milton hospital expansion

Milton Hospital Expansion Approved!

Mike Cluett

Its been a busy day for a number of reasons. I was at the announcement today along with several of our town councillors, MPP Ted Chudleigh, Liberal candidates Indiria Naidoo Harris, Friends of Milton Hospital, doctors and nurses, and staff and volunteers. Quite emotional. I had to leave because we had a medical emergency with our cat Chester. He was in a fight on the weekend and developed a massive infection which burst today and my son called in a panic. (Chesters had his surgery and is doing ok, we’ll be picking him up soon)

I put together a few thoughts, and once things settle down at home, I’ll post more…and probably add more people to thank so I dont leave anyone out.

EDIT:  As Colin Best reminded me on the Hawthorne Villager I forgot someone important.  Regional Chair Gary Carr has also played a very strong role in getting meetings scheduled with cabinet ministers during the recent AMO Conference in London and also bringing up Milton’s needs at every possible opportunity.  Thank you Gary!!!

Here is the video from today courtesy of Brian Best (thanks for the vid…it was a historic day in Milton and I’m glad it was captured)

Today was a great day for Milton with the announcement of the hospital expansion earlier today. Many thanks to a LOT of people.

To the doctors and nurses and volunteers and staff of Milton Hospital…thank you. You were the ones under the gun over the last several years and despite everything seemingly against you, you have ALL done an amazing job.

The tears of joy I witnessed from the staff at MDH said it all.

To John Oliver and Alan Halls THANK YOU for your leadership and persistence in this matter. Everyone at Halton Healthcare Services has been a strong advocate for Milton and our needs and you have lead the charge.

To Friends of Milton Hospital, THANK YOU. Over 36,000 signatures were collected and presented to the government to let them know, THIS was the issue in town.

To my fellow council members, THANK YOU. Everytime we had the ear of a provincial minister of govt, we brought the Milton Hospital expansion to their attention. Theres a reason why Minister Deb Matthews mentioned our persistence.

To my colleagues on the Grow Milton Hospital campaign, THANK YOU! We helped in keeping the pressure up and we saw the end result in mind. Todays announcement was a result of a lot of people and the residents of Milton…THANK YOU.

There is also MPP Ted Chudleigh to thank for his years of work on this with the provincial government. John Oliver made mention in his speech of Ted’s efforts on raising awareness over the last several years, and while colourful at times, his passion for Halton residents in Milton was unwaivering. THANK YOU Ted!

Now the hard work begins. We WILL do this together and with everyones support from all sides … the job will get done.

What would you ask them?

Mike Cluett

Next week will be my first AMO (Associations of Municipalities of Ontario)Conference.  Its going to be held in London this year and goes from Sunday August 21st to Wednesday the 24th.

The conference is designed for municipal leaders from all over the province to meet and discuss issues and share knowledge and resources to help come up with solutions to problems.  There’s going to be roughly 1600 politicians running around London (sounds scary doesn’t it 🙂 ) for those days and I’m personally looking forward to a number of events that will be happening over the course of the conference.

Most importantly to me is some of the meetings that have been scheduled with provincial representatives by Regional Chair Gary Carr and ministers in the Province of Ontario.  I along with other Milton & Halton councillors will be attending these meetings.  This will provide us with an opportunity to speak directly with those ministers, mainly the Minister of Health Deb Matthews and Minister of Infrastructure Bob Chiarelli.  If those names sound familiar, you must have been reading my blog on a regular basis. 

These ministers are two of the key decision makers when it comes to getting a green light for the Milton Hospital expansion.  There have been meetings in the past, of course with no firm date or timeframe given to us, but hopefully we can “twist their arms” slightly in getting something done.  It is no secret in Milton that the expansion of the Milton District Hospital is “THE” issue in town.  

Week after week, organization after organization holds events in support of MDHF and the importance of supporting our local hospital.  Thousands of dollars has been raised for the foundation and even more will come with future events.

Regional Councillor Colin Best wrote a letter to the ministers via the Milton Canadian Champion recently outlining our concerns once again with the lack of detail in their latest “capital project projections”

If there is one issue that everyone in Milton can unite behind its the hospital.  We as elected officials in Milton have to keep up the pressure.  Its been well documented on my site about the efforts of the  Friends of Milton Hospital a few years ago and most recently the Grow Milton Hospital campaign and the numbers of signatures that have been collected and delivered to the Province of Ontario letting our voices be heard that we need that expansion to start now.

Unofficially the Town of Milton is over 90,000 in population with 100,000 in our sights.  The hospital continues to be under intense pressure to be able to deliver the health care services that Milton needs.  Beds are in short number, the nurses and doctors are doing their best but without the facilities needed to serve a growing population, it runs the risk of a disaster happening.

I’m hoping at this meeting, myself along with other Milton and Halton councillors can convince these provincial ministers (it IS a provincial election year mind you) to get off the fence and approve the expansion of Milton’s hospital.   There will also be opportunities to speak with the provincial party leaders as well during this conference (Dalton Mcguinty, Tim Hudak, Andrea Horvath) and rest assure I will be “badgering” them as well over the course of the four days.

If you have any comments or questions you would like me to pass on to the Health Minister and Minister of Infrastructure, please email me mike@mikecluett.ca and I will ask them directly when we meet with them.

Infrastructure Minister Responds!

Mike Cluett

Here is the long awaited response from Infrastructure Minister Bob Chiarelli via a letter to the editor in the Milton Canadian Champion. 

As the readers of my website will know, I have been demanding answers from the provincial level of government in Ontario to find out when Milton District Hospital will be expanded.  Over the last several years many groups of citizens, levels of government and Halton Healthcare services has been trying to convince the LHIN’s and the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Infrastructure and the Premier of Ontario that Milton needs to have a hospital expansion.

The statistics are endless in our arguement that something needs to have been done a long time ago and must happen now.  Halton Healthcare Services has made many presentations to council over the last while outlining the drastic need for expansion in a hospital that is designed for a population of 30,000 while Milton now is approaching 100,000.

The Friends of Milton Hospital collected over 35,000 signatures on post cards a couple of years back and delivered them to the Health Ministers office.  Recently the Grow Milton Hospital Campaign submitted a petition to Queens Park with over 6,000 signatures collected in a matter of weeks.

The Provincial government promised the over 95 plus municipalities who are in similar, if not worse situations that Milton is in a detailed 10 year capital project list after the budget this past spring.  The list was “coming soon” and I along with other Miltonians received tweets from the Premier’s press secretary saying the LHIN”s and the Ministry were “working on it” and something would be coming soon.

At the end of June, after months of promises, the provincial government released the Building Together plan outlining their priorities.  The problem is there was no detail included.  The town of Milton, the Region of Halton and for that matter every municipality has to detail their capital plans, with lists of projects, time lines, prices and how we’re going to pay for it.  Thats a requirement the Provincial Government has for municipalities.  We didn’t get a plan.  We got promises.

You cant blame myself and the other municipal leaders in this town for being disappointed and frustrated.  This has been an ongoing issue for many years and I for one am puzzled at the lack of committment the Province has for healthcare in Ontario.

The people of Milton are frustrated.  You only have to bring up the hospital in conversation and blood pressures around the room begin to rise.  At last nights town hall meeting when we discussed the hospital expansion levy and the potential expansion of MDH, residents were confused as to why nothing was being done for so long and why we as a municipality can’t do anything to speed it up.

All we are looking for Minister Chiarelli, Minister Matthews & Premier McGuinty is the green light.  We are ready to go with the plan that’s needed to help improve the delivery of health care services in Milton.  The hospital and the doctors and nurses within are stretched to the limit and even though they haven’t hit the breaking point…its getting close.  The Town of Milton would like to put a plan into place so that we can fund our portion of the hospital expansion.  We’re ready to consult with them to find the best solution possible for that funding.  We are at the starting line…waiting for the green light.

The Town of Milton along with the Region of Halton is trying to build a community where people can live, learn, work and play.  We want families to chose Milton for its great amenities, the schools, the restaurants, the places to work and learn at our education village and to be able to have a medical facility that can handle the current and future health care needs of its residents.

The time is now!  Grow Milton Hospital!

Ontario Government committed to Milton

Dear Editor:

Re: June 30 story entitled ‘Councillors disappointed with infrastructure plan.’

Milton councillors criticized Building Together, Ontario’s first ever long-term infrastructure plan, for a perceived lack of detail.

They’re correct to point out that our government must tackle the province’s infrastructure deficit. Over the last six years, the Ontario government has invested an average of $10 billion annually in infrastructure.

Our commitment to schools, hospitals and roads is clear in Halton and across Ontario. Ontario’s infrastructure investments since 2003 total $62 billion, creating 600,000 jobs — including 620 jobs in Milton. We have committed $35 billion for the first three years of Building Together to continue our work.

Needless to say, we mean business.

The Dalton McGuinty government’s record is the best indication of what we’ll do for Milton’s infrastructure. Milton is one of the fastest growing municipalities in the country. That’s why we have invested more than $34 million in dozens of infrastructure projects since 2003, including the Milton Centre for the Arts, Milton Sports Centre expansion and the widening of Tremaine Road.  

We recognize the need to plan for future growth as well. That’s why we have provided more than $4 million in growth funding to Halton Healthcare Services, and a $1.5 million planning and design grant to Milton District Hospital to help further develop its expansion proposal.

The McGuinty government is also helping municipalities build their own infrastructure by uploading municipal services. When uploading is fully implemented in 2018, Halton Region will save an estimated $22.5 million per year.

Since 2004, the McGuinty government has also transferred $2.4 million to Milton for public transit funding (formerly known as gas tax revenue). We will continue to ensure Milton gets its fair share.

Through Premier McGuinty’s mandate, our government has built, expanded, and modernized hospitals, schools, community centres and public transit across the province — creating hundreds of thousands of jobs and making a positive difference for Ontarians. Building Together is a commitment and strategic plan to continue these investments in Milton and across Ontario.

Bob Chiarelli, Infrastructure Minister, Government of Ontario

Response From Infrastructure Minister Coming

Mike Cluett

As reported on her Twitter account, Christina Commisso @C_Commisso (who is one of the reporters for the Milton Canadian Champion) sent out a message yesterday saying that the Minister of Infrastructure Bob Chiraelli responded to the article “Councillors Disappointed with Infrastructure Plan“

You can read my response to the article here in my post called “Hey Bob! Read OUR Lips“

Call me a cynic, but I’m not expecting a full time line report from the Minister but hopefully we will get a clearer idea of when any possible expansion of Milton District Hospital will happen.  Its not that it should happen, its that it HAS to happen.  Miltonians deserve an answer or at least a timeline of when things will begin to move forward.

Milton Council needs to have answers.  There are a lot of issues financially that we are facing with our 2012 budget about hospital expansion reserve accounts and other projects that need help from the province that we need to address and we at the town and the Region of Halton have done our work…we just need the province to take some action.

Regional Councillor Colin Best has also expressed his frustration about the plan.  The Region has been working on getting ROPA 39 approved (something the province requires) so we can continue with the long range planning and with the province and if its not approved it can put the town and the region in a difficult position at the provincial level.  At our last council meeting the measure passed…just barely.  Again, we are doing what we can to send a message to the province that we need them to step up to the plate.

I’ll update the blog later on today when we get a chance to read his response.  Cross your fingers folks.

The Time Is NOW

Mike Cluett

As you might have already read in the Milton Canadian Champion and the Halton Compass this week, mark the date of Saturday April 16th at 10AM on your calendar.

There will be a citizens rally for the expansion of Milton District Hospital at Victoria Park (just outside Milton Town Hall) to show support of MDH and to send a message to the provincial government that “The Time Is Now” for approval.

Numerous studies have been completed by Halton Healthcare Services over the years that clearly outlines the fact we need a bigger hospital to help deliver healthcare services to the people of Milton.  Promises have been made over these years with nothing in return.

With the coming provincial budget and election this year, we feel that this is the perfect time to let the voices of Miltonians be heard.

Here is the link to the petition we will be getting signed by as many Milton residents as possible to deliver to the provincial government by our MPP Ted Chudleigh.  MPP Chudleigh is no stranger to voicing the concerns of residents in his riding when it comes to hospital expansion as he has been a strong advocate for MDH expansion.

You can also join the Facebook group as well by going here.

Again join us on the 16th of April at Victoria Park to speak out and let the provincial government know that “The Time Is NOW!!”

There will also be lawn signs available for you to show your support and advertise the event.  Email me or post your address on this blog post if you would like yours.