A large, vocal crowd gathered outside of McDougall Centre on Wednesday to express its concern over the uncertain future of Calgary’s new cancer centre.
The new cancer centre had been slated to be built adjacent to the Foothills Hospital and was expected to eventually replace the outdated and overcrowded Tom Baker Cancer Centre. A recent economic downturn prompted the provincial government to place several projects on hold including the $1.3 billion Calgary Cancer Centre.
Rally organizers say it's critical the province goes ahead with construction of the new centre.
“This is a project that has started and stopped two times before,” said Myka Osinchuk, Alberta Cancer Foundation CEO. “Every day we hear that 42 Albertans hear the words ‘You have cancer', that's 16,000 people a year. Those people don't stop hearing those words because of the price of oil."
The Alberta Cancer Centre has committed $200 million to the project.
