Despite the legacy of a failed P3 school scheme, the Nova Scotia government used its recent throne speech to announce it would be bringing P3s back.
The pushback began right away, with a well-reasoned editorial in the Halifax Chronicle-Herald that asks the pointed question “Are we being asked to ignore what our noses tell us – that being on the hook for 20 years of lease payments is no less an obligation for taxpayers than repaying a 20-year loan?”
CUPE Nova Scotia President Danny Cavanagh followed this editorial with another column pointing to the many lessons from P3s at home and in other provinces. CUPE’s arguments against P3s continue to make headlines in the Halifax media.
While Rodney MacDonald has tried to rebrand P3s as “strategic partnerships with the private sector,” he’s got an uphill battle ahead in a province where memories of the P3 school fiasco are still fresh.