Parrish will not support crippling $450M request for City Hall to fund part of local share for new Mississauga Hospital 

As Trillium Health Partners moves forward with a transformative project to build a new, state-of-the-art Mississauga Hospital in the city’s centre, the municipal government is scrambling to respond to the organization’s request for $450 million, as part of the “local share” responsibility outlined by Doug Ford’s PCs.

The most cost effective funding option presented by staff in a report that will go before council Wednesday, would see property owners pay an extra $12 a year for 23 years, on a home assessed at $730,000 using a combination of a fixed six-year special levy on the property tax bill and an additional 17 years of levy continuance to pay for a municipal debenture with an average borrowing rate of 3.75 percent.

The report highlights a major discrepancy with the local share demand Ford and his government have not explained: “Based on a scan of recent hospital local share requests in Ontario, on average, this share is roughly 42% higher than the amounts requested in other communities.” 

Staff also point out that, unlike other cities across the province that are expected to pay as much as 30 percent for the overall cost of a hospital (including equipment), Toronto is exempted from this informal local share expectation, a requirement not part of existing provincial legislation. 

This has raised concern about fairness, and the demands placed on some taxpayers for frontline hospital care not expected of others.  

A spokesperson with the Minister of Health confirmed to The Pointer on October 15, that the provincial government will not be considering any assistance with the local share: “the Province will be funding the project through the agreed share amount as is the case with every single other hospital development across the province.” 

Mississauga Mayor Carolyn Parrish has already taken a position, vowing to decline the $450 million request amid an affordability crisis that has been particularly hard on her city. 

Mayor Carolyn Parrish says if it were up to her, the City would decline Trillium Health Partners’ request for $450 million.

(Alexis Wright/The Pointer) 

It raises a number of questions: why is the local share demand from the provincial government so high?; if City Hall declines, how will Trillium come up with as much as $1.5 billion on its own, the largest local share requirement in Ontario’s history?; and could any funding impasse delay delivery of the critically needed hospital project?

The transformation of Mississauga Hospital, which will be one of the largest in North America with more than 950 beds, 22 floors and approximately 2.8 million-square-feet at full build out, has a capital pricetag of more than $2 billion which does not include costs beyond the building itself. 

The staff report emphasizes that Trillium “must secure the municipal contribution” to “proceed with the hospital construction” and that THP has committed $330 million of the approximately $1.5 billion local share, community donors have provided $260 million and the organization will put another $498 million in revenues toward the total, leaving City Hall with the remaining $450 million.  

During an October 9 council meeting, Karli Farrow, president and CEO of Trillium, the hospital network responsible for Mississauga’s two hospitals and the Queensway Health Centre in Etobicoke, told officials the municipal contribution is needed by 2033 and a decision on a commitment from council is needed by December. The ask, she explained, will unlock the construction start date, which THP is currently planning for spring next year. THP had previously planned to make a request to the Region of Peel for funding but it does not appear that regional council has voted on any proposal. 

While the Province has traditionally covered 90 percent of the cost of eligible hospital construction, the staff report being presented to Mississauga City Council Wednesday includes the Ministry of Health’s funding for 75 to 85 percent of the total costs of the new build. The remaining 15 to 25 percent will be funded through the local share commitment of approximately $1.5 billion. This would mean the total capital cost combined with all other non-operating expenses to open the hospital would be as much as $6 billion, which does not appear to square with figures previously released by the provincial government. Trillium and the provincial government have not released detailed costs for the estimated total price tag. The discrepancy between 15 and 25 percent also raises questions about how much money is actually needed for the local share amount. 

“We do have to present to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Finance a balanced local share plan,” Farrow explained to council. “The numbers that we just presented, including our own philanthropic and hospital revenue numbers, are large and aggressive, though achievable, and we have appreciated the opportunity to work with City staff to understand what an ask could be of the citizens of Mississauga.” 

“We know that this is a large and very important amount and that if we surpass it, it will give us the opportunity to continue to invest in the next generation of healthcare for our community.”

Parrish, who described the hospital’s cost as “the elephant in the room” during the October 9 meeting, communicated in an email that she is not in favour of residents subsidizing a regional hospital, adding that, “Health care is the responsibility of the Province with a much greater ability to raise funds than the City does.” She also questioned why Toronto’s hospital projects do not come with a local share requirement. 

Durham, Niagara and York have had to provide contributions for local share costs for hospital projects, and The City of Brampton is also currently facing a $125 million bill for its share of Peel Memorial’s expansion. 

The report going before Mississauga’s general committee Wednesday requests council direction with four options to choose from:

• Option A, $150 million (1/3 of the requested contribution amount);
• Option B, $300 million (2/3 of the requested contribution amount); 
• Option C, $450 million (100% of the requested contribution amount); and
• Option D, To decline the contribution request.

“It presents several scenarios, one of which is to decline contributing at all,” Parrish explained. “I am in the hands of council but left to my own wishes, the answer would be to decline.”

While councillors acknowledged during the meeting there is a “deep need” for the new hospital, concerns swirled around who should pay for it. Because it will serve residents beyond the city, the burden on Mississauga property taxpayers was questioned. 

“It’s just a matter of who’s going to pay for every penny of it, and making sure that the city gets the best deal we can get,” Councillor Joe Horneck said. “Council has generally chatted and said it may not be fair for that just to sit on our tax base. We’re looking for other help from the Province or others to possibly step in.”

The staff report reminds council members that, “There is currently no provincial legislation or policy that requires municipalities to fund hospital infrastructure, although many municipalities in Ontario have contributed towards their local hospital projects.”

The Peter Gilgan Foundation previously provided $105 million and in March 2023, THP received a pledge to match donations up to $75 million over the next 10 years from Orlando Corporation, a Mississauga-based industrial real estate developer, with payments made annually, for a potential total of $150 million. Of that amount, $50 million would go toward the new hospital, $15 million to research and innovation as part of the Institute for Better Health, and $10 million for a new in-patient mental-health facility.  

Following the October 9 meeting, a City spokesperson confirmed the municipality has not contributed any funds toward the redevelopment of the hospital.

Trillium’s request came as the CEO reported to council that there were approximately 118 people receiving care in hallways at THP’s hospitals, “mainly across our Credit Valley and Mississauga sites,” where patients see some of the highest wait times for care in the province. Trillium sees nearly 1.7 million patient visits each year — a number projected to rise rapidly as Peel faces substantial population growth. Mississauga has 120,000 new homes expected to come online by 2031 under the PC housing plan. 

Farrow stressed the dire need for already stretched hospital services. “We also know that within 20 years, the demand for those services will actually double.”

“Between now and 2033 we're brainstorming and thinking about options all the time on where we can unlock even more temporary capacity while we build the new hospital. Because on day one of that Peter Gilgan Mississauga Hospital opening, we know the projections actually surpass the need.”

A rendering of the 22-storey new Mississauga Hospital which will have more than 950 beds.

(Trillium Health Partners) 

The most recent data from the organization revealed that over the past five years THP has seen a 14 percent increase in the number of people coming through the emergency departments and its urgent care centre, and a seven percent increase in the use of outpatient services. Trillium’s 10-year Strategic Plan predicts that by 2041, the communities it serves will grow by 45 percent. Trillium “will experience more demand for services than any other Ontario hospital in the next 20 years, and the hospital’s infrastructure has not kept pace for its size and the complexity of care delivered.”  

“We are moving forward with the government to ideally achieve financial close by February,” Farrow told council. “We believe that if we can finalize all of the financial plans, we will have shovels in the ground next spring, and we'll be able to tell you the project milestones, which we expect to be about eight years of construction before finally opening in 2033.”

With a mayor unwilling to support funding through the local tax base, residents could find out Wednesday if other members of council plan to move the project forward. 

Email: [email protected] 

Twitter: @mcpaigepeacock

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