Brampton MPP, mayor respond to NDP allegations Ford government lied about second hospital

Thestar.com
Dec. 3, 2021

The Doug Ford government and Brampton’s mayor have responded to renewed Ontario New Democratic Party (NDP) criticism and allegations the province was dishonest with voters when it approved funding to build a second full-service hospital in the city.

NDP leader Andrea Horwath first accused the province of lying about building a second full-service hospital to help alleviate pressure on the chronically overstretched Brampton Civic Hospital -- the city’s only existing full-service hospital -- after Premier Doug Ford announced funding to expand the Peel Memorial Urgent Care Centre in March.

Peel Memorial was a full-service hospital before being torn down under the former Liberal government after Brampton Civic was completed in 2007. The site is currently the Peel Memorial Urgent Care Centre (UCC), which opened in 2017.

The UCC was the first phase of a planned second full-service hospital, but the second phase was not funded until earlier this year. The province’s plan is to fund an expansion to include 250 in-patient beds and an emergency room operating 24/7 to give the city two full-service facilities.

The project is expected to break ground in 2023 with an estimated completion date in 2027. The government also approved funding to turn the UCC into a 24-hour facility starting sometime next year.

Now, the NDP is again calling for a third Brampton hospital with an additional 600 beds and is claiming the Ford government reneged on its promise to meet the city’s health-care needs. The NDP recently tabled a failed motion at Queen’s Park to build a third hospital.

“The promises around Peel Memorial have been broken (repeatedly), including a promise that was made just earlier this year at the beginning of the year by Doug Ford,” Horwath told reporters during a Nov. 17 news conference in Brampton.

Brampton needs Peel Memorial turned into a full-service hospital, including a 24-hour emergency ward, extra beds and a third hospital, said Howarth.

“Unfortunately, that’s not what Doug Ford is doing. As we know, he has decided that 850 beds are no longer on the table, that there will not be a 24-hour ER ward (and) that the (Peel) Memorial expansion is not going to be what we need here in Brampton,” added Horwath.

Brampton South Progressive Conservative MPP Prabmeet Sarkaria told the Brampton Guardian there was never a call or plan for 850 hospital beds in Brampton or a third hospital, and the Ford government is fulfilling the promise it made for Peel Memorial.

“Our commitment off the get-go in the budget was … 250 beds, a 24-7 emergency room (and) new hospital for Brampton. And that’s what we’re going to deliver,” he said, adding the province also approved funding for 600 new long-term care beds in coming years.

The William Osler Health System, which oversees hospitals in Brampton and Etobicoke, recently gave a presentation to city council. Osler’s president and CEO Dr. Naveed Mohammad confirmed the project's scope.

He also told council that under the current provincial hospital funding model in place since the mid-2000s -- which includes a significant local share of costs split between hospital associations and cities -- Osler couldn’t afford to equip a third Brampton hospital for at least 14 to17 years.

Mohammad added Osler’s next provincial funding priority isn’t a third hospital, but rather a dedicated cancer care centre at Brampton Civic. He also said the current investment by the province into Peel Memorial would satisfy the city’s health-care needs for years to come.

“With two significant hospital footprints, we will have a robust, integrated by design and efficient system,” he said.

Mayor Patrick Brown also weighed-in on assertions Brampton was shortchanged by the province at a news conference in early November.

“I know that at Queen’s Park there is some partisan attacks that it’s not big enough. Brampton got nothing for two decades. For two decades, we were ignored despite having institutionalized hallway medicine. We’re getting a billion dollars, the largest investment in health-care in our city’s history. So, I’m not going to play politics with this,” he said Nov. 10.

Regardless, Horwath and the NDP believe Brampton needs and deserves a third hospital after years of neglect. Horwath promised her party -- if elected in 2022 -- would change the current provincial funding model and fully fund a third hospital including the required local share.