South Edmonton Hospital & Health Campus | ?m | ?s | Province of Alberta

Oh where does one start with this? Ok, even if we' sort of give them the pipeline problem, how long have they know about it? what did they do about It?

It irks me when politicians go into word salad bs talk about things like business case, because they think it makes them sound clever. So you really want a "business case"? Its actually quite simple - Edmonton is short of hospital beds, by over 1,500 I believe I heard recently.

I get this might not be the UCP's highest priority for political reasons, but it gets even worse as they also try to blame the opposition for the delay. The UCP has been in power now for almost four years, so at this point most of the delay is now on them.

This is what people hate about politics and politicians - trying to blame everyone and everything else for their own decisions and actions. I would have preferred that they just say it wasn't their priority and for several years the budget was tight. It would have been more honest.
 
One could assume that after the election - not depending on who wins - as both parties have "said" they will start asap with construction, that a rendering and/or a GC has been awarded. There has to be some movement going on behind the scenes right now?
 
Gronk! said:
Still an empty lot

edmonton.ctvnews.ca

UCP 'dithering' on Alberta hospital projects, NDP says, after Smith issues infrastructure mandate letter

Alberta's opposition leader is accusing the UCP government of not caring about health care or making sure patients have beds in the future, following the release of a mandate letter to the new infrastructure minister.
edmonton.ctvnews.ca edmonton.ctvnews.ca
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This is a good example of the problems with health care. Our health care problems are not because things are too centralized or decentralized.

This problem is because of the dithering and delays by the government and we know which party has been in power since 2019.

It would be a good time, in fact it is already past time, for this to start moving ahead. Maybe they will prove the critics wrong and do something soon, but I kind of doubt it.
 
“Internal Alberta Health Services documents obtained by CTV News Edmonton show the province is aware that the Edmonton region is on track to be about 1,500 hospital beds short of what will be required in 2026.

Even if the hospital was built by then, the deficit would still be about 1,000, the documents state.”

Yeah that happens when you don’t build a new hospital since 1988. We are governed by sadists.
 
The hospital isn't going to be built. The sooner the community accepts that, the better. Yes, money has already been spent on some site preparation, but there have been plenty of projects both in the public and private sector abandoned after some initial funds were spent on a given site. And yes, further funds were allocated towards the project earlier this year, but they are only a fraction of what completion would actually cost and could easily be shifted elsewhere.

With the absence of any Edmonton MLAs on the government side there is absolutely no one of any consequence fighting for this project. It will almost certainly be "indefinitely postponed due to global economic uncertainty and a precipitous rise in construction, material and labour costs."

The UCP will undoubtedly take a page out of the City of Edmonton's book: the Transportation department and a spineless City Council blamed rising construction costs for their decision to cheap out on the Heritage Valley LRT project, replacing an elevated station and above-grade crossing with a couple of bus benches on a concrete island (an "LRT station") and an at-grade crossing that cross your fingers and pluck some four-leafed clover won't cause major backups on Ellerslie.

The UCP government will probably do something similar and replace the Southwest Edmonton hospital project in favour of a "more affordable facility capable of delivering greater value for taxpayers": a walk-in clinic in a strip mall.

Of course, there will be an extra fee to see a doctor at the new clinic.
 
MacLac said:
“The sooner the community accepts that……” Huh? This statement screams that you are not a YEG’er.
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So what's your plan to get the hospital built? The UCP is clearly uninterested in following through and actually building the facility (it's easy to waste a little time and money on "site preparation" in order to give the illusion of actual progress). The UCP were just re-elected to another full term. I'm a realist, I see the writing on the wall. Meanwhile, Calgary got a new hospital back in 2016 and is getting a wad of provincial cash for its NHL arena that Edmonton never got.

So again, what's your plan to get the hospital built? If the provincial government of the day is dragging its feet and refusing to go ahead with building the thing, and that government is going nowhere (clearly, judging by the support for the UCP outside Edmonton and Calgary), what else do you propose Edmontonians do? Stage a sit-in at the Legislature? Bring Raffi to the city to sing protest songs? Have Edmonton separate and join British Columbia?

What's your plan, Big Mac? Fill us in.
 
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It might be a hard truth for you to swallow, MacLab, but there is probably a lot of truth in what TravellingChris is saying. The UCP sees the health care system as 'overbuilt' already and in Edmonton the South Hospital is competing with the new Stollery Children's Hospital project (which will create a couple hundred adult spots by vacating the space it's in now). If I was a betting man I would put my money on the Stollery moving ahead before the South Hospital especially now that the last remaining UCP MLA in SW Edmonton has been defeated. Nothing is ever 100% guaranteed and if there is a windfall in oil revenue we may yet see both projects move forward, but don't hold your breath.
 
Maybe a protest is not a bad idea... I am sure that the NDP and supporters would make a lot of noise. Much better than raising a white flag.
 
That's probably the only way this will happen. Citizens need to speak up and the mayor and city council need to raise a stink. The UCP will want to regain seats in the capital next election and if it doesn't deliver on projects that citizens are making clear are a priority, that's less likely to happen. The squeaky wheel gets the grease
 
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