Ontario Progressive Conservative Leader Doug Ford said he is willing to discuss funding for a new Brantford hospital if he’s elected premier in June.

"We would have to sit down and look at the situation," said Ford while on a tour Tuesday of the Wayne Gretzky Sports Centre. "Health care is a priority in our administration. Without it we have nothing."

City councillors are backing the idea of forming a working group to convince the provincial government the city needs a new hospital. Mayor Chris Friel said Brantford’s growing population is being served by a hospital designed for the 1980s.

Ford said one of the messages he’s hearing as he crisscrosses the province ahead of the June 7 vote is from frontline health-care workers and teachers who want more control over their jobs.

"They feel they aren’t being listened to," he said. "They feel beaten down by the Liberal government."

Ford, brother of the late Rob Ford, who was internationally known for his problems as mayor of Toronto, was given a tour of the Gretzky centre by Sandy Jackson, the city’s general manager of community programs, parks and recreation.

As he entered the building’s Brantford and Area Sports Hall of Recognition, Ford declared that "next to my brother Rob, (Wayne Gretzky) is my second hero."

Ford was flanked by Brantford-Brant PC candidate Willem Bouma. Both were casually clad in jeans and sports jackets for Wednesday’s visit, which included an earlier stop at Trison Tarps Inc., a family-owned company on Kippax Court that just underwent an expansion.

"I love manufacturers like that," said Ford. "I want to make sure expansion for businesses is as easy as possible. I want to cut out the red tape and let these people build."

When asked whether a Tory government would consider funding for the redesign of downtown Brantford’s Market Square, once a shopping mall, into a building serving Laurier Brantford students, Ford said he had a bias toward the university.

"All my girls went to Laurier in Waterloo. I’m a big supporter of education. We would definitely look at funding."

Ford was obliging when asked to pose for photos with a group of supporters who greeted him at the sports centre. Among them was Bernie Vlietstra, a Brantford resident who said Ford’s message "resonates with the working class."

"It is my dream to have more money in my pocket at the end of the week," said Vlietstra, who was wearing a Ford Nation baseball cap he had custom made.

Pressure is building on Ford to release details of his policy plans, with the PC leader choosing instead to slowly reveal his election platform.

He said Tuesday that more details will be announced "over the next couple of weeks."

He has said he would provide tax breaks for businesses and low-income Ontarians and cut provincial spending by four per cent. He has also promised to scrap the Liberals’ cap-and-trade system that taxes carbon emissions, and cut hydro rates.

He also has said he would scrap and rewrite the sex education curriculum passed by Wynne’s Liberals and has suggested legislative changes could be made that would require parental consent for abortions sought by minors.

Ford, whose political career includes one-term as a Toronto city councillor and being runner-up to John Tory in the 2014 Toronto mayoral election, is hoping to topple the Liberals’ Kathleen Wynne.

mruby@postmedia.com