The debate over the location of the new $1.9 billion mega- hospital for Windsor- Essex soldiers on although there is no chance the selection will be undone, according to project headmaster David Musyj.

By Alan Halberstadt

EDITOR’S NOTE: Due to a last-minute addition to the December 21, 2015 council budget agenda on this matter, the outcome may or may not affect what is written here.

The CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital, and his power-packed local health care allies, have been fending off determined opposition to the preferred site — a greenfield at County Road 42 and Concession 9 south of Windsor Airport.

Musyj has consistently issued dire warnings that the province will unplug the project if Windsor rejects the location, as advocated by a stubborn group — Citizens for an Accountable Mega Hospital Planning
Process (CAMPP).

“What the Ministry (of Health and Long Term Care) clearly stated was the site better take into account the need for REGIONAL services,” Musyj told a public meeting in downtown Windsor on November 11, 2015. Musyj mentioned during this meeting that 5,000 patients from east of the region annually visit the two current Windsor Regional acute care hospitals at Tecumseh and Kildare Roads, and Ouellette Avenue and Goyeau Street.

Shane Mitchell, a member of the Windsor Region Society of Architects, and citizen Philippa von Ziegenweidt, the very vocal leaders of CAMPP, prefer a more environmentally friendly location based on
sound planning principles that would negate the evils of urban sprawl.

They told me that a group of high-level provincial ministry officials refuted Musyj’s ultimatum threat in a conference call late last summer.

I emailed Kathyrn McCulloch, one of four ministry officials on the conference call. I asked her to verify the either-or scenario. I received a nuanced response from Media Relations Coordinator David Jensen:
“This capital planning process is still in the early stages. This is the first of several planning related steps a hospital must take before a government approves such a project.”

“The Windsor Program and Services Planning Project Steering Committee is the lead on the early capital planning process, which includes site selection, for the proposed new greenfield facility.”

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