‘Ugly politics?’

Sir:
Is Howard Hampton confused or incompetent? On March 21, 1998, he stated in the Thunder Bay Chronicle-Journal, on page 4, that “New hospitals are reserved for the wealthy 905 suburbs around Toronto where the Tories get the greatest percentage of their votes.”
How can he possibly say that when the government just announced more than $6 million for a brand new hospital in the town of Rainy River? Does he not have a clue as to what is going on in his own riding?
As for his false accusation that the “905” area around Toronto is getting new hospitals, he must be thinking of a different Ontario. The Health Services Commission report for that area called for no new hospitals to be built in the Toronto area–end of discussion. It then called for the closure of the Whitby General Hospital in the riding of Labour minister Jim Flaherty.
How dare Mr. Hampton state that “ugly politics” decides where new hospitals are being built when one is being built in his own riding, and a Cabinet minister is losing one in his riding. Unlike the previous government in which Hampton so proudly served, the Mike Harris government is committed to putting health care dollars where they are needed most, not where it is politically expedient.
That means money for new hospitals in Northern Ontario. To say anything else just isn’t true.
Signed,
Craig Nuttall
President,
Kenora-Rainy River
P.C. Riding Association