We were greatly disappointed by the timely absence of our Liberal MPP, Carol Mitchell during the all candidates meeting in Saugeen Shores. Due to her absence we were unable to ask her about the unacceptable “conditions” that she has placed on our ER expansion project.

As with most announcements that seem to be too good to be true, the devil is often in the details. The conditions of having to secure 75% local physician coverage by March 2012 and 100% local physician coverage by March 2013 means that this announcement appears to be nothing more than an empty pre-election promise.

Ms Mitchell is very much aware of the struggles we have faced as an ER physician group over the past 10 years. She is also aware that over this time period we have only been able to reach 100% local coverage for approximately 6 months. We currently struggle to reach 50% local coverage and since our last letter we have lost another ER physician. This additional loss means that our current resources are even more strained, further jeopardizing the Emergency Department.

We are all familiar with “conditional offers” on real estate but conditional offers on the health of our community is new to us. An announcement with an apparent goal of failure tied directly to local physicians will make recruitment almost impossible. We request that Ms Mitchell immediately remove these “conditions” and expedite the project’s time line. After 6 years of patiently waiting and dealing with an over crowded often unsafe department we deserve more than an ultimatum on work hours.

When you mark your ballot this Thursday ask yourself if you are Ok with conditional healthcare because we think you deserve better

Signed