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Halifax outside municipal workers, members of CUPE 108, have warned Halifax Regional Municipality councillors not to pursue P3 arenas and recreation centers.

As soon as members learned the region was putting out tenders for P3 rec facilities, CUPE 108 President Dave Carr sent an information package to the mayor and all council members outlining the perils of P3s. Local media covered CUPE’s analysis of privatized rec facilities.

The package sent to councillors includes a major report published by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities that outlines the problems with municipal P3s. HRM belongs to the FCM. The package also included a CUPE research report on recreation P3s.

We would have hoped that council’s recent positive experience with the Halifax Harbour cleanup and its publicly-owned and operated sewage treatment facilities would be proof enough that the public model can deliver projects that come in on time and under budget,” says Carr.

In a letter to councillors, Carr describes the union’s ”extensive experience dealing with various ‘alternative financing programs’, and loads of factual information” on P3s.

I am sure councillors would agree they owe it to their constituents - and their own employees - to make an informed decision before revisiting this highly suspect model of service delivery and financing,” adds Carr.

The first meeting for companies interested in bidding on the projects took place in late January.