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STOP on the superhospital The name is arresting: STOP. But the Montreal-based environmental group known by that monicker is not out to put an end to the proposed mega-hospital merger at Glen Yards. What they do want is a public environmental inquiry into the project before the McGill University Health Centre (MUHC) hospitals start pouring cement and moving gurneys. "We're not taking sides on whether this development should go ahead or not," STOP vice president Don Wedge told the Mirror. "We're saying that, before it does, the environmental issues should be addressed in a public forum." According to Wedge, issues of concern include waste management, the greening of the area and energy use. Although provincial law does not require it, STOP is hoping that the MUHC administration will agree to hold public hearings similar to those organized by the Bureau d'Audiences Publiques sur l'Environnement (BAPE). Such hearings would require the MUHC to prepare a rigorous impact study which is then scrutinized by independent experts and the public. MUHC board members cancelled a meeting with McGill's architecture school earlier this month after they discovered it would be open to the public. Wedge fears continued public avoidance. "What is essential in a project of this magnitude is transparency. And the MUHC has not been very demonstrative of that so far." --Dominique Ritter
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