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6 Independent & Free Press,Thursday, September 1, 2011 OPINION Curious timing If we didn't know better, Wednesday's announcement of $2.6 million in provincial funding for the Georgetown Hospital expansion project by provincial Health and LongTerm Care Minister Deb Matthews would lead one to believe there was an election on the horizon. Oh, yeah, right. There is one. Campaign starts next week as a matter of fact. Who knew? To say the timing of Matthews' announcement was somewhat curious would be an understatement. According to Mayor Rick Bonnette, since the hospital project was first announced several months ago, he has: · sent Matthews four letters · met with her twice · even provided a revised funding formula that took the CT scanner out of the mix and just concentrated on the diagnostic imaging as well as the emergency expansion so it fit the government projects criteria better. But no funding announcement was forthcoming. MPP Ted Arnott has written and spoken to Matthews-- and Premier Dalton McGuinty-- repeatedly about the Georgetown project in the past year. As an Opposition MPP he has applied what limited pressure he has to get funds for the Georgetown project. But, no announcement. Even last month in a "don't get your hopes up" statement, David Jensen, a spokesperson for the health ministry, said the project is "an own funds request" meaning the hospital is to be using its own money and the Ministry is not committing any funds to it. Now, with an election campaign just days away from beginning-- voila!-- money is available for the Georgetown Hospital expansion. Coincidence or blatant pandering to the voters? You choose. 905-873-0301 Publisher: Ken Nugent General manager: Steve Foreman (sforeman@theifp.ca) Retail advertising manager: Cindi Campbell (ccampbell@theifp.ca) Managing editor: John McGhie (jmcghie@theifp.ca) Distribution manager: Nancy Geissler (ngeissler@theifp.ca) Classifieds Kristie Pells (classified@theifp.ca) Accounting Rose Marie Gauthier Editorial Cynthia Gamble: News editor (cgamble@theifp.ca) Ted Brown: Photography (tbrown@theifp.ca) Lisa Tallyn: Staff writer (ltallyn@theifp.ca) Eamonn Maher: Staff writer/sports (emaher@theifp.ca) Letters policy Letters must include an address and daytime phone number. Anonymous letters will not be published. Letters should not exceed 150 words and may be edited for content and/or length. Publication is not guaranteed. Email: jmcghie@theifp.ca Steve Nease Mail or drop off: Independent & Free Press, 280 Guelph St., Unit 29, Georgetown, ON., L7G 4B1. Letters to the editor McGuinty fixed Tory problems Dear editor, I have to respond to the Aug. 23 letter (Johnson a good fit for Liberals) by Eric Boles. It is so emotionally based and factually incorrect that we need to get back to reality. Mr. Boles claims that former Prime Minister Paul Martin is responsible for Mike Harris making huge cuts in Ontario's Health Care system. The Harris government had several alternatives to balance their budget. But they chose to cut spending on health care and education because they are among those services of least importance to them. Their actions speak for themselves. Premier Dalton McGuinty inherited an equally difficult financial situation from the Ernie Eves government with the added surprise of an additional $5.7 billion deficit that they had hidden. In contrast, McGuinty chose to increase revenues by strengthening and building the economy with tax cuts for business and partnering with industry for new investment. With a balanced budget and a surplus that paid down the debt until the global recession impacted our exports, he greatly improved our health care and education systems. Instead of closing hospitals McGuinty increased hospital funding for almost 100 redevelopment projects including 18 new constructions. Instead of cutting the number of doctors he brought in more to provide a family doctor for 1 million additional Ontarians. Instead of firing nurses he hired more than 10,000 nurses to provide addition services. By increasing our facilities, doctors, and nurses Ontario has been able to reduce our surgical wait times from the longest in Canada to the shortest. Now, tell me that these improvements not important to the people of Wellington-Halton Hills. Currently, the Tim Hudak-led PCs have a $14 billion deficit in their platform and are refusing to say what they'll cut. Well, it was only a couple of months ago that Hudak said, in public and on two separate occasions, that he would reduce health care funding by $3.8 billion. Déjà vu? Murray Gold, Wellington-Halton Hills Provincial Liberal Association Get kids active Dear editor, My son was filling out the Halton Youth Needs survey on Facebook. One of the first questions asked was what would be most wanted? Couches, televisions, computers, music room... These were the choices? Most kids already have this stuff at home. I believe parents would prefer to see kids active in their spare time. My family dreams of a Townowned and run warehouse building with in-ground trampolines, basketball courts, a skate/bike park and a climbing wall. Admission would be charged and release forms would be required. This would create jobs in Georgetown and it would give our 13-19 yearolds a place to hang out and stay out of trouble. The Town seems to find money for every other age group and loans money out to businesses that appear to be failing ($324,000 to the gymnastics club?) These kids we keep putting last in the budget are our future. Kim Moore, Georgetown WEB POLL RESULTS (Go to www.independentfreepress.com) The Halton Catholic District School Board is installing video security cameras in all its high schools. Do you support the use of security cameras in high schools? · Yes (85%) · No (15%) The Independent & Free Press The Independent & Free Press is published Tuesday and Thursday and is one of several Metroland Media Group Ltd. community newspapers. Editorial and advertising content of The Independent & Free Press is protected by copyright. Unauthorized use is prohibited.