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Will budget bring funding for WLMH? By MIke Williscraft NewsNow April 11 is provincial budget day and, while many hope, others believe 20 years of waiting for West Lincoln Memorial Hospital funding could end. In an early February letter from the Ministry of Health and LongTerm Care to Hamilton Health Sciences, it was noted a $150 million rebuild would be proposed - with about $110 million in provincial funding and $40 million to come from the community. The letter noted a new WLMH would include ORs, obstetrics and emergency care as core services, with other facets. While this would be considerably less than the $280 million build which had been previously outlined by HHS, a formula of a scaled back hospital building construction paired with an adjacent professional building could allow the site to include all components desired with huge savings. HHS officials were going to release the proposed spend for the project in early February, but it was requested by the Ministry they hold off. When asked for comment at that time, HHS president and CEO Rob MacIsaac said it was “premature” to comment on possible funding at that time.
You can go home again
One of the Grimsby Peach Kings’ favourite sons, Steve Mason, returned to Grimsby Sunday for an autograph session - here for fellow goalie Luke Wessels, centre, and Elliott Jackson - and a pre-game ceremony. For details on the NHL’s Calder Trophy winner’s visit, please turn to Page 8. On the ice, the Peach Kings dropped Game 3 4-2. Game 4 was in Exeter on Tuesday, with Game 5 and Game 7 back in Grimsby on Friday (8 p.m.) and Sunday (7 p.m.) , respectively. Williscraft - Photo
Students protest education cuts By Tristan Marks For NewsNow High school students across Ontario walked out of classrooms together last Thursday to protest proposed cuts to the province’s education budget. The protests focused on a number of issues including changes to classroom sizes, cuts to the Ontario
Student Assistance Program (OSAP), and the reworking of sex education. Students from Grimsby Secondary School and Blessed Trinity Catholic Secondary School were among those participating in the province-wide demonstrations. They held signs critical of Premier Doug Ford’s re-
forms while chanting slogans such as, “Students say no” and, “Cuts hurt kids”. Later on, GSS students marched from their school grounds to join with their peers from BT for a joint protest. Many of the students expressed frustration over their inability to make their voices heard through the
democratic process. “It’s not fair,” said Jen Bailey, a student at GSS. “If we can’t vote, then (Ford) shouldn’t be allowed – without the students’ consent – to make decisions about our education. We don’t want all these cuts, we want education.” See PROTEST, Page 3