Planned Vaudreuil-Soulanges Hospital moving to new site

The future Vaudreuil-Soulanges Hospital will no longer be built at its planned site, Radio-Canada has learned.

Vaudreuil-Dorion Mayor Guy Pilon is not happy with the decision, saying that he only learned about the change when contacted by Radio-Canada.

"This affects me enormously," he said, noting that some residents are currently travelling as far as Hawkesbury to receive care.

The previous Liberal government announced the site of the future hospital, at the intersection of Highways 30 and 340 near Highway 40, in 2016.

The 25-hectare plot is in an agricultural zone and, in May, Quebec's commission on the protection of agricultural land proposed six other locations for the new hospital.

The site also faced pushback from the Montreal Metropolitan Community (MMC), as it did not conform to its land use and development plan which aims to limit urban sprawl in the area.

Health Minister Danielle McCann sent a letter to the MMC asking them to modify their plan to allow for the construction of the hospital. But, at the end of November, the MMC voted on a resolution asking the ministry to find another site.

"We are following the plan that was already in place," said McCann's spokesperson Alexandre Lahaie.

"We are continuing the Vaudreuil-Soulanges Hospital project with other scenarios that are already on the table," he said.

Pilon said the city has already taken steps to expropriate land necessary to divert water to the hospital site.

"We have started a process that must be stopped immediately," he said.

The previous government said the hospital would have 404 beds, with 217 devoted to general medicine, 94 to surgery, 24 to pediatrics, 25 to obstetrics and 44 to psychiatry.

The hospital is expected to open in 2027. The health minister's spokesperson said that deadline will still be met.