NORTH BATTLEFORD - Health care workers in the Prairie North Health Authority are growing more concerned about the New Sask. Hospital, which is being built as a public-private partnership.
Yesterday, the government announced the three companies that are bidding on developing the project.
“A P3 hospital is a new thing for our community and for the province of Saskatchewan,” said Brian Manegre, President of CUPE Local 5111. “We need to make sure we have good information about what the impact could be.”
“There have been significant challenges with P3 hospitals in other jurisdictions,” said Manegre. “Evidence from Canada and the UK shows that P3 hospitals cost more and that there are issues about transparency and accountability.”
In order to learn about some of the issues associated with P3 hospitals, CUPE and the Council of Canadians have organized a town hall meeting on October 22 to discuss the possible impacts of the new P3 hospital.
The event is taking place at the Dekker Centre in North Battleford on October 22 at 7:00 pm.
It features Maude Barlow, author of Profit Is Not the Cure: A Citizen’s Guide to Saving Medicare and Chairperson of the Council of Canadians; Paul Moist, National President of CUPE; Simon Enoch, Director of the Saskatchewan Office of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives; and Len Taylor, former MLA.