The mayor of Quinte West has come away from the Association of Municipalities of Ontario conference on Wednesday with some hopeful news.
Mayor Jim Harrison tells Quinte news the municipal representatives did let the provincial government know, in his words “We are not going to let the government balance the budget on the municipal backs.”
Harrison did say he was pleased with the workshops held with provincial ministers and representatives.
He indicated that at one of the meetings the government recognized the need to change the base budget formula for small and medium-sized hospitals, such as Quinte Health Care.
Harrison added, “The base formula for Quinte Heath Care is based on one large hospital right now. That’s the way their budget is determined. And what we’ve been saying all along, for a good many years, is that that formula doesn’t fit when you have two medium-sized hospitals and two small hospitals all under the same Quinte Health Care board. That’s the big issue. We’ve talked about this with the former government as well. They never changed it, but they would come in with some money to support the budget process.”
The mayor is hopeful it will change.
Commenting on the shortage of doctors, the mayor says the government needs to allow more doctors to be qualified.
Harrison is meeting with Brighton Mayor Brian Ostrander this week to sign an agreement, making Brighton part of the Quinte West Doctor Recruitment Program.
