New hospital causes outbreak of lip-flapping in politicians

The following is the full text of exchange that took place yesterday in the Ontario Legislature:

******************** Mr. David Orazietti (Sault Ste. Marie):

My question is for the Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal.

A little more than a week ago, the Sault Area Hospital and Infrastructure Ontario issued a request for qualifications to shortlist bidders for the new Sault Area Hospital.

This major milestone on the way to a new publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable hospital for my community is wonderful news, and I applaud you, Minister Smitherman and the premier for the commitment you have demonstrated to the project thus far.

As you are aware, using the alternate financing and procurement strategy clearly outlined in the Building a Better Tomorrow framework, we are able to undertake numerous projects to replace and modernize our vital public infrastructure.

But despite such great news, some individuals continue to question the AFP approach.

Can you please clarify our government's position on the ownership of the Sault Area Hospital?

Hon. David Caplan (Minister of Public Infrastructure Renewal, Deputy Government House Leader):

I want to thank the member from Sault Ste. Marie for the question.

The Sault Area Hospital, like all hospitals in the province of Ontario, will not only be publicly owned but publicly controlled and publicly accountable through local hospital boards.

Any suggestion to the contrary is simply incorrect, and any effort to deny the good people of the Soo access to a publicly owned, modern, state-of-the-art facility will be resisted, certainly by myself and by our government.

The facts speak for themselves: The title of the building and the land will be held by the hospital corporation.

Any decision related to the operations and management will be made by the local hospital board.

In other words, the Sault-Area Hospital will be publicly owned, publicly controlled and publicly accountable, end of sentence, full stop, period, right there.

The McGuinty government has affirmed and reaffirmed its commitment to a strong public health care system, and I'm happy to repeat again for this member and for the entire Legislature that we champion a public health care system.

Mr. Orazietti:

Thank you, Minister.

I appreciate your unequivocal clarification of our government's commitment to the public ownership, control and accountability of all hospitals in Ontario, including, of course, the Sault Area Hospital.

It also appears that others support the AFP process.

On CBC news, John Tory said, "I think the principle of what's being done here is right."

Former NDP finance minister Floyd Laughren said on TVO, "I don't think it's in their interests to resist it. It's a knee-jerk reaction that doesn't make sense. I don't understand resisting letting the public sector use those funds."

But Minister, there have also been some suggestions that employees of the new Sault-Area Hospital will lose their union protection and status.

Can you please clarify this issue for our community?

Hon. Mr. Caplan:

I'm only too happy to, because this government has demonstrated time and again deep respect for the crucial role that our unions play in the delivery of important public services, and this respect also applies to the new hospital projects in the Soo and all across the province of Ontario.

Employees in the new Sault Area Hospital will continue to have the terms and conditions of their existing collective agreements honoured, and they will continue to be represented by the current collective bargaining agent.

We are proud of the approach that we're taking to building this new hospital.

I'm especially proud of our commitment to public ownership, control and accountability.

We as a government are very proud of our respectful approach to labour relations.

Unlike the NDP, unlike the Tories' approach to P3s, the McGuinty government's made-in-Ontario AFP approach to levering private sector expertise and innovation ensures that the fundamental values and priorities of Ontarians are enshrined and protected.

That is, all hospitals will be publicly owned, controlled and accountable; all terms and conditions -

The Speaker (Hon. Michael A. Brown):

Thank you. New question.

*********************