There’s frustration in the region after the 2024 Ontario budget released on Wednesday failed to include a long-anticipated planning grant for a new Whitby hospital.
“This is the third budget to pass, and there’s no planning grant for a hospital,” Mayor Elizabeth Roy said.
However, Roy acknowledges that there were no planning grants issued in the budget.
“There is money being spent on health care as a whole across the province, for additions to hospitals, expansions of services in that as well,” Roy said. “But the reality is, we’re going into a third budget. How many more budgets do we have to wait for this planning grant to be announced?”
An independent expert panel selected a site in Whitby in January 2022 for a new hospital in Durham. Since then, Roy said there has been zero action from the province.
But Roy isn’t giving up hope.
“Under the process of planning grants in the province’s own document, it states that a planning grant can be announced at any point in time for a hospital,” Roy said. “I’m going to hang onto the words of what the premier said.”
In a statement to Global News, MPP Lorne Coe, who has been an advocate for the new hospital, confirmed that Whitby will be getting a hospital — but not yet.
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“As Premier Ford said recently, while we are not issuing any new planning grants right now, we will be building a new hospital situated in Whitby for the people of Durham Region,” Coe said.
“Our government is working hard to deliver on the $50 billion worth of hospital projects already in the pipeline. While we work to get shovels in the ground on these projects, I will continue to work closely with the staff at the Ministry of Health and our partners at Lakeridge Health to ensure we meet the health care needs of our growing community in Whitby, and other parts of the region.”
On Feb. 15, Premier Doug Ford said in a radio interview that there is going to be a Whitby hospital, and that a planning grant would be issued soon.
In a statement to Global News, a spokesperson for Minister of Finance Peter Bethlenfalvy responded to the mayor’s disappointment.
“He is very supportive of the hospital, and has long advocated for more Health care not only in Whitby, but in Pickering and all of Durham,” the spokesperson said.
Roy said she hopes that if not in the budget, a planning grant can come out soon.
“If we’re going to build the amount of housing and housing units required, if our community is going to grow as much as it is by 2031-2041, the infrastructure of health care, education, and the infrastructure of our roads and water and all that, need to be a part of that growth.”
Whitby MP Ryan Turnbull has also been a supporter of the new hospital needed in the region, and said health care has been a number one issue in the riding.
“So every delay and every step of the process is more disappointed family members or individuals in our riding and across Durham Region that are not getting access to the care they need, which is eroding their trust in our health-care system,” Turnbull said.
On Feb. 7, the Town of Whitby launched a community advocacy campaign to underscore the urgency and need for a new hospital. Since then, thousands of residents have signed a call-to-action letter and shared stories on why the hospital matters to them.
Roy adds that the hospital is not guaranteed until the province is able to provide the $3-million planning grant to start the project.
Next week will be the final week of Whitby’s eight-week community advocacy campaign.
In the meantime, Roy said she will continue to urge the government to release funding for a planning grant.
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