Shriners choose Montreal

[Al_Kendrick]

Shriners vote to expand hospital in Montreal
CTV.ca News Staff

North American Shriners who have gathered for a convention in Baltimore have voted to expand their children's hospital in Montreal, rather than move the facility to London, Ontario.

More than 1,000 delegates voted at the Baltimore Convention Center Tuesday, on a resolution to either rebuild the aging hospital in Quebec, or build a new one in London.

When the ballots were counted, Montreal came out ahead with more than the necessary one-third of votes, giving that city a green-light for the $100-million project.

Reporting from Baltimore, CTV's Rob Lurie says Montreal delegates were elated with the outcome.

"We have just wrapped up the voting," Lurie told CTV Newsnet Tuesday afternoon. "And as soon as it happened, Montreal delegates ran out screaming in euphoria... there were a lot of tears and a lot of emotion here."

The Shriners' only Canadian pediatric/orthopedic hospital has been operating in Montreal since 1925.

In a campaign that stretched on for five years, intense lobbying for the new facility pitted the two cities and provinces against each other in an escalating, emotional public relations battle.

A video produced and paid for by city and health officials in London claimed its rival city's site cannot be entirely decontaminated.

Describing it as "sleazy," Quebec Premier Jean Charest said in Baltimore Sunday: "The video is a lie that questions the integrity of the government of Quebec."

For his part, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said the video had nothing to do with his government, but nevertheless backed the western Ontario city.

"The London bid stands out as the one that has the most secure future for the provision of these services," McGuinty told reporters during his trip to Baltimore Sunday.

Backers of the Montreal bid subsequently struck back -- with the release of their own video.

"Montreal is a passionate city full of compassionate, generous people. It is the environment you want for our children and for their children, too. Please don't close the Shriners hospital in Montreal," pop star Celine Dion said in the video.

Now that the vote is in, Lurie says there remains one outstanding question: whether to build the new facility on the site of the existing Montreal facility, or move it to a new 'superhospital' site on the McGill University campus.

Quoting Shriners Imperial Treasurer Gene Bracewell, who was a member of the executive committee that twice recommended relocation to London, Lurie said, "The hospital will stay where it is."

"But a lot of people from the Montreal delegation say that is basically sour grapes," he added, noting the ongoing push to build on the McGill health centre site.

[debbie]

I'm disappointed. :(

It certainly would have bolstered the profile of the Shriners in Ontario.
Their choice.

[Dr.Dan]

So the whiners get there way again... http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/traurig/weinen.gif

[Al_Kendrick]

So the whiners get there way again... http://www.addis-welt.de/smilie/smilie/traurig/weinen.gif

My sentiments exactly. London would have been a better choice.

[Dr.Dan]

My sentiments exactly. London would have been a better choice.
Would have been even better for me since it would have been located right up the street from me, driving the property values up again :D

[Ken_ver_1_5]

this just sucks and also throws an egg in the face of London.
its too bad we will never get this chance again.
I feel that in the end the politics of the decision was more important
than the reason for the hospital.

just my thoughts.

[Mischief007]

Refresh my mind but didn't London have it at one point and then Montreal cried and whined about the decision which then Shriners took the hospital away from London, correct??

[Mouse]

I don't have a problem with the decision, as long as they don't start choosing patients based of Anglophone vs Francophone.

[Kelisis]

Southwestern Ontario won big with the new Toyota plant going to Woodstock.

You can't win 'em all.

[Mouse]

$800M vs $100M. I think you are correct. :)

[Dr.Dan]

Refresh my mind but didn't London have it at one point and then Montreal cried and whined about the decision which then Shriners took the hospital away from London, correct??
No, not quite... the Shriner's selection committee chose London as a preferred spot, but it still came down to the vote.
Being picked among allot of other cities across Canada for a proposed hospital site was only the first step.

[Mischief007]

No, not quite... the Shriner's selection committee chose London as a preferred spot, but it still came down to the vote.
Being picked among allot of other cities across Canada for a proposed hospital site was only the first step.

Gotcha. Didn't know the exact details.

MouseMeat: I hope it doesn't come down to that. IF it does, then there are going to be problems.

[Walter]

Are the children of Ontario more worthy than the children of Quebec?

I don't think anyone is suggesting that so I don't see why the decision is bringout such negative comments.

We already have one of the finest children's hospitals in the world, The Hospital For Sick Children, and I am sure if you check with their Foundation you will find that the Shriners are on the list as well as thousands and thousands of people who appreciate the work being done.

If you haven't visited or know the history of Sick Kids they have gone through some major renovations and building projects in the last ten years to keep up with the advances in medicine and I understand that the project in Quebec involves relocating an existing facility.

Let's just give a big thank you to the Shriners........

[andyman]

I happen to think that it's best to go with what you have and make it better.

[Taz]

I happen to think that it's best to go with what you have and make it better.

Exactly, London's Childrens Hospital is already using alot of cutting edge technology, now if we can get the city and business comunity to put the $$ into it that was promised to the Shriners hospital we can make it that much better.

[Dr.Dan]

Exactly, London's Childrens Hospital is already using alot of cutting edge technology, now if we can get the city and business comunity to put the $$ into it that was promised to the Shriners hospital we can make it that much better.
That's already what's going on... that's what the huge new building will be starting about June 2006.
The Shriners hospital would have been a great addition to it... that's all.

The new Children's Hospital of Western Ontario will be on par with TO's Sick Kids... which of itself is unbelieveable. Two 'state of the art' Children's hostipals only 200Km away from each other serving all of Canada.
I know there's others in Canada, but these two are the leaders :)

[Dr.Dan]

I happen to think that it's best to go with what you have and make it better.
The only problem with that is the current building is 80 years old... and it's going to cost too much to renovate it, so they need a new one.
I have nothing against Montreal winning the vote; I was just hopeing we'd get it here... it would be a very nice complement to an already great site here. ;)

[Walter]

Fight for Shriners hospital not our finest hour

IAN URQUHART

What a strange spectacle took place in Baltimore this week at the annual convention of the Ancient Arabic Order of the Nobles of the Mystic Shrine, informally known as the Shriners.

In attendance were two Canadian premiers, Ontario's Dalton McGuinty and Quebec's Jean Charest, with large delegations in tow. (McGuinty brought three other cabinet ministers with him.)

Each premier was there to make a pitch to convince the fez-headed Shriners to build a children's hospital in his respective province.

To promote its bid for a hospital in Montreal, the Quebec delegation staged a massive Fourth of July party for the Shriners, flew in some 250 children to sing the city's praises, and produced a video featuring pop star Céline Dion.

The Ontario delegation focused instead on a lot of one-on-one lobbying of Shriners by the likes of Health Minister George Smitherman to support its bid for a hospital in London. But the Londoners also produced a video that slagged the proposed Montreal site as "contaminated."

Charest called that "cheap" and "sleazy."

Smitherman, in turn, accused the Quebec team of trying to depict London as an "unsophisticated backwater."

In short, it was not Canada's finest hour.

In the end, the Shriners opted for Montreal over London. The question that lingers, however, is not why London lost.

Rather, it is why Ontario felt it had to go cap-in-hand to beg an American-based charity to build what amounts to a 40-bed hospital.

Surely a province with all the resources of Ontario (or Quebec, for that matter) can afford to build a 40-bed hospital itself, if such a project is deemed worthwhile.

I asked Smitherman this question upon his return from Baltimore. He said there are two reasons why Ontario was keen to land the Shriners hospital: money and research.

The Shriners were offering to put up $85 million U.S., or about $105 million Canadian, toward construction of the hospital, said Smitherman. The province would not have had to pay a cent of the capital cost, although it would have had some responsibility for ongoing operating expenses.

Now $105 million is not to be sneezed at, but it is less than 1 per cent of Ontario's annual health budget.

"Ontario and the rest of the country should be able to provide services and facilities without needing to rely on charity or the private sector," commented Doris Grinspun of the Registered Nurses Association of Ontario. "I find the whole thing embarrassing for our country."

As for research, Smitherman noted that the Shriners hospitals around North America (there are 22 of them) are known for their expertise in orthopaedics and disabilities like spina bifida. He suggested the Shriners' presence in London would have attracted top-notch researchers from around the world.

But just down the 401 in Toronto a world-class facility already exists — the Hospital for Sick Children, or Sick Kids. It bills itself as "one of the largest paediatric academic health science centres in the world, with an international reputation for excellence in health care, research and teaching."

"We have a large paediatric orthopaedic unit," says a spokesperson for Sick Kids.

So why did we need the Shriners?

Part of the explanation for the bid for the Shriners hospital may lie in the ongoing rivalry between the medical establishments in Toronto and London, which has its own Children's Hospital of Western Ontario.

London is still smarting from the previous government's decision in 2001 to centralize all paediatric heart surgery at Sick Kids in Toronto. Bringing the Shriners to London would have been compensation for that loss.

Whether it would have made sense in the overall provision of health care to children in this province is another question.

[Just Doug1]

It's no surprise.