Premier Ford says Brampton’s new hospital coming ‘sooner than later’
Published January 25, 2022 at 4:43 pm
As Brampton’s mayor calls for the province to break ground on the city’s new hospital, Premier Doug Ford still hasn’t said when the project will get underway.
In an interview with insauga.com publisher Khaled Iwamura on Tuesday, Ford was tight-lipped about when construction would begin on Brampton’s second hospital.
Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown said in a sit-down interview last week that getting “shovels in the ground” on the hospital project is one of his campaign trail asks of Ford.
When asked when Brown would get his wish, Ford said only that the work would start “sooner than later.”
“I love the people of Brampton,” Ford said on Tuesday. “They deserve a new hospital, we’re going to give them one, but we need the support fo the federal government.”
Brampton received a $1-billion tender from the province to upgrade the old Peel Memorial Hospital last year.
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Ford said Tuesday that the provinces are “carrying the brunt” of healthcare needs in Canada, saying the current split between Ottawa and the provinces and the Canadian Health Transfer are “just not sustainable for any province or territory.”
“It’s the Liberals, it’s the Conservatives before them, but the reality is no one could sustain the increase in healthcare that we’re seeing,” Ford said.
“All the premiers are united, we just need the federal government to come to the table with sustainable funding – not one-time funding, sustainable funding for years to come,” Ford said.
Brown has also said wants Queen’s Park to commit to a planning grant for a third hospital, saying “if you want to build a third hospital 13 years from now, it starts now.”
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