NDP Leader Earle McCurdy says today’s announcement that a for-profit company will build a long-term care facility in Corner Brook raises a lot of alarm bells, especially considering the scanty amount of information government has provided in support of its decision to go the public-private partnership route.
“Nobody would argue against the desperate need for more long-term care beds, in Corner Brook and elsewhere in the province,” McCurdy said today.
“But the three-page comprehensive value for money assessment government is using to justify this decision raises more questions than it answers.”
Consulting firm EY prepared the report using specific guidelines given to it by government. What those guidelines are is not included in the report, says McCurdy. Neither is a lot of other information that would reveal whether the decision to go with a public-private partnership is actually in the best interests of the people of the province.
For example, there are 18 project and procurement objectives that range from “fairness, transparency and integrity” to “parking.” The report says each has a different weight of importance, but doesn’t say which government considers most important.
“This report should have come with pages of appendices, numbers, facts and values. Instead, the Liberals are saying ‘Trust us’ just as their predecessors did with Muskrat Falls,” McCurdy said.
The NDP Leader is filing an Access to Information request to get answers to the many questions today’s announcement raises for him.
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To contact Earle McCurdy, phone 739-6387 or e-mail news@nl.ndp.ca