Windsor mayor Drew Dilkens is asking his city council colleagues to support the proposed new hospital at the corner of County Rd. 42 and the 9th Concession.
"It's time for us to put aside all of the conversation that we've had for a number of years," says Dilkens. "The site has been selected and we need to move forward arm and arm to say to the Province of Ontario, we need the money."
Speaking on AM800's The Morning Drive Wednesday, Dilkens says he will be presenting a notice of motion at next Monday's meeting asking members of council to support the new hospital plan.
He says other local municipalities have done it and feels it's time for Windsor council to show its support.
"The idea is we have a full council now and it's time for us to actually vote and say we support construction of this hospital on the land purchased by Windsor Regional Hospital which is the land on County Road 42 and we ask the province to prioritize funding for this very important project," he added.
Dilkens says he's passionate about this project and wants to see it move forward.
"We want to lock and load and take all of those resolutions up to Toronto to the premier directly and the Minister of Finance saying here's where we are," says Dilkens. "We're already collecting our 10 per cent share. This is the priority project for our region. We need the funding to move to the next phase, $10-million and the budget is coming in March and we're all watching."
Dilkens says it's time council actually votes on the project.
"This will set the stage hopefully for a very strong response from our region up in Toronto and we can get some traction to keep this project moving forward," says Dilkens.
As heard on AM800 news last month, Windsor Regional Hospital officially acquired the land for the new regional acute care hospital.
The deal allows Stage Two planning to begin as soon as the province provides the funding. Stage Two planning includes a detailed description of the programs to be delivered, staffing, equipment and space required along with preliminary designs.