Gordon Prentice at Large - Politics in Newmarket
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Southlake Regional Health Centre has launched a “search consultation” inviting anyone who is interested: 
“to confidentially provide input in the search process for the new President and CEO.”
The current Chief Executive, Arden Krystal, dropped a bombshell on 5 July 2023 by unexpectedly announcing her resignation in the middle of a major exercise to find a location for a second Southlake campus as close as possible to the Davis Drive site.
Big Job with Salary to Match
Being Chief Executive is a big job with a salary to match. Arden Krystal’s pay last year was $521,297 plus $10,649 in taxable benefits.
Her 2017 contract with the hospital is here. The responsibilities are huge.
I have nothing but praise for the medical staff who deserve ten out of ten. We are lucky to have them.
But it is impossible to write about Southlake without mentioning the many well publicised run-ins the nurses have had with the hospital management.
And I was shocked to discover the hospital was cutting the number of nurses in the middle of the COVID pandemic.
Southlake’s consultation asks:
- From your perspective, what are the challenges, opportunities and key priority areas of focus associated with this President and CEO role and the future of Southlake Regional Health Centre.
- What leadership attributes and competences should the ideal candidate possess?
- What experience should the ideal candidate possess?
- If you were speaking to a good candidate for the role, what would you say about the organisation and the opportunity to generate their interest?
This survey is confidential. However, Southlake is committed to keeping you updated. If you wish to receive updates from Southlake, including an overview of the results of this survey, please provide your information below...
I can't see a deadline for returning the survey form but I may have missed it. How much notice the Search Commitee will take of the responses is anyone's guess. 
For a non-medical person like me these are daunting questions. But, first up, I’d say the Search Committee (whoever they are) will be looking for someone with a medical background with a track record in hospital administration, delivering results. (Arden Krystal was a nurse in her earlier career.)
The successful candidate will also bring his or her own ethos to the job.
Southlake and Transparency
The Southlake I’ve observed over the years has hoarded information, treating every scrap of paper as if it contained a patient’s medical history.
The hospital trumpets:
“Southlake Prides Itself on being transparent.”
Pull the other one!
Shrouded in Secrecy
Meetings of the Board of Directors are shrouded in secrecy. There are no minutes available to the public – not even redacted ones. Only selective meeting summaries.
Even now, over nine months after a key meeting on 1 November 2022 when developer Michael Rice offered Greenbelt land for a new hospital for a nominal fee, Southlake insists it has no records of what happened then. Who is kidding whom?
The Board’s “meeting summaries” do not tell us about conflicts of interest that have been declared by Board members.
They do not tell us if the offer of land for a new hospital was reported to the Board at its meeting on 25 November 2022 or, indeed, at the next meeting on 26 January 2023 after the Ford Government had removed the Rice lands in King from the Greenbelt.
If everything is above board there is absolutely no reason why this information should be withheld.
The new Chief Executive has nothing to fear by opening up a closed institution and letting the daylight in.
Update on 8 August 2023: From the Toronto Star: Doug Ford's Tories brace for auditor's report into controversial Greenbelt land swap
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
Luca Bucci, the Chief Executive of the Ontario Home Builders Association, quit the organisation abruptly on Tuesday (1 August 2023) giving no explanation. Bucci was previously Chief of Staff to Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister, Steve Clark. 
In a terse letter to members, the President of the OHBA, Louie Zagordo, said
“Luca Bucci is no longer with the Ontario Home Builders Association, effective today.”
At the OHBA "Industry Leaders Dinner" in April, Bucci boasted the home builders were effectively writing Government policy on planning and housing.
Bucci's Linked-in profile has not been updated.
This morning’s Toronto Star reports that a draft of the Audit General’s report on the Greenbelt controversy has gone to Doug Ford as is customary and is expected to be published in a few weeks.
The Star's Robert Benzie writes:
NDP Leader Marit Stiles said the Tories are clearly worried about Lysyk’s “value-for-money” audit into the Progressive Conservatives’ decision to open up the Greenbelt for housing development.
“It’s fair to say that the walls are closing in on this Conservative government,” said Stiles, pointing out Integrity Commissioner J. David Wake is also examining the Greenbelt deals.
Tory sources, speaking confidentially in order to discuss internal deliberations, acknowledged the parallel probes were a hot topic of conversation among cabinet ministers and MPPs this week.
Also generating buzz was the revelation a former top Conservative official had left suddenly as chief executive officer of the Ontario Home Builders’ Association, an influential lobby group for property developers.ullscreen
Luca Bucci, who had been Municipal Affairs and Housing Minister Steve Clark’s chief of staff before joining the OHBA in June 2022, parted ways with the association Tuesday.
In a letter to members, OHBA president Louie Zagordo said he was “reaching out to advise that Luca Bucci (CEO) is no longer with the Ontario Home Builders’ Association, effective today.”
Zagordo did not provide a reason for the departure of Bucci, a key player in crafting the Tories’ plan to build 1.5 million new homes in the next decade to tackle Ontario’s housing crisis.
You can read the full article by clicking “read more” below.
Update on 4 August 2023: The Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk will release her report on the Greenbelt controversy on Wednesday 9 August 2023. Her report will not contain evidence sworn under oath by Michael Rice. He refused to attend an interview.
See also: Timeline: Southlake and the Sale of the Greenbelt lands in King and The new Southlake was planned to be built on Greenbelt land owned by developer Michael Rice and former hospital Board member John Dunlap
Update on 8 August 2023: From the Toronto Star: Doug Ford's Tories brace for Auditor's Report into controversial Greenbelt land swap
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- Written by: Gordon Prentice
I was surprised to see our MPP, Dawn Gallagher Murphy, tweeting about fire hazards while surrounded by leafy vegetation which could easily harbour black legged ticks, always ready to pounce when they see bare skin. They carry Lyme disease which, in rare instances, can result in death. 
As a Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of Health I thought Dawn would be alive to the risks of wandering into the woods when dressed for the beach.
The health experts tell us we can protect ourselves by
“wearing long-sleeved shirts, long pants tucked into your socks, and closed-toed shoes.”
I learn that most symptoms of Lyme disease in humans usually appear between 3 and 30 days after a bite from an infected blacklegged tick. There is a painfully long list of symptoms which includes headache, stiff neck, muscle aches and joint pains, fatigue, spasms, numbness or tingling and, frighteningly, facial paralysis.
Dawn did her piece to camera in the Township of McMurrich and Monteith which lies within the North Bay Parry Sound Health District east of the town of Parry Sound and west of Huntsville.
The Health District up there says twelve human cases of Lyme disease have been reported to them in the last five years.
“As of July 26, 2023, 99 ticks have been sent for identification. Ninety one results received, with 42 as blacklegged and one as ixodes kingi. Thirty-seven have tested negative for the bacteria that causes Lyme disease.”
I like the sound of all those negative tests but, unfortunately, in recent years the areas affected by black legged ticks have been relentlessly expanding.
3,000 cases since 2021
Infected blacklegged ticks can be found across the province. And I read there have been over 3,000 cases of Lyme disease in Ontario since 2021. Oh dear!
We need Dawn to stay healthy so she can continue to warn us about the perils we face in our daily lives – and to thank, on our behalf, all those who keep us safe.
The last thing I want is for Dawn to wake up with a stiff neck, feeling fatigued.
