OTTAWA: The Ontario Public Service Employees Union says the announcement today of the final P3 (public-private partnership) deal for the Royal Ottawa Hospital will cost taxpayers millions of dollars.
"This is just another broken Liberal promise - one that will cost the taxpayers millions over the long term," said OPSEU President Leah Casselman. "It's one more example of the chaos this government is creating in health care."
The Ontario Health Coalition produced a report last month that said a similar P3 hospital in Brampton would cost at least $175-million extra to build with private capital than it would have as a fully publicly financed hospital. Studies of the P3 hospitals in Britain have shown that private hospitals mean reduced standards of care.
"This is a case of short term gain for long term pain both for mental health care and Ontario taxpayers," said Marlene Rivier, president of OPSEU Local 479 at the ROH. "Any respected economists who have studied P3s come to the same conclusion; that P3s cost taxpayers more. P3s are all about hiding government debt."
OPSEU blamed the McGuinty Liberals for the privatization of another piece of our public health care system. "McGuinty has to stop creating chaos in the system and bring back labour stability in health care in Ontario," Casselman said.
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For further information:
Marlene Rivier, OPSEU Local 479, Ottawa: 613-222-8392
David Cox, OPSEU Communications, Toronto (français): 416-788-9197
