The Ottawa Hospital receives $50M donation toward new Civic campus

A Toronto-based construction magnet was the center of attention at the Ottawa Hospital's general campus this morning. Peter Gilgan of Mattamy Homes announced his family is donating 50 million dollars. It's going towards the new Civic Campus being developed out on Carling Avenue. Gilgan's name will feature on part of that completed campus, the section that will include the hospital's intensive care unit. Now, Gilgan said he's been in quiet conversation with the hospital for some time, but that his family only recently made the final decision about donating. For the president and CEO of the hospital foundation, today was a hotly anticipated day. It was extremely hard to keep it under wraps for the last number of months and even with our team you were on a need-to-know basis and so to see it come together, to see our team, our volunteers, our foundation staff, hospital staff, yeah we did a good job of keeping it under wraps. It's the largest philanthropic gift in Ottawa's history, according to the Hospital Foundation, but it comes at an interesting time. Remember, only last week, Ontario's infrastructure minister made remarks suggesting that the total cost of Civic Campus 2.0 had gone way up. That's raised questions, too, about Ottawa's ability to cover its share of the costs. Gilgan said he only recently became aware of that increase. So the first I heard of it, quite frankly, was in the car right from the airport this morning. So I wouldn't be in any way qualified to comment on that. But it is endemic to every hospital in the country right now that the costs have gone up, particularly since COVID. The Ottawa Hospital Foundation has had a goal of raising $500 million toward the project. Gilgan's donation puts it closer to that goal. But when CBC asked the foundation today if, given the increased cost, it will be moving its funders and goalposts accordingly, the foundation said its goal will remain unchanged. Guy Canville, CBC News, Ottawa.