Mr Ditherman

Dear Mr Ditherman:

We hope you will forgive our colleagues in The Soo for their impatience in asking for a reply within five weeks regarding their hospital. Perhaps they have not grasped all the intricacies of this building of hospitals in the north. Last summer (it was that long ago!) you told us to be patient and even though we were at one time promised a confirmation by Christmas, here it is Easter and we are still sitting quietly on our hands waiting for the Word.

But as the snow melts off the fifteen hectares of site-prepared land here in North Bay, there are a couple of items that need immediate attention, Mr Ditherman. So if we could have an answer by April 8, 2005, it would be appreciated. Before you get upset at our impertinence, let me explain.

With the snow cover melting away we are concerned that the warm spring and summer winds will blow away much of this sandy cover. This is not only an inconvenience to some of the homes nearby, but an environmental concern as the sand will drift over the wildflowers and summer grasses on the old Eloy farm. The rains will also wash much of this sand and topsoil down into the nearby creek, polluting a walleye (pickerel) spawning ground that we have been working diligently to recover to its former pristine beauty. If you could assure us that nothing will happen on the site this year we could plant some grass seed and stop the erosion.

The other problem is with all the monies that we have collected for the Health Centre. You see, Mr Ditherman, the banks will not give us much in the way of interest on this money and we thought that many of the people and businesses might want to invest in the Northern Ontario Grow Bonds. The closing date for the bond sale is April 11 so we need to know right away if we should set our Hospital monies aside in a Reserve Fund for five years. At four percent we might almost keep up with inflation, whereas now we are losing ground (no pun intended) with our investment due to inflation.

We know you understand inflation, Mr Ditherman, since your government is struggling to get the bookkeeping in order down there in Queen’s Park. And if you can’t afford to build the hospitals right away in The Soo and North Bay, we can understand. Not only are you facing a shortfall of some two billion dollars that seems to have been missed in previous claims of Conservative mismanagement, but Dalton is realizing that he has a problem with Ottawa’s equalization payments. If you don’t have the money, just come right out and say so, we’ll understand what it is like to be a little short before payday.

On the other hand if you are worried about all the recent news about infections in the hospitals becoming the major reason for people dying, don’t be too concerned about us – we knew this all along. Most people die after going to a hospital. We just didn’t realize what the reason was. So if you want to defer the building of the new hospitals until you get a handle on these very difficult bacteria just come right out and tell us. We’ll understand, Mr Ditherman.

On the other hand, you might not want to wait too long – like until the next provincial election - because our Mayor and Council are pretty proactive people. Once they see all that grass growing out there on the site, with people taking their pets out for exercise, picnicking, playing games and so on, they will think that this must be just another Park and they will want to build houses or stores on it.

So Mr Ditherman, if you could just let our MPP know by April 8 she can pass the word onto us and we can either get going or growing.