milton hospital expansion

Say Cheese Mr Premier

Mike Cluett

From Christina Commisso Milton Canadian Champion

McGuinty attends tweetup

Local tweeters were greeted by an unlikely party-crasher Friday night — Ontario’s premier.Dalton McGuinty surprised about 25 people gathered for a meet-up among Twitter friends, better known as a ‘tweetup.’

“I want to be introduced as a fellow tweeter, and as Dalton,” the premier told organizer Robin Griffin in the parking lot of Shoeless Joe’s, before entering the party.

Griffin, of Milton, had previous correspondence with the premier over the social-networking site. “It all started when I tweeted that my daughter had a nightmare Dalton McGuinty was closing down her school.”

McGuinty tweeted back: “Ensure your daughter I’m not closing down her school and kiss her goodnight.”

Griffin, an experienced tweeter, has previously organized three tweetups. McGuinty is relatively new to the twittersphere, having only launched an account this past August. Despite entering late in the game, he has more than 5,300 followers and, according to Griffin, does all his own tweeting.

Last week, Griffin was contacted by McGuinty’s staff inquiring about the event. “I was told he really wanted to come since he’s never been to a tweetup, and he’ll be driving through the area Friday. But his head of security said I couldn’t tell anybody. It was the biggest secret I ever had to keep.”

But it didn’t take long for the twitterverse to become aflutter with the news once McGuinty entered the Main Street eatery.

“I respect him a little bit more for taking that chance,” said Ward 6 Councillor Mike Cluett, who attended the event. “A lot of his policies are unpopular, and you always run that risk of someone yelling and screaming.”

However, everyone treated the premier with respect, said Cluett, adding there was “an excitement in the air.”

While the event was non-political — with the premier spending about an hour-and-a-half asking attendees and Shoeless Joe’s patrons about themselves — Cluett did manage to bring up one local issue.

“I was helping take a picture (of McGuinty) and I said, “One, two, three, hospital expansion! I think the message was received. Even just getting the premier of the province to say the words ‘Milton hospital expansion’ is great.”

Event-goer Brian Best did a double-take when he saw the premier walk into the restaurant.

“His visit definitely humanizes him a bit more. It’s something you don’t see happen a lot with people in higher levels of government.”

Griffin said she’s honoured McGuinty found the time to stop by her event. “He’s a very important man in this country and he took the time to meet me, and I’m just a simple taxpayer.”

Days following the excitement of McGuinty’s visit, one burning question remains on Griffin’s mind. “How am I going to top this guest? 

Halton MPP Says Provincial Government “evasive” when it comes to MDH

Mike Cluett

Flipping through the online version of the Halton Compass, I came across an article in the November 11th edition about Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh asking the Health Minister Deb Matthews and anyone else involved about answers to Milton’s questions … when are we getting the hospital?

He wasn’t too impressed with the ministers answers during a committee meeting.  The video below the article is of the exchange (courtesy of Ted Chudleighs website)

Chudleigh Says Liberals evasive on Milton Hospital

According to Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh, Minister of Health Deborah Matthews has more moves than a prize-fighting boxer when it comes to dealing with the expansion of Milton District Hospital.

“She bobbed and weaved so much in answering a question (about the hospital) today that she again provided no concrete answer to a legitimate question.” fumed Chudleigh on November 2.

Chudleigh asked why the Ministry has been spending millions on consultants but has been pleading poor when it comes to providing the funds necessary to expand Milton’s small hospital.

“Minister Matthews dodged, went off topic and dodged again.” said Chudleigh.  “Her refusal to answer a legitimate question in the Legislature should anger Miltonians and all Ontarioians.”

Chudleigh explained that Milton’s hospital was built with a population of 30,000 in mind.  The town now boasts more than 90.000 residents and the population keeps rising, and is expected to grow more than 180,000 in another decade.

According to Chudleigh, the people of Milton have waited three years for action to be taken on the expansion of Milton’s hospital.  The money frittered away on consultants, as detailed in the Ontario Auditor’s Report, would have easily paid for the complete and necessary expansion of the Milton facility, he said.

“It’s pretty clear,” Chudleigh said.  “that the health care of Miltonians is less important to a Liberal government than transferring taxpayer’s money into the hands of their friends.”

Ted has spoken out many times over the last few years at the provincial level about the needs of Milton’s healthcare needs.  Here is an example of Ted in action.

During the last municipal campaign, the hospital was obviously one of the big issues.  I had stated, along with pretty much everyone who’s name was on a ballot, that the new Milton Town Council would do what they could to raise this issue with the provincial government.  I used the words “get off their duff” (believe me I wanted to use stronger words than that) when it comes to the expansion of our hospital.  Give us an answer either way so we can start planning at the local level when it comes to funding ideas for our portion.  This inaction isn’t helping Miltonians at all.

We need to put some more pressure on the provincial government.  Sending copies of reports and statements by council to anyone with an “@ontario.ca” email address isnt cutting it.  The provincial government spends its days telling municipalities like Milton and other surrounding communities that we have to grow by “X” amount in the next 10 years…but provides no financial assistance to get it done.  Just do it we’re told.

As this new council gets ready to go, we need to put together a plan that will help raise awareness of this inside the provincial government.  Many thanks to Halton MPP Ted Chudleigh for raising the issue in the provincial legislature on a regular basis.  Mr Chudleighs been known for time to time for ruffling a few feathers in the provincial government and I’m sure this isn’t the last time he’ll speak out about it.

Something has to be done.  A long time ago.  Its starts with a loud voice…then it turns into more. 

On The Right Track

Mike Cluett

An election  campaign can be a very busy time in a candidates life and times a very quiet time in a candidates life.

For hours on end, a candidate can knock on doors to speak with the voters in their ward, passing out information on who they are, what they stand for and what they feel the issues are in the area.  Many of you tell me what you think as well and that dialogue is important.  For some though who haven’t yet made a decision on who they will be supporting on October 25th, some reply with I’ll have a look and see.

What I find the most satisfying are the emails I receive from Ward 6 voters letting me know I am on the right track.  In the last 48 hours, I have received dozens of emails from you in the ward saying they watched the Milton Today TV debates from Sunday, either live or on demand (see my home page for the links) and they support what I’m talking about for the future of Milton.

Here are just some excerpts:

From Gilles:

“I’ve had the opportunity to speak with you at my home and listen to you speak during the Thanksgiving debate and you have my vote on October 25, 2010”

From Morgan:

“Just saw the debate online.  You did very well, and your rationale regarding the health care situation was excellent!  On all questions, I’m glad to see that you focused on your values and what you would bring to the table.  Good job, keep it up!”

The health care situation he speaks of is obviously the hospital expansion and what the Town of Milton can do to speed up the process.  My opponent asked me directly why Im “against the provincial government” on this.  The answer is quite clear.  We cant move forward as a town on the expansion of Milton Hospital until we know if the province of Ontario approves it.  THEN we can work towards plans, diagrams, money needed for local portion and everything else that comes with it.

NOTHING can happen until the provincial government gets “off its duff” (my words from the debate) and approves Milton, the fastest growing community in Canada, so we can get started.  No matter what the expansion looks like, we need to know.  We needed to know years ago, but they dragged their heels and they havent made Milton the priority it should be when it comes to the delivery of health care services in our area.

Thanks to everyone who has emailed me during this campaign and your words of support and encouragment are uplifting to say the least.  Nothing motivates me more to continue to knock on doors and speak with as many of you as I can before October 25th.  You can email me as always, mike@mikecluett.caor click on the Contact Mike section of the site.  I look forward to speaking with as many of you as I can before the 25th.

Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Well That Was Interesting

Mike Cluett

Last nights council meeting had it all.  Expectations were running high by some members of council that it could either be a very short meeting or a very long meeting.

I had reported before that council salaries would be discussed at this meeting but apparently it went through on consent items and didn’t even make a blip on the radar.

Ward 3 councillor Cindy Lunau had a notice of motion to include a quick presentation by Halton Healthcare Services to Milton Town Council to give them an update on Milton District Hospital and its possible expansion.

John Oliver from Halton Healthcare made a presentation outlining the fact that expansion of the Milton DH is essential and must happen.  The provincial government has put a freeze on capital projects and will be reviewing them for the 2011 budget.  He made it very clear that Milton needs to be on the radar and get approval fast.  Even if they were given the green light today, it would be at least 2-5 years before anything will happen.

Regional Councillor Colin Best was frustrated with the process, as all councillors are, and with the fact the provincial government KNOWS Milton is growing but is doing nothing to help out.  We are being mandated to grow our population and size but yet have a hospital that is well under the required size for our community.  Mayor Krantz also shared in that frustration as well.

Mr. Oliver also outlined his pleasure with the community as a whole that came out as a result of the Friends of Milton Hospital campaign when over 35,000 people signed a petition to raise awareness with the provincial government that we need something done and soon.

He said that more work is needed and the community and council need to get behind this full force.

Councillor Lunau also put forward a notice of motion for staff to review possible ways for Milton Town Council to fund expansion, as if it were to happen, the local level of government would be required to put money forward.  Council’s idea is to start saving soon for that eventuality.

The problem council faces is where do you start?  And how much do we save for?  John Oliver couldn’t give us a number, although pressed by Councillor Paul Scherer a few times, as legally he could not give a number.  Council was advised to review other area municipalities and what their costs were as a starting point.

These possible funding options include, but are not limited to:

Increase of Development Charges; Special Tax Levy on Milton taxpayers to go to a dedicated hospital expansion fund only to be used for that purpose; Combination of the two.  Another possibility is using the GTA funding poll that has been collected from Milton taxpayers to support Toronto (don’t get us started on that) and now is no longer needed as another source of funding.

Needless to say, this will be something that will require community support like we havent seen before.  Last year, 35,000 people came to the table and to go forward we will need more!

There were some other discussions last night about parking on Queen Street, which is not allowed.  Councillor Greg Nelson failed in his attempt to put forward a motion to reopen the discussion to allow parking on either one side or both.  But after a very convincing presentation by the Milton Fire Chief, which included pictures of the street with one emergency vehicle and how it would impede traffic and cause a safety issue, it was voted down and parking on Queen Street will not be allowed.

And of course, the highly anticipated motion from Ward One Councillor Rick Day was ruled out of order.  Im not going to get into it here, but if you wanted to read what he was going to talk about, here is a link to his proposed notice of motion.

I also experimented with live Tweets from the council meeting last night.  Judging from some of your emails and comments to those posts, it was pretty successful.  I will try for future meetings to post updates via Twitter, which of course you can keep track by going to www.twitter.com/mike_cluettor follow here on the home of the Mike Cluett.

As always I welcome your emails and comments so keep them coming.  Until then, I’ll see you at the doors.

Way to go Milton

Mike Cluett

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.

Overwhelming support

Nearly 35,000 residents sign petition postcards in group’s ongoing push for hospital expansion

Tim Foran, Canadian Champion Staff
Published on Jul 29, 2009

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