I am 98 years old and have seen many elections. I have lived to see candidates run and do their best for our community. I admire the programs of all the different parties from time to time. They all have great characteristics and I’m delighted to see people standing up for them. They are all attempting to make the country wonderful. I don’t dare say that they have been trying to make the country “GREAT AGAIN’’ because that is being used too often.
During my lifetime we had opportunities to have hospitals in our community. These hospitals have been given to us when the Conservative Party has been in power.
We have recently entered into agreements for two hospitals, one in Huntsville and one in Bracebridge. This is being administrated by the Conservative Party of Ontario. This has only happened because we had a government that had a majority and we had a member of the Conservative Party representing us.
There are 30 other communities looking for hospitals and we are at the head of the line, so they are waiting for us to make a mistake.
It is prudent that we must consider this and vote for the party that has given us the opportunity to have our new hospitals.
If we vote for any other party, there may be some delays or even cancellation of having our hospitals built.
For the future of our families and looking after our health and the employment opportunities for people, please consider voting for the party that is giving us new hospitals.
Bob Hutcheson
Huntsville
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I agree that we have good candidates in all parties in this election. The Conservatives have recognized a great need for these hospitals. It has taken our communities of Bracebridge and Huntsville several years to decide on the way they would like the hospitals to be built.
All I am saying is let’s not lose the momentum by having a candidate that doesn’t have the party in power for the province and the candidate that is part of that party.
I am sorry if that unfortunately offends some people, but that is the way I feel.
I myself would like to see a hospital between North Bay & Huntsville , It is a 45 minute drive to either hospital there are a lot of elderly people that don’t drive and need medical assistance for non urgent & urgent matters even if they were to go by ambulance it is still a fairly lengthy drive . Plus the cost of a ambulance ride to the hospital , People are already struggling to keep heads above water now days living on a fixed income .
The question is “do we want the hospitals?”. If your answer is YES, then vote for the Conservatives as they’re about to win a majority in Ontario. Be on the winning side with the Party that holds the purse. Don’t throw away your vote to another Party that won’t have the power to offer you anything.
I listened to Doug Ford today while speaking on major tv networks in the USA expressing Canada’s interest in continuing and improving trade with the USA. He wasn’t divisive. He expressed the need for an AMCAN agreement. He made a good impression while speaking on our behalf. Vote wisely. These are not normal times. Don’t bite your nose off the spite your face. This isn’t the time to argue over. nonsense while our Province and Country are at risk.
Mr. Hutcheson, are you suggesting that the Conservative party will punish us if we don’t vote for them? That they will withhold or delay construction of our hospitals if we don’t vote for them? I for one will not be intimidated into voting for one candidate or another. We have had a Conservative MPP in this riding for the last 30 years if I’m not mistaken, and progress on hospitals (and affordable housing for that matter) has been very slow. As a reliably Conservative riding, are we being taken for granted? Maybe it’s time for a change in Parry Sound Muskoka!
Hello Susan,
We sent out questions to all the candidates, hospitals included, and have asked them to respond by Monday morning. We will post the responses we receive either on Monday or Tuesday.
Thanks for your comments Bob. Two thoughts. First, despite the fact that we are told that we are at the head of the list there doesn’t seem to be any urgency to actually make anything happen. You’d almost think that they were waiting for us all to get so fed up that we give in to private health care.
The other thing is that it sounds like a blackmail. They are saying if you don’t vote for us we’ll move you to the bottom of the list. I don’t like that, it makes me want to vote for the other guy.
Thanks Trisha! I know this but a lot of people don’t have time to listen or read a platform. I thought that Huntsville Doppler, being super local, would be a great forum for a quick read. I also messaged Mr. Richter alerting him to Mr. Hutcheson’s letter….we shouldn’t have to settle for the status quo out of fear of loss and I know Matt can address these concerns.
Hi Susan! Ontario Green Party Leader Mike Schreiner ( interview on TVO The Agenda with Steve Paiken)and Matt Richter our Green Party candidate, ( who won about 40% of the vote in the previous election) are on record as saying they support 2 hospitals, Huntsville and Bracebridge, in the riding.
Politics aside, always difficult, the following observations can be made,
-,not just building hospitals but adequately staffing them is a challenge. Overworked or inexperienced staff are not what you want, but clearly many of them are one or the other or both.
– growth of healthcare facilities is organic. Toronto has too many hospitals, Brampton population 791000 has one and a half. But lots of walk ins. They do a lot.
-parochial battles have occurred elsewhere in Ontario as to positioning of hospitals not just in PSM,
– Ontario does not appear to have a planning model to support placement of large healthcare facilities. Too many small units mean many closures due to staffing and other costs.Risks are incurred in moving patients at speed. Been there!
Looks like Ontario kicks such issues down to local level then sits back as towns duke it out, with the funding clock ticking down to the buzzer.
Kudos to those standing for MPP in our district but please don’t promise what you can’t deliver, or deliver something unsustainable. But do work for a step improvement in Ontario healthcare. We should be a model for publicly supported healthcare delivered over a continent sized entity.
Allan Markle: “That the PCs were the government when our local hospitals were built is circumstance.”
That’s totally absurd. It was a political decision. Over a billion dollars to a small community like PSM doesn’t just come out of the either.
Yes, let’s take a chance on some “new blood” and risk loosing the biggest per capital health investment in the province.
I sense some very poor reasoning.
I think it’s time to take a chance on some new blood!
Nothing in my comment had anything to do with who was or wasn’t a “good man”. Not important. My comment is that anyone can build a hospital. But you have to get it done before there is too many regime changes.
That the PCs were the government when our local hospitals were built is circumstance. There are dozens of other hospitals across this land, built I suppose by a variety of administrations. I guess I’m a bit of a “what have you done for me lately”. I’m seeing hospitals being used as election fodder again. Boring!!
But I’m not seeing any construction. Built by anybody. Promises, promises. Blame who will, and accept that we may have a Liberal or Green government, or a glacier before we have hospitals.
Very interesting comments, especially the historical perspectives. This morning I noticed that the Save South Muskoka Hospital group has organized an All Candidates Forum Saturday Feb 22 10 am at Norwood Theatre in Bracebridge. So far only the Greens Matt Richter and NDP Jim Ronholm have committed to be there. Not yet PCs Graydon Smith.
Save South Muskoka Hospital is asking for equity of service at Bracebridge and Huntsville sites proposed. Also note that Bracebridge Mayor is asking the Province to review hospital board governance to be representative of community. The redevelopment proposal is still at review stage with the government. Do not forget that any further increases to beds and services are to be funded by local share ( municipal contributions from taxes)
Bob Hutcheson has always given us great wisdom and guidance. Our elder citizens have seen so much and their knowledge is so beneficial. Thank You !!!!
A big “YES” to Bob.
I’m quite a bit younger than Bob but it has always seemed somehow “strange” that we had accumulated two hospitals in the area over time or good reasons. Heck almost all small towns, even the size of Burks Falls had a hospital of some type.
What seems strange to me is that there is even any debate about this at all.
When you look at the coverage area and the ability to supply a first hospital response in a timely manner it seems that the last thing we should be considering is getting rid of any of these hospitals.
I suppose it is easier in some ways and less lawsuit prone to have one large, superbly equipped hospital but what good is that if the patient died on the way to get to it due to the transit time issues.
I’d rather have a student doctor in a simple and fairly sterile operating room patch me up and package me for transport to a larger facility QUICKLY than lay bleeding in an ambulance for an extra couple of hours trying to get to that mythical golden hospital over the horizon.
Another consideration, often overlooked, is that a significant failure, be it mechanical, or disease infection may render any “one” hospital essentially unusable and thus useless for a time. It is not so likely that such a situation will render several hospitals unusable at the same time. There is some extra security in a bit of redundancy.
Lastly, one can never run a hospital exactly like a business. If your making widgets in a factory, you can control pretty much everything involved in the process and plan it carefully and fund it very accurately.
With Hospitals, their very nature is that they must respond to the UNEXPECTED and to do this they need to maintain extra capacity, idle capacity often, just waiting for that unexpected thing to happen. The bus to roll over with 40 passengers, the train to derail, etc.
This ability to handle the UNEXPECTED has a cost and to be safe we just have to pay it somehow. It cannot be managed completely away, ever.
Mr. Hutcheson is correct; our two most notable hospitals were indeed built by a conservative government, though to be fair, Bill Davis was a social conservative..so far removed from Doug Ford..he wouldn’t be funding a Spa for heaven’s sake. Rather than me countering Mr. Hutcheson, I would ask Matt Richter to lay out his solution to the Hospital Challenge. Could Doppler reach out?
Mr. Markle , it is the MAHC board that decided we need two brand new hospitals, not the conservative government! I fully agree that both hospitals can be added on to. For the greens to even use the hospitals as a reason to vote for them is a joke! It is the conservative government that has committed the money to redevelop both sites. If there is a problem with our hospital redevelopment it lies in the hands of MAHC. I doubt Matt Richter could have secured the money from the government if he were our MPP. And just so you know, Matt probably is a good man, I don’t know. I do know that Graydon is a good man and he works for our riding.
Mr Hutchison, how quickly the memories fade, it was under Mike Harris that Huntsville hospital lost an entire wing, all those beds lost and there was hallway healthcare then.
Well said Bob.
I have great respect for your wisdom on these matters.
Its always a slippery choice to see change ‘for the better’ without jeopardizing what is in progress and our best interest.
We don’t want t go backwards.
C’mon Bob! Are you going to beat that mule and try to make it fly again this time ’round? Lord knows the powers that be, both local and provincial are straining to do so.
I’ll take your word that our local hospitals have been built by PC governments, but that’s simply circumstance. Anybody can build a hospital. Ordinary citizens helped with the original construction of Kingston Hospital. That was in 1835. I believe the buildings are still in use and on the original site. They never galloped off every time they needed more and bigger buildings.
Nuns can build a hospital. St. Joseph’s. Still in the same place since the 1920’s. A lot larger and still growing
on the original site.
Hamilton General has been growing on the same site since 1882. That hospital was at the time of Sir Oliver Mowat. His was a Liberal government, so it seems even Liberals can build hospitals. You just have to have the money and the desire to get the job done.
Of course we need our hospitals. But we don’t need a bunch of wingnuts running them around the countryside and building what will be smaller than what we have now. And if we keep on dinking around, will we get hospitals at all?
Mr. Hutcheson is right, as usual.
There’s too much to risk by voting Green. They promise all things to all people, while not being able to deliver any of it.
They live in a fantasy world, devoid of consequences…because they can.
We need Graydon Smith at Queen’s Park to continue his good work of delivering huge amount of investment to our riding.
Vote PC!