5 Critical Questions

 

The real reasons why the mega-plan hasn't moved forward

For more than five years, thousands of Windsor-Essex residents have continuously voiced their concerns about the greenfield "mega-hospital" plan. To date, every nagging question remains unaddressed. Instead, municipal and hospital leaders have chosen to amplify false narratives and throw tax dollars at campaigns to divert public attention from the underlying issues preventing the plan from moving forward.  One recent example of these diversion tactics: WEEDC's current $100,000+ tax-funded promotional campaign launched without transparent municipal council approval. This is just another effort to suppress the real issues. Is this a desperate attempt to deceive provincial decision makers into believing there is overwhelming community support for the deeply flawed plan? Why, after so much time and effort, can residents not get straight answers to these and other critical questions?

1. Planned healthcare services: If the new hospital is built on County Road 42, what healthcare services are planned for the Windsor Regional Hospital (WRH) Ouellette site? This continues to be a moving target, with several very optimistic plans for Downtown Windsor teased and now shelved. What can residents actually expect? 2. Legitimacy: How is it possible that WRH is "no longer fit for use,” when a new hospital - no matter where it's built - is still years away? Parts of WRH's two campuses have seen better days (though the original 1888 building at the Ouellette Campus was demolished in 1963). Others are relatively new, like the $17M Regional Cancer Centre built in 2001, and major state of the art renovations and expansions completed in 2005.  From the description of the Ouellette Campus renovation project in the August 31, 2003 edition of Health Care Design Magazine: "As a major step in the redevelopment process, a new 130,000-square-foot wing was constructed to the east of the existing hospital on three levels. This project includes the Emergency Department, Outpatient Clinics, Diagnostic Imaging, Surgical Suite, and ICU. As part of the new Diagnostic and Treatment addition, a new main entrance, drop-off, lobby, and vertical connections were created, along with a new ambulatory and ambulance emergency entrance, on Goyeau Street." How well have the two campuses been maintained since scuttling part of the first phase of a 20 year, $670M Ouellette Campus expansion in 2013? Have further necessary renovations to WRH been intentionally delayed in order to increase the public's support for the mega-plan?  How can both of WRH's two local campuses be in such disrepair while scoring 99.8% in the 2019 national accreditation process?  3. Transit service: If there's truly so much need to increase Windsor's developed footprint, why does the Windsor's Transit Master Plan state there's no need for bus routes to County Road 42 if no hospital is built?  4. Fiscal stewardship: How much will efficient and effective public transit service to County Road 42 actually cost? In tax dollars? In reduced service on other routes? In increased travel times and transit fares? 5. Transparency: Was a contract extension requested as required after July 21, 2017, under the terms of the $6 milllion purchase agreement for the land on County Road 42 at Concession 9? If so, what happened after January 17, 2018, 180 days after the original completion date? Why is the parcel still registered in the name of Michael O'Keefe Farms Inc?