OLIVER PAIPOONGE – Ontario Premier Doug Ford has confirmed the province intends to build a new hospital in Kenora.
“Yes, we will,” Ford said on Thursday, during a news conference in Oliver Paipoonge.
“Minister (Greg) Rickford, he’s been on us non-stop about this. He’s the champion for Kenora in the North, but because of his hard work, his dedication, Kenora is getting a new hospital. I believe they got a planning grant.”
Last month a post promising a new hospital for Kenora was uploaded to the Ontario government’s Instagram page, but it was promptly removed.
Hospital officials in Kenora confirmed discussions were taking place, but added the province had not given any official confirmation that the project was definitively going ahead.
Rickford said the Ontario Conservatives have been working with officials at Lake of the Woods District Hospital, helping them transition into the next phase of the proposed project.
“We’re also looking at new diagnostic capacity,” Rickford said.
“This is truly a regional hospital once we move outside of Thunder Bay. We have to recognize the opportunity to relieve some of the pressures on Thunder Bay, for some of the programs that can shift to a new campus model.”
Rickford said the province is still working with First Nations partners, most notably the Kenora Chiefs Advisory, seeking long-term solutions to ensure the new facility can be part of a new health campus in the Northwestern Ontario community.
He added the Northern Ontario School of Medicine is looking at potential opportunities at the new hospital and the catchment it would serve.
“I think the only residual question, and the one that we put while all of this is going on, is where are the feds? Just like Sioux Lookout, these are hospitals that serve a critical mass of First Nations people. We’ve got relationships with them on the ground,” Rickford said.
“They’re poised to be part of the growth of that campus and so far we haven’t heard anything from the federal government in terms of a substantial, if any, contribution to help us build out a hospital that can truly serve the farther parts of Northwestern Ontario.”
Lake of the Woods District Hospital, which was created in 1968 with the merger of the St. Joseph’s Hospital and the Kenora General Hospital, provides service for about 30,000 individuals each year.
Neither Ford nor Rickford provided any details or timelines about the project, including how much is being budgeted or when construction might begin.
