May 3, 2017 – Groves Memorial Community Hospital
Ontario Hansard – 03-May2017
Mr. Ted Arnott: I’m glad to inform this House today that EllisDon Infrastructure Healthcare has been selected as the preferred proponent to design, build and finance the new Groves Memorial Community Hospital in the township of Centre Wellington. This latest announcement in the government’s multi-stage approval process brings us closer than ever to the commencement of construction of our new Groves hospital.
My involvement in this issue began around 2002 or 2003, when the Groves hospital administrator first came to my office to tell me that the hospital had a plan for redevelopment but it seemed to be stuck at a preliminary stage. She asked me to make inquiries. I replied that I would support whatever plan for redevelopment of the hospital was submitted to the ministry and that the community was behind, and would want to help in any way I could.
So our work began. There were many ups and downs and twists and turns, and even a complete revision of the redevelopment plan. And let me be clear: I’m not pretending to be the architect. But by setting aside partisan differences and seeking to work across party lines with no fewer than five Ministers of Health for more than a decade, we slowly but surely made progress towards our vision of a new hospital for our growing community.
I want to express my sincere thanks to all MPPs, past and present, who have supported the Groves proposal. But we need to save our most generous expression of appreciation to Groves staff and volunteers, our donors, successive county of Wellington councils and staff, successive township of Centre Wellington councils and staff, the adjacent municipalities in the hospital’s catchment area, our local LHIN—indeed, the entire community—for having the vision, the patience and the perseverance which has brought us finally to the conclusion of the planning process.
We look forward to seeing construction begin very soon.