Breaking ground: Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital starts official build

Yorkregion.com
Oct. 25, 2016
By Tim Kelly

Tuesday's Mackenzie Vaughan Hospital ground-breaking signals the beginning of the end of "hospital commuting," as Vaughan MPP Steven Del Duca calls it.

Also the Minister of Transportation, Del Duca was one of many politicians and VIPs on hand at the Jane Street-Major Mackenzie ceremony Tuesday morning.

He, as did virtually every other speaker, paid special tribute to Mackenzie Health CEO and president Altaf Stationwala for helping get everyone this far in the long road to finally building a hospital in Vaughan.

Stationwala said Tuesday marked one of many hospital milestones on the way to opening the hospital's doors some time in 2020. The 1.2 million square-foot complex will employ 1,000 construction workers over the next three years, 1,800 full-time health-care workers once it opens its doors, and will have 350 beds with capacity for 75,000 annual emergency visits.

The provincial government is providing up to $1.3 billion in funding for the hospital with a community contribution of $250 million expected.

Greg Sorbara, the high-profile former Liberal finance minister and Vaughan MPP who is spearheading the campaign cabinet to raise the $250 million, reminded everyone the campaign is "the largest hospital campaign in the country." He paid tribute to the two $10 million donations received so far, from Magna International and the De Zen family.

Sorbara also recalled that the genesis of the hospital concept began some 15 years ago, when "a group of people in Vaughan started to discuss the urgent need for a hospital."

Sorbara's comment pointed out the long and winding road it's taken to reach the ground-breaking, with infighting between several groups along the way and stops and starts that led some to wonder whether a hospital would ever be built.

Mayor Maurizio Bevilacqua said he always believed it would happen.

"The journey's been an interesting one...some people were doubting whether this would ever happen," said the mayor.

Later, in an interview he said, "I never doubted. Every opportunity I got, I spoke highly about our hospital and that resonated in our community. It resonated in Queen's Park and so today we get to see the fruits of our labour. This day belongs to the citizens of Vaughan."