2011 will be remembered as the year we finally got the new hospital - sort of.
As the provincial election campaign neared, Liberal MPPs across Ontario rolled open the doors of the treasury, approving or promising project after project after project. In this area, then-Perth-Wellington MPP John Wilkinson hit the highways on Aug. 25 to announce the long-awaited approval for a series of hospital and health care projects - including a new Groves Memorial Community Hospital.
"You have got a green light," Wilkinson said.
It took 10 years to get to that stage - after residents and hospital officials first saw the need for a new hospital.
A lot of that time was spent in dealing with government bureaucratic reshuffling, and more time was spent simply waiting - so the provincial government could get the most political advantage out of the announcement.
Planning for the new hospital came to a screeching halt when the McGuinty government introduced the LHIN system of health care governance, because all the work done to that point had to be reworked to be submitted to the LHIN - delayed too while the offices were set up.
Then everything was put on hold even further while the LHIN studied rural health care to come up with a strategic plan - which luckily included the need for a new hospital in Centre Wellington.
With the new hospital plan presented to the LHIN, endorsed and matched with its plan for future rural health care, everything sat and waited again, month after month, so the Liberals could roll the new hospital into their pre-election PR campaign.
Quality health care and the needs of the community seemed barely factored into the timing of the announcement, which came across as more of an election bribe aimed at voters. The message was clear: look what we Liberals have done for you - now you'd better re-elect us.
Liberal candidate Moya Johnson stated it clearly at an all-candidates meeting a few weeks later in Fergus: "A Liberal government will make sure our local projects happen."
Indeed, PC leader Tim Hudak was threatening to dismantle the LHIN system, which likely would have meant putting the brakes on the new hospital so planning and business cases could be submitted through whatever new system he might have put in place.
Luckily - for the project - the Liberals were re-elected, although in a minority, and into a financial situation that's going to demand cost-cutting and austerity measures. The Liberals have said they're going to limit spending increases to almost nothing to get the deficit under control - whether that includes projects already approved like the hospital, or totally new spending, isn't clear.
But there's nothing stopping the provincial government from reviewing all upcoming projects - or being forced to - in the name of fiscal responsibility. Or deciding to review the health care system, capital projects, rural health care initiatives, or LHIN planning: any of that could stall the hospital project or push it further into the future.
With a minority situation, the government could even fall on a confidence or budget vote before the expected 2014 tendering date for the new Groves. A change of government could have drastic effect on health care projects and planning.
We hope that doesn't happen. We hope planning and provincial commitment continues on track and we can look back on 2011 as the beginning of the final phase that culminated in a new area hospital.