Recently released documents about Ontario’s first
privatized hospital raise questions about whether a similar scheme in North
Bay is likely to cost taxpayers more than the public alternative.
Disclosure of court documents relating to
Brampton’s William Osler Health Centre show that the McGuinty Liberals knew
that the deal with a private consortium could cost as much as $300 million
more than under public financing and administration.
The revelations came after a group of health care
unions and the Ontario Health Coalition won a court order forcing the
disclosure of the financial arrangements between a private consortium and
the provincial government pertaining to the deal.
The Royal Ottawa Hospital and the Osler were first
negotiated by the Eves government, and later finalized by the McGuinty
government despite opposition to the deals during the 2003 election. The new
North Bay hospital is among the first wave of McGuinty P3s planned for the
province.
Lewis Auerbach, a former director with the Office
of the Auditor General of Canada, said the P3 arrangement for Brampton’s
hospital may be “much poorer value for money than a comparable project done
in the traditional public non-profit.” Auerbach estimates that the
comparable cost of a public hospital was overestimated by at least $300 and
perhaps $400 million to make the P3 project look viable.
“So far, the Brampton P3 has had cost increases,
space decreases, flexibility decreases – and all of this with little
transparency in the various early stages of the project. Indeed the Brampton
P3 hospital may not only cost more, it may end up providing a lower level of
service,” said Auerbach.
OPSEU president Warren (Smokey) Thomas said that,
“P3 projects are thoroughly discredited and in decline in almost every
jurisdiction, so we wonder why the Ontario government is continuing with
these risky and expensive hospital projects.”
Michael Hurley, the president of the Ontario
Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE, called on the McGuinty government to impose
an immediate moratorium on all further long-term P3 hospital projects until
the provincial auditor has a chance to review this and other relevant
documentation.
“The government must explain why they signed the
Brampton P3 hospital deal when they had, for 13 months prior to financial
close, an independent consultant’s report that implied that its cost could
be up to $300 million more expensive than a public sector comparator.”
Natalie Mehra, Director of the OHC, says “the
McGuinty government must disclose the remaining secret portions of all the
P3 hospital deals it has signed.”
The court challenge was initiated by the Ontario
Council of Hospital Unions/CUPE, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union,
Service Employees’ International Union local 1.on, and the Ontario Health
Coalition, as part of their four-year fight to gain access to information
about the private hospital deal.
