Brantford officials present case for a new hospital to health minister
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A local delegation that included Mayor Kevin Davis met with Ontario Health Minister Sylvia Jones this week as efforts to secure a new hospital in Brantford ramp up.
“We spoke about how Brantford has needed a new hospital for a long time,” Davis said in an interview following the meeting held during the AMO – Association of Municipalities of Ontario – conference in Ottawa. ”We needed a new hospital 25 years ago and the only thing that’s happened is an addition to a building that is 80 to 100 years old that is really showing its age.”
Davis said the meeting was an excellent opportunity to speak to the minister and health ministry officials directly. Jones is also Ontario’s Deputy Premier.
Operated by the Brant Community Healthcare System, the hospital has been plagued with a range of infrastructure related problems including boiler breakdowns and a sink hole in a utility tunnel.
“We were also able to tell her that we’ve put $16 million into a hospital reserve fund over the past 14 months and she seemed pretty impressed with that,” Davis said. “The hospital reserve and the money we’ve set aside shows our commitment to getting a new hospital.”
The delegation invited Jones to visit Brantford to see for herself the need for a new hospital.
Hospital construction is a provincial responsibility with 90 per cent of the funding coming from the province. The remaining 10 per cent comes from local municipalities and the broader community.
The delegation included Brantford city councillors Linda Hunt, Rose Sicoli and Mandy Samwell, city CAO Brian Hutchings, Brantford-Brant MPP Will Bouma and Bonnie Camm, president of the Brant Community Healthcare System. The meeting took place at the annual Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference.
Held this year at the Shaw Centre in Ottawa, the conference brings together elected representatives and municipal officials from more than 440 Ontario municipalities to find ways of making local government more effective.
The conference ended Wednesday.
Camm, who became the healthcare system’s president and CEO earlier this year, was able to provide detailed information about the new hospital plans.
The new hospital plans also include improvements to the Willett Urgent Care Centre in Paris, which is also operated by the healthcare system.
Although a final cost of the new hospital hasn’t been determined, healthcare system officials say it is in the billions.
Davis said healthcare system officials, the city council and Bouma are working to get the new hospital included in the province’s 2025 budget expected sometime in the spring.
That, Davis said, would be a major step towards getting a new hospital within the next eight to 10 years.
The local delegation left the 30-minute meeting feeling “positive” and “hopeful,” Davis said.
Meanwhile, the community will soon have an opportunity to advocate for a new hospital. A sign campaign, which was first introduced by Coun. Richard Carpenter, is expected to begin in September.
“This is a way for residents to the health ministry that there is a need and that they’re supporting the healthcare system,” Davis said.
The support of the broader community is vital because there are other communities seeking the same funding for a new hospital, Davis said.
The Brantford delegation met with Jones prior to the minister’s speech at the conference.
Jones announced $378 million to support 19 treatment and social support hubs for individuals with mental health and substance abuse challenges. The funding aims to address Ontario’s opioid and the related homelessness crisis.
Jones also announced the closure of nine safe consumption sites in municipalities across Ontario. The government also intends to prohibit the opening of any new safe consumption sites.
City officials also met with several other provincial ministers including Transportation Minister Prabmeet Sarkaria to talk about the need for a regional road system as the population of Brantford continues to grow.
City officials have said a regional road system is needed to ensure residents can get to and from jobs in areas of Brantford slated for development.
The city delegation advocated for taking over ownership of a section of Highway 24 between Powerline Road and Governors Road.
Owning that section of the highway would help the city develop lands it acquired from Brant County.
(Article by VINCENT BALL/Brantford Expositor) (Photo by BCHS)
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