Opponents of County Rd. 42 mega-hospital trying for another appeal

The group fighting the location of a new Windsor-Essex acute care facility is in court trying to convince a judge to allow them to appeal a ruling from last fall.

The Citizens for an Accountable Mega Hospital Planning Process (CAMPP) tried to convince the Ontario Local Planning Appeal Tribunal (LPAT) last October that the decision to locate a new mega-hospital on County Road 42 near Windsor Airport was flawed and should be denied.

CAMPP lost that appeal and is now trying to get a judge in Windsor to give them a chance at another hearing.

CAMPP has asked for a leave to appeal on the grounds that the following five issues be addressed in future hearings:

• Emergency services are properly located when the new hospital is built.
• Planning is undertaken that properly considers climate change impacts.
• The city meets obligations to consult with Indigenous communities.
• Conflicts in expert evidence are resolved.
• Steps are taken to address the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, which could not have been considered when the new hospital was being planned.

A hearing before divisional court justice Greg Verbeem began Wednesday. He has already ruled that his court has no jurisdiction over the COVID-19 issue.

"The question that CAMPP asked the court to consider was, given that [COVID-19 is] a new development that only happened recently, is that something that can be talked about in the context of the appeals from what the ... tribunal decided?" said CAMPP lawyer Eric Gillespie. "The court's answer was no. There is no legal way to do that at this stage."

Gillespie said the judge will continue to hear submissions from CAMPP, as well as lawyers for Windsor Regional Hospital and the City of Windsor on Monday, about the other four issues.

The hearing is being held via video conference and being streamed on YouTube.

The proceedings will begin at 10 a.m. Monday.