NSNDP

October 5th, 2018

Liberals must release report recommending P3 hospital plan

HALIFAX -The NDP Caucus is calling on Stephen McNeil to release the Deloitte report that recommends the province move forward with a public-private partnership (P3) for the new QEII hospital buildings.

“Twenty-one years ago our province decided to privatize public infrastructure resulting in the P3 schools debacle, which forced the province to pay $228 million to buy back our own schools,” said NDP Leader Gary Burrill. “Then, as now, the Liberal government claimed privatization would save money. It didn’t save money then, and it won’t now. The public deserves to know the evidence behind this decision.”

In 1997, prior to contracts being signed to build the P3 schools, the previous Liberal government released the report purporting to justify that decision. In the legislature, former Liberal Minister of Education Robert Harrison repeatedly defended the government’s claim that P3 schools would cost less money. This claim was later proven false by the Auditor General and a KPMG report commissioned by the government in 1999.

“Stephen McNeil claims this will be a cheaper option for building a new hospital. All of the evidence here in Nova Scotia and across the country suggests otherwise,” said Tammy Martin, NDP Spokesperson for Health and Wellness. “Instead of paying for more nurses, doctors, and services, public money will go to help the bottom line of private companies.”

In Ontario, the Auditor General found that 74 P3 projects in that province cost $8 billion more than if they had been built through the public sector. In a 2014 report, Nova Scotia’s former Deputy Minister of Health and Wellness Peter Vaughan, said that P3 projects are not a good value for public infrastructure.

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