The construction of Whitehorse's new $7.3-million emergency response centre is set to begin in the next several days.

Premier Darrell Pasloski, alongside Deputy Premier Elaine Taylor, made a quick speech at the site of the new facility Tuesday morning before rushing off to another commitment.

"This isn't just about another building going up, another capital construction initiative,” said Taylor. "It's really about improving the delivery of medical care in the territory, and in particular, the City of Whitehorse.”

The new facility will be built just below the Canada Games Centre, on the Alaska Highway by the Hamilton Boulevard north exit. It will be the home to three ambulance bays, crew and training facilities, and a communications dispatch centre.

"When this building is actually built, it will be able to sustain up to 85 per cent of the city's population within nine minutes, and that is very substantive indeed,” said Taylor.

She said it will provide quicker access to all the new houses near Hamilton Boulevard, as well as to the new Whistle Bend subdivision.

The current emergency response centre is located at the Whitehorse General Hospital, although crews have been using the area as a temporary dispatch since January, too.

Although they were hoping to have been operating 24/7 out of the temporary site since then, problems like irregular heating made that a lofty goal.

Don Inverarity, the Liberal MLA for Porter Creek South, and first-time Liberal election candidate Cherish Clarke attended Tuesday's presentation.

They said they are wondering if the press conference means the facility is progressing as planned and on budget, or if the Yukon Party is just "unveiling another new-project sign in advance of the election.”

"The Yukon Party rushed to reopen the Thomson Centre in time for election day, but not in time to make sure it was safe to inhabit,” Clarke said in a press release she handed out to reporters.

"When it was cancelled, it wasn't just embarrassing for the Yukon Party; it's an ongoing hardship for patients that were promised beds there and the people who were promised work.”

Phillip Christensen, a representative from the Department of Highways and Public Works expanded on the details ot the new emergency response at Tuesday's presentation.

The two-storey building will be around 1,000 square metres, he said, meet LEED energy standards and be built as a post-disaster facility.

"That means the structure of the facility is beefed up a bit in order to deal with earthquakes, windstorms and those sort of occurrences,” said Christensen.

Officials have decided to hire a separate contractor, Cormode and Dixon, to complete the specialized foundation portion of the project, Christensen said.

Since the soil on the site is poor, much like what's beneath the Canada Games Centre, a pile foundation system will be used.

Work on the site, Christensen said, will begin later this week or early next week with excavation work and sewer line installation.

Actual construction of the building will begin later this fall, or, depending on the conditions, early in the spring.

"We all know winter construction can be very expensive,” said Christensen. As long as they finish the project by the fall 2012 completion date, it's up to the contractor to decide when to start building, he added.

Michael McKeage, director of Emergency Medical Services, explained that the station at Whitehorse General Hospital will remain active when the new facility opens next fall.

He said the number of ambulances and crews at each facility will be determined later, depending on the call volume. This, said McKeage, will probably change depending on if it's daytime or nighttime, too.

McKeage is excited about the new facility. He said the new training area in the basement, which will have a weight room attached, will allow for much more of a "classroom” feel than the old facility.

The communications centre, which is now housed in a basement corridor the size of "two telephone booths,” will be located in a much more spacious area upstairs in the new facility.

The government originally wanted the new emergency response centre to be located on Range Road in Takhini, but changed its plans after hearing strong public opposition to the idea.

Although $8.7 million was budgeted for the project for this year, Highways and Public Works told reporters Tuesday the current price tag for the new building is $7.3 million.

By Nadine Sander-Green

Star Reporter