A small northern Ontario town, which has waited more than seven years for a long-term care home promised by Doug Ford during his first election campaign, is taking a major step toward construction.
Sioux Lookout, located roughly four hours north of Thunder Bay, was promised new long-term care beds by Ford and then-Liberal leader Kathleen Wynne during the 2018 election campaign.
After the Progressive Conservatives won the election, however, the promise lay dormant for years and was left unaddressed by successive long-term care ministers.
Now, the hospital tasked with building new beds in the small town is getting ready to mark a milestone.
A spokesperson for Sioux Lookout Meno Ya Win Health Centre said it would be submitting designs for a long-term care facility on or before Sept. 1, 2025.
“The hospital is currently working on the completion of our Preliminary Design as part of the Ministry planning grant that has been received,” they wrote.
“This will include working drawings that will align with the requirements for Long-Term Care. The planning grant allows SLMHC to advance the 96-bed long-term care facility from the planning stage of development into the construction stage.”
The design work has been undertaken with a $2.5 million grant from the provincial government, the Ministry of Long-term Care confirmed.
The long-term care home has been a point of advocacy for local Ontario NDP MPP Sol Mamakwa over several years.
“The government’s funding commitment for this project, while long overdue, is a step in the right direction; a testament to the advocacy that the community has been doing and to MPP Mamakwa’s efforts to hold the government to their promises,” the NDP said in a statement on his behalf.