A proposal by Trillium Health Partners to build a major redevelopment and expansion of the Queensway Health Centre is expected to be decided this week.

Etobicoke York Community Council members will decide on June 17 if a nine-storey inpatient hospital wing at 150 Sherway Dr., containing 416 beds to the north of the existing hospital, and a new eight-storey parking structure with 910 spaces will go ahead.

The hospital has been raising funds and lobbying government officials to get a green light so they can “provide more patients with the right care in the right place at the right time.”

This new wing would be connected by a covered walkway to the existing hospital building and pedestrian entrances would be from The West Mall side.

In addition to the 910 parking spots within the new proposed parking garage structure, 527 existing surface parking spaces unaffected by the new buildings would remain bringing the total number of parking spaces to 1,437 for the entire site. The proposal also would also provide 124 new bicycle parking spaces.

“The project aims to increase the capacity of health care services for the community,” Queensway Health Centre officials say. “It is also working with partners to advance plans for new long-term care beds and palliative services in Mississauga.”

Organizers have raised $38.8 million for the hospital to ensure they are able to provide high-quality care and meet the increasing demands.

The site will be located at the southwest corner of The Queensway and The West Mall, where some small hospital buildings stand.

The hospital says they are gearing up for the next 20-years and to meet this demand, they are planning major expansion projects at the Mississauga Hospital and the Queensway Health Centre.

Trillium Health Partners is one of the largest community-based hospital systems in Canada, which includes the Credit Valley Hospital, the Mississauga Hospital and the Queensway Health Centre.

The hospital last year received over 1.7 million patient visits and 276,003 visits to the hospital’s Emergency Departments and Urgent Care Centre. This is a significant increase from previous years. They have also performed 65,520 surgeries and delivered 8,364 babies.

We love our parks and gardens at this time of the year.

This summer the Lakeshore Environmental Gardening Society (LEGS) is heralding and celebrating beneficial insects of the garden.

LEGS Chair Monika Meulman says summer is a time of growth for your garden and for watering, weeding and pest control to ensure an abundant harvest.

This season the group will be giving out Bug Garden Kits that contain bugs that are beneficial for your garden and plants.

The beneficial bugs, as they are called, go after those that eat your lettuce, torment your trees or chew the roots of your vegetables, Meulman says.

“Knowing more about the beneficial bugs in our gardens can help you protect your crops,” she says, adding the beneficial bugs can prevent the use of dangerous pesticides for your crops.

“Many bugs we might consider pests actually do the work they are meant to do to help our garden grow,” Meulman insists.

The beneficial bugs include: Rove beetles, solitary bees, lacewing eggs and Trichogramma wasps.

“By turning back to the wisdom of nature we use less harmful pesticides and still have abundance in our parks and gardens,” Meulman says.

Gardners say the beneficial bugs feed on codling moth, cabbageworm, tomato hornworm, corn earworm, corn borer, gypsy moth, leafworms, fruitworms, peach borer, diamond back moth, tomato pinworm, cutworms, bollworms, armyworms and tent caterpillars.

Thanks to a TD Park People grant, LEGS will be giving out Bug Garden Kits to help you with your yield.

The kits are available on June 20 and 21 from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. at The Healing Muse Apothecary, at 2859 Lake Shore Blvd. W., near Fifth St.

Other good pest-eaters for your garden includes toads, spiders for aphids or caterpillers for eating other insect pests and birds, which eat bugs.

 

Racial tension and calls for a possible boycott maybe in the works after an area man says he was fired from a Parkdale pizzeria after seeking an apology for an alleged racist slur.

Tyler Robert Daniel says he began working at Amico’s Pizza Ristorante, on Queen St. W., on June 7 when a man, who was a friend of the owner, made a number of racial slurs in regards to a Black Lives Matter protest in the U.S. that was being aired on TV.

The insulting comments to paraphrase had do with shooting the N-word protestors.

“I was deeply offended,” Daniel wrote. “My brother was attending the protests in California at the time.”

He sought, but did not receive until days later, an apology from the owner whose friend had made the racist threats against Black protestors.

When he confronted the owner, Daniel allege he was told he was to ‘aggressive’ and was paid for his shift and told he ‘won’t be needed the next day.”

He returned to work on June 10 and was told by the boss that “he wasn’t comfortable with me working there anymore.”

“I told you that all I wanted was an apology from your friend and my job,” Daniel wrote. “At this point I am seeking legal action and any recourse that is available to me.”

He posted a letter to document the event on social media, where it has been well-read.

The owner of the Amico’s in an apology later on social media says he did not respond to the allegations as “quickly or thoroughly as I should have given the appalling racist situation.”

“I do not and have never tolerated racist behaviour,” the owner wrote. “I sincerely apologize for the hurt I have cause Tyler and our community due to my inaction.”

He says “I should have acknowledged the situation in a better way.”

The owner promises to ensure “that no further incidents of racist behaviour occur in our establishment.”

But the apology was too late for many Parkdale residents, some who wanted to boycott the eatery.

“Anyway boycott,” Robin Klyne wrote.

“This is beyond disgusting behaviour and they will not see a nickel from me or any of my friends in the neighbourhood,” promised Michelle Cerqua, adding she was angry Daniels had to go through the experience.

Nasser Khan noted the owner posted a belated apology but did not mention or apologize for firing Daniel.