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WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2001 COPY 75¢ (70¢ + sc as) 28 Pages CAREFUL CARVING: Diann Power of Prince CHRIS HALL / PORT PERRY STAR table centrepieces at The Personal Touch Floral Albert was among the handful of local women and Gift Shop on Mary St., which hosts fall work- who spent Saturday morning creating pumpkin shops. Council okays reconstruction of Cedardale Bridge By Chris Hall Port Perry Star Reconstruction of the Cedardale Bridge will com- mence this fall, despite an unexpected increase in cost. Township officials opted to move forward with plans to rebuild the Cartwright area structure last week after a special council meeting was held on Oct. 3. Tenders for the project closed on Sept. 26, however the lowest bid put forward -- an offer of $504,500 submit- ted by Bob Hendrickson Construction Limited -- exceed- ed the township's pre-approved budget of $380,000 for the work by almost $125,000. Work on the aging bridge has been delayed for a num- ber of years now by the Township in the interest of sav- ing funds. Despite its hazardous potential, the project has been axed during budget deliberations. The structure is prone to flooding and does not have the strength to withstand heavy or constant _raffic. During the meeting last Wednesday evening, Public Works Director Larry Postill stressed to local councillors that his department "feels it imperative to proceed", but gave township officials four options. They included abandoning the project, delaying work until 2002, funding the additional $125,000 from the Community Enhancement Fund, or increasing the town- ship's debenture loan to include the needed cash. "Abandoning the project | believe is not a viable option. This has been defined as a priority and there have already been significant costs incurred with the engineering," said Mr. Postill. He also noted that the township would be taking a gamble if it delayed work until next spring on the hopes that a downturn in the economy could result in more Please turn to Page 9 Lakeridge Health struggles with deficit Budget problems may mean cuts to patient services By Rik Davie Port Perry Star Cuts to patient services may be in store in the wake of an operating budget. deficit at the Lakeridge Health Corporation, according to the top official of the embat- tled hospital group. Lakeridge Health Corporation Chief Executive Officer Brian Lemon told The Star late last week that he is staving off rumours surrounding the hospital group while looking for ways to whittle down what he admits is a $7 million shortfall in the operating budget of the health provider that runs most of the hospitals in Durham Region, including Port Perry and Uxbridge facilities. However, he stresses that the public should not be surprised. "There is nothing new here," Mr. Lemon told The Star in a telephone interview. "It (budget shortfalls) was cov- ered several months ago. What is new is that the deficit we projected to be $13 million when we talked to the Region is now $7 million." News of problems at the health corporation broke almost two weeks ago when rumours of a ministerial review by the Ontario Ministry of Health of Lakeridge's finances, operations.and development plans leaked to the press from local MPP Jerry Ouellette and other local regional politicians. Durham MPP John O'Toole also told The Star that con- trol of the Regional Cancer Facility was being removed from the Lakeridge corporation. Mr. Lemon confirmed these actions, but said the story takes on a different slant when looked at in his perspec- tive. "Mr. O'Toole's statement is accurate as far as it went," Mr. Lemon said. "All cancer treatment facilities in the province are being moved under one provincially held umbrella, not just ours." The Star came into possession of an internal memo sent out by Mr. Lemon on Oct. 2 to all staff at the Lakeridge Health sites titled "Rumours". In the memo, which Mr. Lemon confirmed he had sent out for internal consumption only, he addressed some of the allegations made in some media outlets point by point. Rumours that much more than $7 million were missing from redevelopment funds were dismissed as "absolute- ly no truth in this statement." As for rumours that Lakeridge was bankrupt, while he did not outright deny the statement, Mr. Lemon stated in Please turn to Page 9 ------ a