NEW REGIONAL HOSPITAL
Mr.
Wall: — Thank
you very much, Mr. Speaker.
It is truly a pleasure to
be able to stand today in the legislature and comment on the
ministerial statement that has just been given to the Assembly by
the Minister of Health. And I want to say at the outset, I want to
thank the minister for providing his remarks to us in advance, and
again just indicate what a pleasure it is to be able to just say a
few words at this, at this time. Today is truly a very positive
day for the . . . not just the city of Swift Current, but really
the entire region of southwest Saskatchewan. The Action Plan for
Health Care quite rightly identified Swift Current as a regional
centre, serving an entire region obviously. And in order to do
that, of course, Swift Current needs to be able to have the kind .
. . needs to have a regional scale and quality facility. And that
certainly is not the case currently with the facility that we
have. And this announcement today is welcome news indeed.
Mr. Speaker, there are .
. . This is really a day for various groups and individuals in our
community to be celebrated and congratulated and thanked for their
effort in this regard. And the minister has mentioned some of them
here this afternoon. I know of four individuals in particular who
worked tirelessly to collect names on petitions to the point where
we estimated we had over 6,000 names on petitions calling for a
new hospital, signed by residents of not just the city of Swift
Current but indeed of the entire region, of southwest Saskatchewan
and across the province. So thank you again to Gerald and Deanna
Thorson, Roy Burnay, and Doreen Kern for their tireless effort on
the petition front. As the minister had said, thanks to the Dr.
Noble Irwin Healthcare Foundation, one of the . . . just an
absolute excellent health care fundraiser that we now have in
southwest Saskatchewan that’s worked hard on the project. To the
previous board members of the district, to the current ones and
their staff, thanks needs to be given to them for their effort. To
the municipalities, to the city of Swift Current who stepped out a
little bit on this one, Mr. Speaker, frankly, when they said look
we’ll be there for the local share of this funding and we’ll try
to raise the money after to lower the exposure for residents in
the city. And thank you to those many rural municipalities in the
southwest who have backed the city of Swift Current and backed the
effort for a new hospital. And indeed, Mr. Speaker, in all
fairness, thank you to the Minister of Health and to the
Government of Saskatchewan.
Now I will say this, Mr.
Speaker. Today’s announcement was about a 500 . . . The actual
money in the announcement was about a $500,000 evaluation process
which is necessary and I think everybody understands that’s part
of the process. But I think what we need to do is just get that
final assurance, final written assurance that the government is
saying that its capital commitment is also in place, obviously if
not in this fiscal then in the fiscal 2004-2005 because the
minister has said that is the year that construction is expected
to begin. That’s good news. But, but right now the money that’s
solid, it looks like, is the half million for the planning —
that’s important — but we need solid to be the commitment of the
capital share, the 16 million in capital funding from the health
care department. And I also want to make this other assurance, Mr.
Speaker, that in between now and when construction begins, there
may be an election in the province of Saskatchewan. We don’t know
that to be the case, but there might be an election before
construction begins. And I just want to let the Assembly know, and
let the people of southwest Saskatchewan and my hometown know,
that this announcement was a positive one today. And if this
government is unable to finish it, the next government will. Thank
you, Mr. Speaker.
Some Hon. Members:
Hear, hear! |
