Council to Ford: Show us the money
Premier asked to keep his promise that a new hospital will be built
You could file this story under the heading of better late than never.
Trent Hills council has decided to send a letter to Premier Doug Ford formally requesting that he follow through on his promise and approve a planning grant to allow movement toward the eventual building of a new hospital in Trent Hills.
You could be excused for thinking that this formal request must have been made at some time in the past, since the community has been pushing for a new hospital for several years and the site was announced more than 2 1/2 years ago.
While some politicians in other communities that have also been waiting for provincial action on hospitals have complained loudly and publicly to get the Premier’s attention, Trent Hills has taken a quieter approach, until now.
But finally fed up that the province has been dragging its feet for several years on approving a planning grant for a new hospital to replace the aged, deteriorating Campbellford Memorial Hospital, Councillor Daniel Giddings proposed a mildly worded letter be sent expressing their desire for action.
The motion doesn’t actually demand a hospital, it just requests the planning grant, usually about $2.5 million, to allow movement in the right direction. Formal approval for a new hospital wouldn’t come until the planning process has been completed which takes about two years. Construction of a new facility would take eight to 10 years once it is approved.
Giddings actually proposed the letter at the last meeting on April 22, but it was pushed off until now.
The irony is, if local rumours are to be given any credence, the province may soon approve the planning grant.
Approval of the grant should allow Jim Curle’s donation of 48 acres for the campus of care to finally go ahead. That’s been on hold until provincial approval of some sort came along.
Planning grant approval should also help the Burnbrae Gardens Long-Term Care Residence, which no longer meets the legal standards of the ministry of long-term care and must be replaced. The plan is to build a new, larger facility on the new campus, probably before the hospital itself gets built.
In early April, Premier Doug Ford announced the province will give a planning grant to Orillia Soldiers’ Memorial Hospital. It too had been waiting not so patiently to move ahead.
Ford told reporters that he considers building infrastructure, such as hospitals, a vital way of combatting tariffs and economic uncertainty caused by U.S. President Donald Trump. So, it won’t be a surprise if he does come through, either in the budget on Thursday or shortly after.
Personally, I’d much rather he was going around the province announcing hospitals and would drop the crazy dream of a 60-killometre tunnel under the 401.
A study released on Monday by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives provides some context for the impact of the Ford’s government slow action on funding hospitals, new and old.
The report, Hollowed Out: Ontario Public Hospitals and the Rise of Private Staffing Agencies, looks at a decade or more of hospital under-funding and its impact. Ontario ranks last of all provinces at $1,805 per capita, far below the leader Newfoundland and Labrador at $2,701, in 2022 the last year available.
“Recent commitments by the Ontario government to invest in public health care are welcome but cannot be easily reconciled with the government’s privatization policy directions, which continue to undermine public hospitals,” says the report written by Andrew Longhurst.
“Inadequate provincial funding prevents hospitals from negotiating fair wages and working conditions that address high living costs and the workload demands of a growing and aging population,” the report says.
This means hospitals have trouble attracting and retaining staff, particularly since nurses can earn far more and often have better shifts if they switch to private agency services, which charge hospitals hourly rates of two to three times unionized rates to fill gaps.
“Public hospital spending on private agency staff is extraordinary. Ontario hospitals paid agencies $9.2 billion between 2013-14 and 2022-23,” the report says.
Campbellford Memorial’s CEO Jeff Hohenkerk has said that several agency nurses earn as much as he does, a situation the hospital is trying to address by hiring more full-time staff.
“Half of the province’s hospitals ended 2024 in deficit and 2025 is expected to be worse,” the report says. “The longer hospitals do not have the funding to stabilize operations, the greater is the risk to patient care and safety. The hospital funding crisis has already triggered a staffing crisis.”
In the year ended March 31, 2024, Campbellford Memorial reported a deficit of $1.6 million. Smaller, rural hospitals are the ones most likely to have deficits, the Hollowed Out report says.
Here’s the full motion that council passed without any discussion:
“Whereas the current Campbellford Memorial Hospital has faithfully served the residents of Trent Hills and surrounding areas for 72 years, and is now facing aging infrastructure, capacity limitations, and increasing demands on healthcare services;
“And Whereas access to quality healthcare is a fundamental necessity for the wellbeing of the Trent Hills and surrounding communities, and essential to supporting growth and development in rural Ontario;
“And Whereas the proposed new hospital project has garnered significant community support essential to ensuring continued access to safe, modern, and effective healthcare services for current and future generations;
“And Whereas the proposed new Campus of Care will help attract new healthcare professionals to our area, in addition to providing greater healthcare support for our community demographics;
“And Whereas a 48-acre parcel of land has been donated by Jim Curle and family, a hospital planning grant will assist in bringing together the Campus of Care facilities, that will also include a new long term care home and extended healthcare services;
“And Whereas the planning phase is a critical step in the process of delivering a new hospital, and requires a financial commitment from the Province of Ontario, in the form of a hospital planning grant;
“Now Therefore be it resolved that the Council of the Municipality of Trent Hills formally requests the Government of Ontario to:
1. Commit to providing a planning grant for the proposed new hospital in Trent Hills;
2. Initiate the planning and development process for a new hospital within our Campus of Care, to replace the existing Campbellford Memorial Hospital; and
3. Recognize the urgent and ongoing healthcare needs of residents in Trent Hills and the surrounding rural areas.”
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