Member of Provincial Parliament
Mississauga-Streetsville Provincial Liberal Association
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Harbinger of Tory health nastiness
Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak trashed our Credit Valley Hospital in a statement he made in the Ontario Legislature on Thursday November 4, 2010. He made allegations he knew to be false. It had to be corrected. Here is a Guest Column I sent to the Mississauga News. It was published on Wednesday November 10, 2010. The full article and supplementary material follows.
On Thursday November 4 2010, with Premier McGuinty developing new job opportunities on a trade mission, I sat in the front row of the Legislature beside Finance Minister, and Deputy Premier, Dwight Duncan during Question Period. Good thing too. In the first words out of his mouth, Hudak sneered, "Why are emergency patients at Credit Valley Hospital in Mississauga being treated in the hospital's garage?" They were not, and he knew it. He even circulated a misleading picture.
What a snide, deliberate slap in the face to Mississauga residents, and to the dedicated doctors, nurses and staff at our hospitals! Get used to it, Mississauga; there will be lots more abuse coming as Ontario Conservatives trash our city in a desperate bid to hang onto their rump of seats in the Ontario Legislature.
Let's start with the truth, and slap Hudak and the "two-tax" Tories back. Hudak knew, when he asked the question, that no patients were in the ambulance bay. On Monday November 1, Hudak staffer Patrick Gill e-mailed the hospital to "confirm that Credit Valley Hospital has housed patients in its ambulance barn/garage."
Hello Conservatives! The last time there was a "barn" on the property was before the hospital was built 25 years ago. Gill was informed that to alleviate overcrowding in the hospital's emergency department, a specially retrofitted, hospital-clean, ambulance bay/treatment centre is sometimes used to handle "surge" periods at Credit Valley, while Phase II approaches completion ahead of schedule. (Note: Phase II opened three months ahead of schedule, and under budget in the spring of 2011.)
The hospital had responded to Hudak Tory staffer Patrick Gill a day before Hudak asked his question and noted, "We are currently not utilizing this surge space."
A day before Hudak slagged Credit Valley Hospital in the Legislature, Gill responded to the hospital, "Thank you for your response." The truth never mattered. Hudak came right back and asked why patients were being treated in "a dirty garage." They were not, and he knew it. It was another PC Party, emotionally-laden, drive-by smear to our hospital, masquerading as a question.
Where were the Conservatives when I campaigned for Phase II to be built at Credit Valley? Nowhere. Construction began in 2008, and the new "A" and "H" Blocks are now open, within budget, and ahead of schedule. That's how we do things in Mississauga, and within the efficiently-managed Credit Valley Hospital. The Ontario Tories campaigned to tear $3.5 billion out of Ontario's health care budget by cancelling the health care premium that funded CVH's essential expansion wing. Then they flip-flopped, and said they'd keep it. Now what do Tories plan to do with Credit Valley Hospital? Close it, or sell it?
Ontario's first baby boomers turned 65 this year. Ontario Conservatives are sending clear, unmistakable signals that, as a party, they plan to wash their hands of health care for the largest demographic segment in the Province's history. Shameful. Don't listen to what Conservatives say, watch what they do. The last time this collection of incompetents got their greasy mitts onto power in Ontario, they fired 8,000 nurses, closed 28 hospitals, and ran the health care system into the ground. As a matter of fact, the Tories ran the electricity system, the province's infrastructure, our roads, and even the Ontario budget (hidden $5.6 billion deficit) into the ground too.
In the fall of 2010, I worked with Credit Valley to secure the opening of 24 additional beds. As part of the Phase II project, some 75,000 square feet of existing hospital space will be completely renovated to accommodate the needs of fast-growing western Mississauga. The Conservatives? Nowhere to be found.
Attacks as damaging, and as premeditated, as Hudak's was must be corrected on the record. Health Minister Deb Matthews paid an unannounced visit to Credit Valley Hospital the day after Hudak's attack in the Legislature knowing fully his story was false. She thanked the hardworking staff and renewed the Province's commitment to Mississauga. Hudak never came. It has been days since the cowardly Hudak trashed the people who make our hospital function, and everybody who uses it. Apologize to Mississauga, Tim Hudak.