Debate heats up as Vaughan regional hopefuls discuss hospital, attack ads

YorkRegion.ca
Oct. 21, 2014
Adam Martin-Robbins

In a wide-ranging debate covering issues from the challenges facing seniors and the disabled to gridlock and transit, it was the future hospital and a flyer targeting three electoral hopefuls that fired up candidates vying for Vaughan’s three regional council seats.

About 100 people showed up at Vellore Village Community Centre last Thursday night to hear Michael Di Biase, Mario Ferri, Carrie Liddy, Richard Lorello, Gino Rosati and Deb Schulte answer some tough questions posed by Vaughan Citizen editor Kim Champion, who served as moderator for the debate hosted by Human Endeavour and The Citizen.

The debate grew heated right off the top when candidates were asked to spell out their vision for the portion of the city-owned hospital lands at Major Mackenzie Drive and Jane Street, not earmarked for the hospital.

Liddy, who has been critical of the city’s handling of the project, launched into an attack on the current council.

“Eight-two acres of land was purchased by all of the residents and citizens of Vaughan for $80 million,” she said. “For $80 million, we were supposed to have a hospital and health-care related uses including a transit hub, including barrier-free access, including doctor’s office, dentist’s office, x-rays. And what this council has done is reduce the acreage to 40 acres for the hospital and they have zoned the remaining 42 acres high-density.”

Liddy added that she took the matter to the Ontario Municipal Board, but didn’t mention her appeal was dismissed more than a month ago.

Incumbents Rosati and Schulte both challenged Liddy’s claims.

“What was stated about this high-density (development), there’s no high-density on that land at all and no residential plans on that land,” Rosati said.

He said the hospital is the top priority and once that’s completed, a plan for the remaining land — about 20 acres once you remove land for storm water ponds, roads, and other infrastructure — will be developed “in consultation with you, the residents, the ministry of health, with all the stakeholders".

Schulte said the current council put in place measures to retain ownership of the entire parcel of land and that a vision for the non-hospital portion will be developed once the hospital is up and running, expected to happen in 2019.

She went on to say: “There is no land grab” then added that “what is being said up here by some of the candidates is just out of this world".

Liddy responded by suggesting Schulte hasn’t read the zoning bylaws because “you have removed the transportation hub, there’s no barrier free access and you have added other uses, including residential uses, onto that zoning bylaw.”

In fact, Liddy said she’s now taking the matter to the courts.

That prompted Schulte to shoot back.

“It’s really ironic that the person who is sitting at this table today telling us that this council has done nothing and that this hospital is delayed … is the only one that currently, right now, is trying to delay moving this (hospital) precinct plan forward,” she said.

According to city officials, the zoning for the property does allow high-density, residential development but there’s a stipulation that it must be health-care related.

In other words, if there was a high-rise condominium built on the land, it would have to be a retirement home, nursing home or a similar type facility.

But the real flash point came near the end of the debate.

Rosati, during his closing remarks, expressed “disappointment” about a flyer mailed out by Lorello.

The flyer says: “Vaughan cannot afford Mario Ferri, Gino Rosati and (Ward 1 candidate and former councillor) Peter Meffe” and implicates them in the $16-million cost overrun for the new city hall and the subsequent multi-million dollar legal settlement with the contractor.

It also has pictures of them with their faces crossed out in red ink. 

“I think that’s unfair, unjust and doesn’t really deal with the issue,” Rosati said. “The city hall was mentioned (on the flyer), just one little piece. I think we have thousands of pages and anyone that wants to judge what happened with city hall, I’ll keep you informed from A to Z (about) what happened, how it happened, why it happened and what was done.”

In an unusual move, Lorello was given a chance to respond. And that’s when things got really combative.

“The flyer is truthful, the flyer is real,” he said, drawing jeers from many in the crowd.

“It’s your money as well and it was wasted,” he shouted back. “The previous council was not held responsible for that decision. The mismanagement is there and, I will repeat again, the reason why we don’t have the services we need is because of the waste — $33 million lost. Mr. Rosati, you were on council at the time; Mr. Ferri, you were on council at the time; and Mr. Di Biase, to some extent, you were on council at the time … and it still bothers me.”

At that point, Rosati and Lorello started yelling at each other; people in the crowd soon joined in.

When the sparring ended, Ferri was given a chance to weigh in.

“There’s no place for this in Vaughan,” he said. “If you want to do this in America, or elsewhere, fine, but this is not the place to be doing it. Let’s talk about issues. Let’s talk about a platform. Let’s talk about the vision. Let’s talk about all those things and let’s leave it at that. Let’s go out there and do the best that we can.”

But that didn’t put the matter to rest.

The shouting resumed when a small group surrounded Lorello as he left the stage and berated him.

As he exited the community centre, Lorello told a Citizen reporter there’s more to come and “it will be worse".

During the debate, candidates were also asked, aside from themselves, whom would they vote for to fill the other two regional council seats.

None of them took the bait.