A new report from Quebec’s auditor general finds that the decision to privatize two Montreal hospitals is based on errors and unfounded assumptions, and will cost more than publicly-delivered facilities.
It’s the second time auditor Renaud Lachance has criticized Infrastructure Quebec’s analysis and its conclusions, which call for a P3 modernization of Montreal’s University Health Centres.
In his most recent report, Lachance concludes that:
- An updated value for money analysis from the provincial P3 agency, recently renamed Infrastructure Quebec, is based on “inappropriate or unfounded” assumptions;
- The analysis, which argues that a P3 is the lowest-cost option, has two “major inaccuracies” in its calculations;
- In reality, keeping the hospitals public would save “at least $10.4 million;” and
- A provincial request for the consortia to lower their bid costs has instead added at least $108.4 million to the price tag.
In Quebec City, where CUPE 1108 members are fighting a P3 renovation of the Hôtel-Dieu hospital, hospital workers say the report confirms that privatization is expensive and risky for taxpayers and the government.
Read more:
- Auditor general pans PPPs [Montreal Gazette]
- Auditor general’s latest report on cost of two new hospitals “most devastating” yet, critic says [Montreal Gazette]
- Superhospital cost estimates off [Montreal Gazette]
- Privatizing Quebec hospital too risky: study