Halton Regional Chair, Gary Carr is putting pressure on the Provincial Government to freeze development in Halton.

Flipping through the Milton Canadian Champion and the Toronto Star I noticed one issue that did stand out. Gary Carr, the Regional Chair for Halton, along with Ted Chudleigh MPP for Halton have expressed concerns about the amount of development in our area compared to improvements to infrastructure. One of the areas of concerns is the hospital. Milton for example is growing closer and closer to 80,000 residents while not one major improvement has been made to our hospital. That hospital was designed for a town of 35,000 residents and as the years go by, Milton will approach 100,000 and no plans in sight to expand or improve the hospital.

The hospital has made some improvements. With the help and generosity of the public and other individuals and companies, Milton Hospital now has the CT scanner that was so badly needed. Now Milton Hospital needs more than that to adapt to the changes in the region. With Mattamy Homes pumping out new homes by the day and hundreds of moving trucks bringing the belongings of many happy families, excited with the opportunity to share with us, the beauty and the wonderful community we call home, something has to be done with our hospital.

For months Ted Chudliegh has been fighting with the Provincial Government to get this problem noticed by Premier Dalton McGuinty but so far nothing has happened. Everything seemed to have fallen on deaf ears.

What do our local leaders need to do to fix the problem? To date we’ve really heard nothing from Town Council. I know its not their area of responsibility but they do speak for the people. Our municipal leaders are on the the closest to the residents. Many times you can pick up the phone and give them a call to let them know how you feel. Some chose to respond quickly and others chose not to. I know that after talking with many of you during the last municipal election and afterwards, the hospital is a vitally important issue for many of you. As the town and the region grows, so should its infrastructure.

The only problem is our municipal leaders dont seem to have a vision for the future. There doesn’t seem to be a five, ten or twenty year plan on the horizon. Maybe at best a one year plan, and then a plan for re-election. In Milton, we see daily the result of decisions that were made in the past with no foresight as evidenced in their decision to close off 4th Line before they opened up James Snow Parkway a few years back.

They should have realized by now that is a growing problem that wont go away. This is what our leaders at all levels; from the member of parliament for Halton, to Ted Chudleigh, to Milton Town Council and to the Region of Halton; should be talking about endlessly to the provincial government…

Continue reading on Mike Cluett’s Milton Blog

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