Debate raises future of Civic site

The Ottawa Hospital’s Civic site should be used for seniors’ housing when the health-care facility moves to its new location in the Experimental Farm, suggests Ottawa Centre MPP Yasir Naqvi.

He raised the idea during a candidates’ debate about seniors’ issues on Tuesday at the Glebe Centre, a long-term care home.

Naqvi said a “seniors village” on the Carling Avenue hospital site could include a range of housing, from units for people who want to live independently to long-term care beds.

“I had a fleeting conversation with the mayor (Jim Watson) and he seems to be quite keen about it as well,” said Naqvi, who is also the province’s attorney general, in an interview after the meeting. The land is owned by the city.

“It’s something I want to explore and have a conversation around,” Naqvi said. The new Civic campus of The Ottawa Hospital is expected to open at the new location near Dow’s Lake in 2026.

Conservative candidate Colleen McCleery said in an interview that she thought the seniors’ village was a “great idea.”

NDP candidate Joel Harden called the idea intriguing but said he’d have to look at the proposal to make sure there was affordable housing, access to transit and local food options.

During the debate, candidates for the three major parties reiterated pledges to increase the number of long-term care beds. The Liberals and Conservatives promise an additional 30,000 beds in the next 10 years; the NDP promises 40,000.

There is a waiting list across the province of about 32,000 for longterm care beds, and the situation is expected to worsen as baby boomers age.

Attendee Barbara Hicks, 85, said governments are to blame for not being prepared for the shortage of nursing care beds.

“We have known for how many years there was going to be this enormous retirement contingent coming? It’s a lack of common sense.”