By rdnewsNOW staff

Government throne speech vows to expand Red Deer Regional Hospital

Mar 18, 2019 | 6:15 PM

The Alberta government has vowed to move forward with a badly needed expansion of the Red Deer Regional Hospital this year.

That claim was made in the Speech from the Throne as read by Lt.-Gov. Lois Mitchell in the Alberta Legislature on Monday. 

According to government officials, the work will include an expanded emergency room, the establishment of a cardiac catheterization lab and the expansion of additional services.

Red Deer Mayor Tara Veer says it’s nice to see the government acknowledge the community’s need for the project.

“Obviously it’s a throne speech, so that’s not a budget allocation, but certainly it’s good news for Red Deer,” she says.

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“Given the fact the government has flagged the Red Deer Regional Hospital expansion specifically in the Speech from the Throne is obviously an indication that the numbers speak for themselves. We await future budget announcements to see when and how they will implement.”

Dr. Kym Jim with the Society for Fair and Transparent Care in Central Alberta says while this is wonderful news, the announcement doesn’t go quite far enough.

“It sounds very specific with respect to cardiac catheterization, but really the details are not sufficient to be able to comment on as to what is being planned,” he says. “What Red Deer needs is a major hospital expansion and major redevelopment, and what I’m hearing is expansion of programs, which is good news, but it seems to be short on the specifics as to what would be planned in terms of actual physical infrastructure expansion.”

Jim says at the crux of the matter is the needs assessment which is yet to be released to the public.

“That is a document that we need to see and it desperately needs to be released so that the public can be informed.”  

Reg Warkentin, policy and advocacy manager for the Red Deer and District Chamber of Commerce says they’re very encouraged by the government’s intention to expand the hospital.

“However, since we’re still waiting for that needs assessment, it’s almost like they’re writing a blank cheque to give us whatever we need,” says Warkentin. “We really hope that we’re able to hold them to that.” 

Rick More, Chamber CEO, says it’s time to establish a firm plan.

“Eliminate operational spending growth until we do balance the budget,” More suggests. “Another one would be business competitiveness, reduce some of the regulatory costs and red tape which create uncertainty for business. Oil and gas well approvals for instance take four months longer than BC, and as much as five months than they do in Texas.”

In addition, More says realistic timeframes need to be established when implementing new policies for businesses.

“Especially with what’s happening with some of the changes to our labour laws and minimum wage,” he says. “The carbon tax, a thing like that, we don’t feel there’s been a realistic timeframe for our industries to adjust to the policies. I think there’s got to be more language involved and cooperation between the two.”

With another local business (Fionn MacCool’s) closing over the weekend, More says the economic climate in central Alberta is anything but rosy.

“They have been affected by some of the policies that happened,” says More. “Each individual business has been battling this since it all started. Some are surviving and some that went into it that were a little weaker, aren’t making it. Policy affects so much of our day-to-day lives with the business people.”