Improving Health Care in Vaughan

Tomorrow I will be submitting a resolution to the Committee of the Whole to improve timely and local access to hospital care in Vaughan and high growth areas across Ontario.

The resolution calls on the Government of Ontario to speed up implementation of its hospital growth funding commitment ensuring that $100 million in growth funding is targeted to high growth hospitals and provides growth funding for social services.

The resolution also calls on the Government of Ontario to quickly implement the “Health Based Allocation Model” providing population-needs-based-funding for provincial health care funding and for social services.

The resolution also calls on the Government of Ontario to develop a growth plan for health care and social services to compliment the “Places to Grow” document.

This resolution supports the resolution submitted by the Growing Communities Healthcare Alliance.

Did you know that high growth communities in Ontario, like Vaughan, grow at more than twice the rate of the provincial population, adding more than 100,000 new residents each and every year. These regions are also aging at twice the provincial rate.

Also, residents living in high growth communities receive $258 less per resident for local hospital services compared to the average resident in Ontario. That’s not fair. I hope that through resolutions like this we can begin to address this issue of health care inequity.

Vaughan Becomes a Leader in the Energy From Waste Business

Today, I attended the official opening of the Dongara Pellet Plant. The City is managing its waste locally with this innovative made-in-Vaughan solution.

This facility transforms garbage, or residual waste left over after diversion, into pellets that can be burned to produce energy. Dongara sends approximately 25 per cent of its pellets to Leamington, Ontario where they are used as a heat source for greenhouses. The remaining pellets are shipped to industrial sites in the United States for use there.

This is clean energy. This is an alternative to fossil fuels and this is the way of the future.

It was an awesome weekend.

If you didn’t get out to Vaughan Winterfest this year, you missed a great event. The weather was great, the rides were free and DooDoo the clown was MC. I wouldn’t be surprised if it didn’t attract a record crowd. I would like to take this opportunity to thank all of sponsors and in particular our presenting sponsor, TD Canada Trust.

On Saturday night I had the pleasure of attending the 5th annual Brandan's Eye Research Fund. The money raised helps supports the eye clinic at Toronto’s Sick Kids hospital. Over the past five years they have raised over $800,000. The fund is named after 8 year Brandan Cescolini and his parents Rosemary and James are the driving force behind the fund. The Cescolini's live in King City, but their business is in Vaughan.