Credit card Nova Scotia taxpayers

P3 deals are like using a credit card to pay for our public QEII hospitals and health care

CUPE Nova Scotia firmly believes that the so-called “public-private partnership” (P3) being used for the QEII hospitals is not in the best interest of taxpayers, workers, families or our communities. On the contrary, we can count on public financing to be accountable, transparent, locally-controlled and a wise investment of tax dollars. “Privatizing the hospital redevelopment will keep Nova Scotians in the dark about the true costs and consequences of the deal. Key details of P3s are not available under freedom of information legislation,” says CUPE Nova Scotia President Nan McFadgen. “We have the right to know.” “P3s are like using a credit card to pay for our public services,” says McFadgen. “Over and over, the Liberal government keeps dragging us into more debt by using these disastrous deals. While consultants and corporations make out like bandits in these deals, we end up on the hook, paying much higher interest rates to finance these … Read more…

Ontario auditor finds major problems with hospital privatization

The 2017 annual report of Ontario’s Auditor General once again points to major problems with privatization and lack of capacity in the health care system. Auditor General Bonnie Lysyk continues to criticize systemic problems with Ontario’s public-private partnership (P3) program, and identifies six key problems with the maintenance of Ontario’s 16 P3 hospitals. There are long-term ongoing disputes with privatized P3 contractors over the P3 agreements, including about what is covered by the P3 contract. (In Ontario, P3s have been rebranded as Alternative Financing and Procurement, or AFP.) Hospitals are required to pay higher than reasonable rates to the P3 contractor for maintenance work the contractor has deemed to be outside of the P3 contract. Hospitals are almost forced to use P3 contractors to do maintenance work the contractors deem outside of the P3 contract or face the prospect of transferring the risk associated with maintaining the related hospital assets from the private-sector company back to the hospital. P3 companies with poor performance … Read more…