New Brunswick’s auditor general says the former Liberal government decided to build two public-private partnership (P3) schools with “no evidence” to support the move. The statement was made in reference to her report released last week.
Auditor General Kim McPherson says the government only performed a value-for-money assessment after deciding to go ahead with a P3.
Her analysis also found the government’s $12.5 million in estimated P3 cost savings was inflated by overstated maintenance and other costs. When she re-crunched the numbers, McPherson found public procurement would have been $1.7 million cheaper.
- Watch the interview with Auditor General Kim MacPherson by CBC News (January 12, 2012)
CUPE members who work for the school board took to the streets a year ago, demanding that schools remain controlled by taxpayers, not owned by multinational corporations.
More information:
Read the N.B. Government news release Auditor General finds public private partnership evaluation process needs to improve (January 12, 2012)