A Windsor man is calling for calm after someone drove up onto his lawn, pulled out his sign opposing the location of the new acute care hospital, threw it in the air, and sped off.
Rhys Trenhaile told BlackburnNews.com the incident happened Monday night.
"I already had a call from my next-door neighbour," said Trenhaile. "Came home, and yeah, there's tire marks on my front lawn, and tire marks peeling out of my driveway."
Trenhaile has had the sign up for almost a year with no issue until earlier this week.
In a Facebook post about the incident, Trenhaile said there is a false narrative that those against the location of the hospital are against any new hospital; a story he said is not true.
"My first reaction was sadness, because what should otherwise be a civil discourse to a very important item, which is where this hospital is going to be located; it's just a lot of pettiness," he said.
(Photo courtesy of Rhys Trenhaile)
In his own opinion, Trenheile believes the hospital should go closer to the city's core, where more of the population is elderly or is experiencing poverty.
The Facebook post elicited a response from Mayor Drew Dilkens on Thursday morning.
Although Dilkens condemned the incident at Trenheile's home, he issued a sharp defence of the city's decision to locate the hospital on County Road 42.
"For the record, I've known Rhys Trenhaile since high school, and he's a decent person, but the comments, irony, and hypocrisy in this story are just too good to ignore," he wrote in his own Facebook post. "It's hard to believe a realtor is against planned development -- especially major development like a $2-billion hospital! Claiming the hospital has put out a false narrative while holding a sign that says 'Don't close Met & Ouellette' is priceless."
His post continued to attack the group fighting against the location, "In my opinion, the real 'false narrative' is being espoused by CAMPP who want you to believe they are in support of a new hospital but don't want Met Hospital to close. This narrative demonstrates a complete lack of understanding on how health care is delivered and funded in Ontario."
Trenhaile stressed he respects Dilkens. They have known each other for years, and he said he supports the mayor on most issues, just not this one.
"Everybody wants a shiny new hospital, right. I mean, if Darth Vadar lived here, he would be for a shiny new hospital," said Trenhaile. "I am a big fan of Drew and what he does. I think he's an excellent mayor. I think on this particular topic; I think that he wants to make that the hospital is built. I think that's where he's coming from."
The Local Planning Appeal Tribunal is expected to come back with a decision whether the city considered all the relevant information when it approved rezoning for the hospital. The group, Citizens for an Accountable Mega Hospital Planning Process, launched the appeal.
BlackburnNews.com has requested a response from Dilkens.