Premier Doug Ford let loose on Whitby's mayor on Wednesday over how her municipality has gone about trying to secure funding for a new hospital promised by the Progressive Conservatives.
Following the advice of an expert panel, Lakeridge Health announced in January 2022 that it had selected a location submitted to it by the Town of Whitby for where a new hospital should be built in Durham. Since then, the health-care and hospital network has been waiting to receive a $3-million planning grant to take the project's next steps.
On Feb. 7 of this year, more than two years after Lakeridge Health chose its desired site for a new hospital in the region, Whitby Mayor Elizabeth Roy announced the launch of a public pressure campaign by the municipality aimed at securing the planning grant.
In a Feb. 15 interview on CKDO, a Durham-based radio station, Ford promised, "There's going to be a Whitby hospital."
"Is it going to be tomorrow? Not tomorrow, but down the road, very shortly, we will be issuing the planning grants," the premier added.
Ford's comments made the absence of a planning grant in his government's 2024 budget, which Finance Minister Peter Bethlenfalvy tabled on March 26, notable. Roy said its absence was "unacceptable" and that she was "frustrated" by the Ford government's decision not to include planning grant funding in 2024 spending plans.
The day after the province's budget was released, Bethlenfalvy and Health Minister Sylvia Jones each offered assurances that funding for a new Whitby hospital would be delivered at some point.
Seemingly provoked on Wednesday by a reporter who asked him for an update on the situation, and who said, "(Roy) says your government is stalling the project," Ford went on the offensive toward Whitby's mayor.
"Well, I think that's the mayor that's actually collecting people's names, holding a lottery, that if you give me your name and your email address, you get a free gym membership, or you get a iPhone watch, or you get all those little treats," said Ford, referring to how Whitby has collected signatures and other submissions from residents to relay to the premier why it's in need of a new hospital.
In a statement later in the afternoon, Roy said Ford was "misdirecting the public with inaccurate allegations that are frankly disrespectful to the thousands of people who took the time to support our campaign and share personal stories."
Ford had also said, "Maybe the integrity commissioner should be looking into — are politicians allowed to offer gifts if they get your email?"
Whitby chief administrative officer Matt Gaskell also added in a statement that email addresses collected through the advocacy campaign are kept by the Town of Whitby "only as a means of validating submissions to prevent spam," and that neither the mayor nor any council members can access them.
"The offer of prizing to help drive participation is standard practice used by many municipalities," Gaskell added.
Ford also said on Wednesday morning that an "elected official cannot be pulling these games."
"I'm not going to be bullied by that mayor out there that's constantly going out there and offering everything under the kitchen sink," said the premier.
In her response, Roy said "standing up for the residents of Whitby is not being a bully, it's doing my job."
Ford also suggested that the decision of where in Durham region to locate a new hospital hadn't been made. Along with Ford saying on Feb. 7 that "there will be a Whitby hospital," Roy told The Trillium last week that she'd also received the premier's "commitment" that it would be in her town.
"The folks at Durham, we show them a tremendous amount of love, and they'll be getting a hospital, and we'll determine the site," Ford said on Wednesday.
