Concern for other local projects after cancelled cash for law-school move

Ford nixes funds promised by Liberals for move into Paul Martin building

Could the Doug Ford government’s refusal to pay $20 million for the law school’s move to Paul Martin Building be a troubling sign of cancellations to come?

“I’ll be honest with you, the Paul Martin building is probably the least of my worries,” Ward 3 Coun. Rino Bortolin, who represents the downtown, said Friday, reacting to news the Ford government won’t go ahead with the law-school move promised last May by the Kathleen Wynne Liberals on the eve of the June 7 election. Bortolin, who ran unsuccessfully for the collapsing Liberals in Windsor West, said finding a new use for the federal building isn’t insurmountable.

Council had set aside $15 million to help with the conversion of the 1930s landmark building into the law school — money that could be used to attract a new occupant, he suggested.

But the bigger concern, Bortolin said, is whether a similar fate might befall other local projects green-lighted by the Wynne Liberals. There’s the $2-billion building of a new state of the art “mega hospital,” and continued funding for addiction treatment and mental health services, believed to be crucial in fighting the problems of rising crime rates and homelessness in the downtown.

“I think over the next four years, you’ll see us fall short on all of those funding requirements and it’s going to have a huge impact on the community,” said Bortolin. The withdrawal of funding for the law school is one of several cancellations of Liberal-approved post-secondary projects, as the Ford government makes “tough decisions about projects across Ontario,” according to an email from a spokesman for the minister of training, colleges and universities. “Our government is being forced to clean up the irresponsible and reckless financial decisions of the previous Liberal government.”

While post-secondary projects are being cancelled, that hasn’t been happening to hospital projects, according to David Musyj, the CEO of Windsor Regional Hospital, who said he’s “not at all” worried about the long-envisioned acute-hospital plan being axed.

The new leadership at the Ministry of Health is just emerging from a period of transition, getting updated on the many projects underway, he said, including the new local hospital.

“We have a call set up with the Ministry of Health capital team for the middle of this month to talk about what was submitted in advance of the election and to move the project forward,” Musyj said. “So we’ve received no indication whatsoever other than we’re moving forward.”

MPP Lisa Gretzky (NDP — Windsor West) said it’s becoming clear that the new PC government is intent on undoing things simply because the Liberal government did them.

“I know there are people who are a little concerned that the (hospital) investment isn’t going to come through,” she said. “But I’m very hopeful that the premier, who was very supportive of the hospital project, will recognize that a lot of work and money has been put into this and it’s something the community not only needs but deserves.”

She said cancelling the law school money was a shock to the community after years of effort. “What we’re seeing now is, just when Windsor students and families were finally getting excited that the project is going forward, the Ford government has callously pulled the funding and it’s a huge hit to the community,” she said. Not only are the university and students affected, but also the downtown businesses that were counting on the influx of 800 students and faculty, Gretzky said. While the Liberals announced the $20 million on the eve of the June election, that doesn’t mean it wasn’t deserved, said Gretzky. Downtown boosters had been working for years to secure the law school. The federal government was offering to sell the Paul Martin Building to the city for a nominal amount. The city was willing to pitch in $15 million to help convert the building into a law school.

“The important piece is the investment was going to happen and it shouldn’t be undone simply because the new government doesn’t want any of the previous government’s work in place,” Gretzky said.

She vowed to keep pushing the Ford government to make the investment for the law-school move. “I don’t want to say it will never happen, that we give up hope. This is just resuming a fight we were already having,” she said.