NDP warns province against P3 partnerships to fix hospitals
Posted Sep 29, 2017 06:25:10 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
HALIFAX – The NDP is warning the McNeil government to be skeptical about potential public private partnerships for fixing the Halifax-area’s aging hospitals.
Leader Gary Burrill says a freedom of information request shows the government is being heavily lobbied for such a deal by big firms interested in a so-called P3 partnership.
Burrill says the government backed off under public pressure from privatizing three registries and twinning its major highways through private partnerships, and it should heed the message that a P3 agreement “isn’t the way to go” for hospitals.
He says the government has had reservations before and should have again when it comes to the QEII redevelopment.
“The government went a long, long way down the road before they realized there would be a lot of concern about this and they backed out,” said Burrill.
Auditing firm Deloitte is currently reviewing the best funding model for taxpayers, and Premier Stephen McNeil tells Global News they’ve been up front about a possible P3 option since announcing the project in April of last year, but no decision has been made.
“I can tell you that we have made no decision on the funding model,” said McNeil.
The NDP documents show that as of the fall of 2014, the hospital project was estimated to cost about $383 million dollars.
