The MPP for Windsor-Tecumseh says the provincial approval process for the SafePoint Consumption and Treatment Services site is moving along without issue.
At the end of last week Lisa Gretzky, the member for Windsor West, sent a letter to the Ministry of Health advocating for for CTS funding which followed Windsor city council voting to reaffirm support for the Safepoint location at their last council meeting.
Andrew Dowie says he's been following along with the various news reports surrounding the CTS, but wanted to provide information related to the process because this isn't a doom and gloom situation.
He says Windsor-Essex County Health Unit officials have been engaging with members of the civil service at Ministry for several months to secure necessary approvals and funding for delivery of these services, and things are moving in a positive direction.
"So I was happy to share that there should be no sense of doom and gloom on the prospect of support for this project. The Health Unit has done all that it can do to get the services in place and ultimately they are working hard with the Ministry to get that done," he stated.
No officials representing the WECHU, nor the City of Windsor, have engaged with Dowie regarding the application but he did reach out to health unit officials at the end of last week to share the information he's received with them.
In terms of the broader community, Dowie says his office hasn't received any inquires about the process but given the sense of uncertainty following some discussions around the council table in Windsor he felt the need to provide more clarity on the situation.
"It's just a long process from start to finish. The Health Unit had described that it would take a year or more, because that's how long other applications have taken to be completed and funded. We still don't have federal approval for the site, so that's one key component that hasn't been met yet."
Dowie says he continues to strongly advocate for for provincial health services to remain accessible and available to residents, and particularly when they're designated local priorities such as the SafePoint site.
He adds there are no issues that the province sees with the application, it's just a matter of working out what the funding parameters will be.
"What services will be funded within the wraparound services that we all know are necessary, the levels of funding needed based on the expectations of how many might come through the doors," Dowie continued. "Obviously all of these are projections and we don't really know for sure until the centre's open."
He says those are the kind of minute details that go into completing the funding applications, and it's what the Health Unit is engaged in with the Ministry of Health right now.
Dowie says wherever there can be a beneficial conversation to help accelerate the release of approvals and funding in the provincial government, he will make that engagement.
A decision on federal approval to operate the site is expected sometime this month, while Health Unit officials are anticipating provincial approval and funding to following sometime in the summer.
- with files from AM800's Rob Hindi