Multibillion-dollar hospital being built in Mississauga could get $390M from city

Mississauga is now considering putting $390 million toward construction of a new multibillion-dollar hospital in the city just six months after insisting no money at all would be directed to the massive project from taxpayers.

Citing budget pressures and what would be an unfair burden on Mississauga taxpayers, the mayor and city councillors last October told local hospital officials no contribution from the City of Mississauga — let alone the $450 million being asked for — was forthcoming to help build The Peter Gilgan Mississauga Hospital, which will replace the current hospital at the corner of Hurontario Street and The Queensway.

Instead, the city asked the provincial government, already committed to as much as 85 per cent of the funding, to pick up a larger chunk of the bill, which is expected to be “in the billions” of dollars.

Subsequent negotiations with the province reduced the $450 million amount to $390 million, a figure Mayor Carolyn Parrish can live with to get the hospital — expected to be the largest in Canada — built and opened on time in 2033.

Mayor Carolyn Parrish has put forth a motion calling for Mississauga to contribute $390 million to construction of a new, state-of-the-art hospital.

In a motion to be dealt with at city council this Wednesday, Parrish is seeking to have Mississauga pick up $390 million of the hospital build tab, to be paid by Jan. 1, 2033.

The money would be collected via an annual hospital levy of as much as one per cent on residents’ property tax bills.

The mayor and councillors said last fall while they fully support plans to build the new state-of-the-art, 22-storey hospital, they weren’t — at that time — willing to put an additional financial burden on taxpayers.

Ward 11 Coun. Brad Butt, who also chairs the city’s budget committee, said last October that “no matter how we would finance it,” the additional pressure on residents’ property tax bills would be too much.

He pointed to “some significant pressures on our property taxes in 2025 (and beyond)” in tabling a motion to decline the $450-million request from Trillium Health Partners, the umbrella organization that oversees Mississauga Hospital and Credit Valley Hospital in addition to the Queensway Health Centre on the Etobicoke-Mississauga border.

The motion received unanimous council support at the time.

Ward 11 Coun. Brad Butt, also chair of the city’s budget committee, said last fall Mississauga taxpayers shouldn’t be burdened with paying for the hospital.

Deputy Mayor and Ward 8 Coun. Matt Mahoney said last fall he and his council colleagues “understand the need to invest in health care and to invest in the hospital,” but the Ontario government must bring more cash to the table.

“This is a hospital in Mississauga, but it will serve not only the region, the GTA, the GTHA, the province of Ontario and in many cases, with the services that will be provided, it will provide health care for Canadians, so to put this on the Mississauga property tax base, on Mississauga taxpayers isn’t fair to our taxpayers.”

In asking the city for money last fall, Trillium Health Partners said it had already confirmed commitments of over $825 million toward the local share through contributions from the hospital and donations via its fundraising arm, the Trillium Health Partners Foundation.

Parrish noted in her motion that Trillium’s detailed local share plan, including the contribution amount from the city, must be approved by its board of directors by the end of this week.

The motion from the mayor also pointed out, among other things, the new hospital:

• will, through its construction, create some 3,000 construction jobs and contribute about $1 billion to the local economy over the next 10 years
• will be the largest community-based teaching hospital in Canada at 2.8 million square feet and with 950 beds and 23 operating rooms
• will host an anticipated 1.7 million patient visits annually
• will add 2,400 health-care support staff and some 400 doctors to its ranks