Hospital Rezoning Approved-City Council Meeting
Aug 17, 2018 | News & Updates
Mayor Drew Dilkens "I want a $2-billion-dollar investment in my community. I want that. I think that people in this community deserve better healthcare, because guess what? If we pass, and we say we don’t care, it’s not in the right place we’re going to move on … if we take a pass on that, it’s going to go to another community and all of us are going to pay for it. You’re all going to be paying provincial tax and we’re all going to be paying for a hospital somewhere else. So tonight is a big step forward for better healthcare for everyone in Windsor and Essex."
_ Mayor Drew Dilkens. Councillor Hilary Payne "The existing hospitals, established many years ago, are severely dated, and a new modern hospital containing all the latest advances in medical technology is very much needed … this is no way an opportunity that we should pass up. Not only on our own interests, but the interests of all future generations."
_ Coun. Hilary Payne, Ward 9 Councillor Irek Kusmierczyk "Residents of Forest Glade and East Riverside in Ward 7 will have better, closer and faster access to a state-of-the-art acute care hospital that will have the most modern equipment and technology, attract the best trained doctors and staff, and provide the highest quality of service, that will be the envy of Ontario. The proximity to this new hospital, the most modern hospital in Ontario, will not only improve access to healthcare for residents of Ward 7 and our city, but it will improve healthcare and our region period. Quality healthcare is foundational to quality of life."
_ Coun. Irek Kusmierczyk, Ward 7 Councillor Jo-Anne Gignac "I truly believe that the opportunity in front of us tonight is far-reaching. There certainly have been concerns expressed tonight and I understand the issue of trying to make sure that everything we’ve done recently to promote the core of our city isn’t put on the sidelines by a decision that we’re making tonight. However, I truly believe in the administrative recommendations that have been put in front of us and the work that has been undertaken in this community over a significant number of years because we have been looking at this annexed land area since I was first elected to council in 2003. And the balanced approach that’s put in front of both the planning advisory committee and council is a solid one."
_ Coun. Jo-Anne Gignac, Ward 6 Councillor Paul Borrelli "The Ministry of Health and WRH and the assigned hospital selection committee all worked together for a couple of years, intensely, diligently and collaboratively, with the public and the administration here, to extensive consultation on the site selection. The selection was made using a very fair process. It conforms with the provincial policy statement and it conforms to the City of Windsor Official Plan."
_ Coun. Paul Borrelli, Ward 10 Councillor Fred Francis "… I firmly believe that everyone in this community and certainly everyone in this room wants a new hospital. I’ve heard that several times and I’ll take people for their word. I will say that Your Worship, when you explained the situation earlier this evening and said ‘well if it went here, there and people are arguing that we won’t get it’, I did hear someone in the audience say "well good. That’s fine." That’s your opinion, everyone’s entitled to their opinion and I’m certainly entitled to mine. So let me be clear: That’s not an option for me. Not getting a brand new hospital is no option for me. And it’s not an option for tens of thousands of others, of our citizens that want a new hospital, that want an improved healthcare system." _
Coun. Fred Francis, Ward 1 Councillor John Elliott "We need a new hospital. I know lots has been said about the location, the intensification, the density, and honestly, I’m on board with just getting the new hospital. I recall a close friend of mine some years ago. Her and her husband lived in Kingston and he worked in corrections, she worked in nursing. They were there for about 15 years and they came back to Windsor to be with family and she applied to the hospital system. During the conversation, she told me it was like going from the future to the Stone Age in terms of what our facilities look like and she actually admitted to me she got depressed about it …. I have kids, I have grandkids. I know a lot of people do. Fundamentally for me, it’s about getting a new hospital."
_ Coun. John Elliott, Ward 2 Councillor Ed Sleiman "Met and (Ouellette campus) have been in our community for a long time. They served the community well. However, the community has grown; technology has changed the way patients are being treated in hospitals. State-of-the-art equipment have been developed that can diagnose and treat patients more efficiently, (and) could not fit in our hospital because of the limited space. Hallways are narrow, patient rooms are gloomy, hospital staff and doctors do not have adequate space to do their job efficiently. Technology grants that improve patient care go to modern hospitals in the province, not to our existing hospitals."
_ Coun. Ed Sleiman, Ward 5 Councillor Chris Holt Councillor Rino Bortolin