A decision to build a surface parking lot for the new Vaudreuil-Soulanges hospital shows the provincial government is not following its own advice when it comes to environmental issues, said Patrick Bousez, Prefect for the Municipalité régionale de Comté (MRC) de Vaudreuil-Soulanges.

Bousez said he met with Danielle McCann, the former Minister of Health and Social Services and other representatives to discuss and review the hospital project in early January 2019, even though the details had already been defined and confirmed by the previous government.

The current site was selected as the best location and a commitment was made to the people in the region that the hospital would adhere to environmental protocols, according to Bousez.

"The Minister even said, 'The work would be carried out in such a way as to minimize the environmental impact,'" said Bousez.

"In fact, this was the government's condition for keeping the original site - to ensure the environmental impact was minimal. Now we're told a parking lot the size of five soccer fields will be built to save money," he said.

"This comes after Premier Legault said municipalities should do their part to adapt to climate change, but the government is doing the opposite," Bousez added.

Vaudreuil-Dorion council unanimously adopted a seven page resolution at its council meeting on June 5 calling on the province to allocate the necessary funds for either an aboveground or underground multi-level parking facility as originally planned. 

"The resolution is based on facts and demonstrates the Quebec government's decision to build a surface parking lot runs counter to current municipal, regional and provincial environmental policies," said Mayor Guy Pilon.

The surface parking lot will have 1,869 parking spaces which represents 5.7 hectares of paved area, the equivalent of more than five soccer fields. It also represents 23 percent of the total land surface area earmarked for the hospital.

The Ministry of Health and Social Services blames rising costs in the construction industry for its decision to build a surface parking lot.

"A budget increase of $900 million was necessary to deal with rising costs," Jade St-Jean, Executive Advisor, External Communications, Media and Ministerial Relations at CISSSMO, told Néomédia in an email.  

"In order to meet the new $2.6 billion budget, a rigorous optimization exercise was undertaken to maintain the project's scope and to ensure clinical services would not be cut, while maintaining the planned schedule," said St. Jean.

"Therefore, a surface parking lot could save the project $50 million without compromising any of the services within the future hospital, which is why a decision was made in this direction," St. Jean added.