The Solutions: Modernizing health care and building new hospitals

The government's goal is to modernize Ontario's health infrastructure by updating equipment and expanding capacity to meet the needs of our growing and aging population. The five-year infrastructure investment plan is a blueprint that supports the government's goal of achieving better health for Ontarians. Some highlights:

• Funding to finish 39 major projects with a value of at least $25 million and the start of 66 new projects to upgrade and expand hospitals to provide better services in high-growth areas, modernize older hospitals and reduce wait times.

• Thirty-three projects will be started over the next 24 months; 30 per cent of these are large complex projects.

• Another 33 projects will be started during the remaining three years of the plan and over 35 per cent of these are large and complex.

• More than $150 million will be invested over five years to improve cancer treatment through equipment upgrades.

• Nine new and seven upgraded MRI machines will be operating by the end of this fiscal year; together these will increase the number of MRIs by 15 per cent.

The total value of hospital projects begun in the next five years will be approximately $5.3 billion, including community-share contributions.

A significant number of large complex projects will be financed and built using alternative financing and procurement methods. These alternative arrangements will allow faster expansion of health care facilities, improve management of the construction phase and reduce the risk to taxpayers. All projects will eventually be paid for with public funds.

Regardless of how we finance our hospitals, they will be public hospitals, owned by the people of Ontario and controlled by public hospital boards.