steve Antolin and the importance of this event. Thousands of dollars are raise for both Milton District Hospital but also Ronald McDonald House for kids.

It was a great day and we had a blast speaking with people in the store and in the drive thru. The employees of McDonalds should be commended on their enthusiasm for the event as well as their day was much longer than ours and they kept it going.

Congratulations to everyone involved in the organization of the day. The weather was amazing and the spirits were high all throughout the day.

BIG SHOUT OUT to Milton’s own Scott Fox from BPM TV (Twitter @scottfoxonair) who did his part in getting everyone going through the drive thru to put on some smiles and open their wallets to add more to the total.

Please join me and other Milton dignitaries, such as fellow council members Mayor Gord Krantz (12pm-1pm) councillors Zeeshan Hamid (3pm-5pm) Rick Di Lorenzo (4pm-6pm) and Colin Best (4pm-6pm) and Milton’s own SCOTT FOX at McDonalds today (4:30pm-5:30pm)and support McHappy Day.

One dollar from every Big Mac, Coffee or Tea and Happy Meal sold in McDonalds Milton will be donated to Milton District Hospital Foundation and to Ronald McDonald’s House in Toronto.  

I will be there from 3pm to 5pm supporting these great organizations.  If you drop by to say HI, and please don’t laugh at me.  Growing up I never held a job at McDonalds, but I promise to do my best NOT to embarrass myself.

Many thanks to McDonalds staff and volunteers who give so freely of their time and to the residents of Milton who come out in droves every year to McDonald’s to support Milton District Hospital Foundation!

If you are interested in making a donation to the Milton District Hospital Foundation, you can click here for a one time donation.  Our hospital needs the support of the community and every dollar counts.  From the MDHF website….

Your single gift donation is an important way to become a part of Milton District Hospital Foundation and to have an impact on patient care for you, your family and our community.

Every gift to Milton District Hospital Foundation, regardless of amount will make a difference. Your contribution will help us pay for essential equipment purchases and help ensure a strong future for Milton District Hospital Foundation – one that our children and grandchildren will benefit from in the decades to come. 

So please, take some time to go to McDonalds today or if you cant, make a donation to the MDHF and / or Ronald McDonald House.  It all goes a very long way.

Citizens rally for Milton hospital expansion

(Photo Courtesy of Milton Canadian Champion, Graham Paine) – By Christina Commisso, Milton Canadian Champion

The signs are up, the signatures are in and the will is strong.

The time for Milton’s hospital expansion is now — that message was heard loud and clear Saturday morning.

About 30 people huddled under the gazebo at Victoria Park, sheltered against the rain and wind, to show their support for the expansion.

“We’re a small group, but we’re mighty,” said Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh.

He, along with citizen’s group Grow Milton Hospital, has collected more than 5,000 signatures of support for the expansion over a six-week campaign.

The petitions were delivered to Queen’s Park yesterday.

The urgency of the expansion was outlined by Milton District Hospital (MDH) surgeon Dr. Jeff Kolbasnik, who spoke during the morning event. 

“When I started (at MDH) we had lots of ward beds. Anytime I needed to admit a patient there was no issue. In the emergency department there would be a few people backed up, but routinely people would get seen within an hour. We never had surgery cancelled because no beds were available and getting a patient in urgently was no problem. Things have really changed.”

According to Kolbasnik, it’s not just the population spike that has placed mounting pressure on MDH; the infrastructure at the hospital is showing signs of deterioration.

He pointed to a leaky roof last summer that led to the evacuation of the medical surgical ward for almost a week. MDH recently received a “state of the art” surgical sterilization machine, which Kolbasnik said took a week to install because the hospital’s infrastructure was too old to support the new technology.

“During that week we had to ration surgical equipment…that’s not the sort of thing that should be happening in a growing community like ours.”

He continued, “As much as there’s a gradual deterioration, we’re worried we’re going to reach a breaking point when things just start to fall apart.”

Organizer and Ward 6 Councillor Mike Cluett took some time to dispel common rumors circulating about the MDH expansion.

Pointing to the new north Oakville hospital, Cluett said: “The Oakville hospital is designed for Oakville’s growth, not for other communities. We need a made-in-Milton hospital expansion for Milton’s needs now.”

Cluett added that he’s unfazed by naysayers.

“We’ve heard, ‘It’s great you’re doing this but it’s not going to make a difference.’ Well we’d rather go down swinging than not do anything at all. We want to let the provincial government know that it starts with them. Give us the go ahead, and we’ll figure the rest out.”

Playing MC for the event, Scott Fox of Z103.5 said when he moved to town seven years ago he would brag to his friends about the zero wait times at MDH.

“Now the tables have turned,” he said.

“All you have to do is look around at a town that’s bursting at the seams and a hospital that was built decades ago. The fact that people are waiting, they’re being sent to other communities for critical care, surgeries are being postponed because there’s not enough beds — this screams expansion.”

Chudleigh said he hopes the message comes through loud and clear at Queen’s Park. The petition was delivered mere weeks before the Province is expected to release its 10-year infrastructure list for high-priority projects.

Despite what transpires in the next few weeks, Cluett said the momentum for the expansion won’t slow down anytime soon.

“It doesn’t end today. It’s going to continue until the spade is in the ground and we have our hospital.”

Just a quick reminder that the Grow Milton Hospital rally is going to be held tomorrow at Victoria Park by Milton Town Hall starting at 10AM.  The weather doesnt look like its going to cooperate with us, but we’ll play that by ear.  Dress for the weather and we should’nt be too long.

We have one of the hospital representatives speaking and Milton’s own Scott Fox will be hosting the event.  This event will be the culmination of many weeks of preparation and collecting of signatures by over 20 Milton area businesses.

On the following Monday, we will be heading down to Queen’s Park to watch Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh deliver the petition to the government and Premier Dalton McGuinty to let them know that The Time Is NOW for our hospital expansion.

If you have any questions, please let me know mike@mikecluett.ca and I hope to see you all tomorrow morning.

There are a number of things going on in Milton to say the least.

First off is the Time is NOW Grow Milton Hospital Rally slated for April 16th at 10 AM in Victoria Park (right beside Milton Town Hall) and the effort to collect as many signatures as possible on a pettion to strongly urge the provincial government to approve the expansion of Milton District Hospital.

You will see a number of people around town in the malls and on the streets working hard to collect signatures on the petition.  Please sign the petition and take one of our lawn signs to help raise awareness of the rally (its actually quite a cool looking sign too) and help Milton be unified in its voice at Queens Park.

More information on the rally can be found at www.growmiltonhospital.com including our Facebook pages, follow us on Twitter and request YOUR sign as well.

The day before the rally on the 16th is Milton Makeover Day 2011.  On Friday April 15th at 9AM our Ward 6 team (which seems to grow every day) will meet at McDuffe Park (4th Line/Clark Blvd) and do our part to help keep Milton clean.  Depending on how many people we get that day we will work on McDuffe Park and hopefully down towards Louis St Laurent between 4th Line and Thompson Road.  Despite the construction of the new school, there is still a lot of work to be done to keep this area clean as well.

For more information on our Milton Makeover Day for Ward 6 email freemantrailfamilty@yahoo.ca and she will get you signed up.

In June of course we have the Downtown Street Festival June 4th which includes the second annual TIGERFEST wrestling event and more activities than I can post here.  You can go here for more information on becoming a vendor, a volunteer or see what you’ll be missing if you DONT go.

Taking a deep breath here…

Finally on June 11th there is going to be a concert at the Milton Fairgrounds for Milton Rocks 2011 which is a benefit to raise money for Milton District Hospital.  www.miltonrocks.com

So as you can see there is no shortage of events and opportunities for you to get involved in your community, help out and even have a ton of fun!

In what seems to be a recurring theme in the Milton Champions Letter to the Editor section, there is more feedback on councils decision to implement a 1% tax levy for the potential hospital expansion for MDH.

Most of the comments received by Miltonians on this blog, through email and in the Champion tends to focus on the fact that this decision was made with no public input and because we haven’t received the go ahead from the provincial government.

Dear Editor:

I read with interest the letter by John Challinor in the February 3 Champion entitled, ‘Hospital levy should be rescinded; taxpayers engaged in discussion.’

We agree that the tax levy should be re-opened for further discussion.

As life-long residents of Milton, we don’t oppose paying money toward our hospital expansion. However, we do question why the decision was made so quickly, when the Milton District Hospital expansion isn’t yet approved by the provincial government.

We urge councillors to re-open the tax levy issue for public discussion.

Jean and Joe Gregoris, Milton  

If you haven’t already read Stuart Service’s article in the Halton Compass last week, (front page / second page) suggest you have a read.  In the article, Stuart asks Dalton McGuinty about Milton’s decision to implement the levy and asks the all important question of will this help.  The Premier’s answer is quite telling.

(photo by Stuart Service, courtesy of Halton Compass)

McGunity did not confirm whether or not a MDH levy would increase the towns chance at landing provincial approval for the hospital expansion.

“It’s obviously a sign of a strong committment on the part of the community, but I think that there is a lot of factors that we have to take into account when it comes to what we’re going to put something next.”

He continued…

“At this point in time, we’re talking about a long term plan and none of those decisions have been made yet.  One of the things we have to look at is where do we go going forward with respect to our capital plan.”

“We’re in a significant deficit , its a matter of modest growth, its a time of still too high unemployment.”

Doesn’t necessarily spark optimism now does it?  In fact its the opposite.  As the article mentioned, there were a number of councillors in support of the levy who used the argument that by implementing the tax levy will increase our chances in getting provincial approval.  In fact key members of staff at MDH and Halton Healthcare Services echoed those same comments.  Judging from the Premier’s comments it doesn’t spark any light of hope as we move closer to the time where the provincial government will be making those decisions.

Recently at the Mayor’s Breakfast we had a visit from Minister of Infrastructure Bob Chiarelli (one of the key decision makers in the approval process) came to town to visit the Milton Centre for the Arts and take some time to speak at the breakfast.  In his 25 minute address to the mostly business crowd there wasn’t a mention of the need for hospital expansion in Milton.  A few individuals I spoke with after who attended the meeting were equally as puzzled as to why the much needed expansion and quite possibly the number ONE issue in the town went unaddressed.

Only time will tell if its a success or a failure.  We should find out in time (March / April 2011) if Milton receives the approval from the provincial government to move forward to the design stage of the much needed expansion of MDH.  Since 2001/2002 there have been a number of studies completed by Halton Healthcare Services (at a significant cost) to assess the need for expansion.  That’s a no brainer as many Miltonians are quite aware.  The need is there…there is no doubt of that fact.  The most recent report was completed back in 2008/2009 as to the need and viability of the expansion and nothing has been done since.  In essence, the report is sitting on an in-box somewhere at the province of Ontario.

You want community support?  We only have to turn back a couple of years when over 35,000 Miltonians, via the Friends of Milton Hospital organization collected signatures on postcards that were delivered to the Premiers office telling them of our needs.

We can do something in the meantime.  We can keep the discussion going at all levels, on this blog, on discussion forums, in the coffee shops and restaurants in town and with our MPP Ted Chudleigh.  It’s getting close to that time and if Milton isn’t approved for expansion there will be a lot of very upset residents.