Milton gets a Hospital Expansion, or Will it?

So we've got our badly needed expansion.  I know, I should be jumping for joy- so happy I should be bursting.    But I'm not; instead I'm in the cynical camp on this one.  I've often used the saying: Be ware of politicians making promises for it is election time. Promises are  meant to be broken.

I know I'm being such a Debbie Downer.  I know I'm bursting the balloons of many friends on Council, and involved with the Friends of Milton Hospital.  But all I can see here are political ramifications that beg the question: Will we really get the hospital expansion?

A couple of months ago I would've predicted Ted Chudleigh had this one in the bag.  On name recognition alone he'd win.  Couple that with the fact he was positioning himself as a man of action on the Hospital- probably the #1 campaign issue, and I would say victory was a sure thing.  Thursday's funding announcement made it an even race.   Now Chudleigh gets to take partial credit and say he, along with numerous councilors, and the Friends of Milton Hospital fought hard for it, and got it done. Flip it over, Liberal candidate Indira Naidoo-Harris gets to go out and take credit saying it was a Liberal government who gave permission for it, and a Liberal government who will help fund it if re-elected.  It can be viewed as vote-buying.
And I don't trust it. I think all these promises of hospital expansions are linked to polling numbers.  Do a poll in any of the ridings, and I bet you'll find the Liberals running second or lower to one of the other parties prior to the announcement. Do one afterwards and you'd see a surge of support.

Right now it's great- we've got exactly what we wanted- what we've been fighting for for years.  But what happens if the Liberals are re-elected and Milton gets lost in the shuffle of all the other expansions/new facilities/ and new funding? What happens if Hudak is elected and finds there's little left in the cupboards for hospitals? Will we really see an expansion at Milton Hospital?

I hope so.  I don't know if there's another community more deserving- I don't know if there's another community where it's more justified.  But I have to wonder if the funding announcement on Thursday was a little more opportunistic than good policy; that maybe this was more about getting elected than giving a badly-needed expansion to a community.