To fund or not... We may not know the answer until after the election

Premier Dalton McGuinty prorogued the provincial legislature until after this October's election.  He did it without a whisper of opposition, without an outcry from the public.  It also happened without the release of the list of who gets what infrastructure money over the next 10 years. Milton's hopes for a hospital expansion have to wait another few months yet, and that's not right.

Milton has been fighting for its expansion for the last 15 years or more, and the need has become critical in the last five.  The pressure  reached a fever pitch with the Friends of Milton District Hospital postcard campaign, and most recently with the petition that got 6 thousand signatures and was presented by MPP Ted Chudleigh at Queen's Park, and the rally held at Milton's Victoria Park.

Milton was supposed to be on a list of 50 communities slated to be released this month.  But that may not come out now until after the October election.  I doubt we were even on it.  I was able to cover the Mayor's Breakfast a while back, and the special guest was Infrastructure Minister Bob Charielli.  Ted Chudleigh was seated near the front of the room to hear the Minister go after both Tim Hudak, and himself in what was an extremely partisan speech.  It left me the impression that it was vaguely personal- Chudleigh had been a pain in the Liberals' backside, and they were going to do and say whatever they had to, in order to stop the P.C.'s from taking the riding again.  And if that meant denying a town that so obviously needs expanded hospital facilities, then so be it... the election campaign is on- all's fair in love and elections.  The hospital may be dangled like a carrot to get us voting Liberal.


An expanded hospital has become a vital need for Milton.  There is no room for proper surgical waiting areas, and the infrastructure that could support the latest equipment (sterilizers) has reached the end of its useful life.  In the fairly recent experiences I've had, the great staff are doing their best with what they have.  But I'm sure even they grow as frustrated as various councilors are.


I think the only thing to be done is to give up.  Give up fighting this government- wait until the next one is elected; because I believe it will be Progressive Conservative.  Having toured the facilities, I think Hudak has a much better grasp of what Milton needs than the Premier ever would.  And if he doesn't give Milton the money, then Chudleigh could become as big a pain in Hudak's rear end as he is to the Liberals.

Lifting The Curtain

In this week's Halton Compass, I did a story on Ted Chudleigh's nomination as the Progressive Conservative (PC) candidate in next year's provincial election.  In town for the meeting, and events related to the ongoing fight against  the HST was PC Leader Tim Hudak.  Following the formal part of the meeting, my colleague from the Champion and I were offered time with the leader... we're reporters and it's not everyday we're offered time with the leader of the opposition, and someone who could potentially be the next Premier of Ontario.  So we took it, and my colleauge's article is also in this week's Champion.  He chose to focus on the hospital, and the local funding' portion. 

But here's where we differ. I read the situation in a completely different manner.  The way I read it was here was a man who is probably 1 year out from fighting a provincial election.  Hudak wants to make frontline healthcare a priority, but admits he needs a better business environment if the province is to continue its financial recovery.  And on some level I think he realizes financially the needed financial committment may not be possible.  He wants to disband the LHINS (Local Health Integrated Network) but doesn't know what if anything to replace them with.

Call me an eternal optimist, but I think we should take a wait-and see approach before we discount the DC idea.  It's a long time between now and next October.