Stephenville Crossing
NL A0N 2C0
Canada
Help us tell the Ball Government to keep our health care facilities out of the hands of private interests!
Meet our 15-foot tall Trojan Horse and hear from guest speakers including Wayne Lucas, CUPE NL president.
Lucas Lane (next to the Bay St. George Long Term Care Centre)
Stephenville Crossing, NL
4 P.M.
Website: https://nl.cupe.ca/trojan-horse.
People living in Corner Brook and the surrounding region have needed new health care facilities, including more beds in long-term care, for many years. It came as welcome news to everyone, including CUPE members and their families, when the province announced two new facilities would begin construction later this year.
However, the secrecy and lack of transparency around these two projects are very troubling. In a meeting with Minister Bennett and Minister Hawkins, in March this year, our representatives were told the details of these projects would be made public, but only after the contracts are signed.
As explained by economist Toby Sanger, financing a project at the 7-9% return rate that private investors expect from infrastructure investments would dramatically increase the total cost of a project financed over 30 years. If the province directly borrowed the funds, they would get the current 30-year bond rate of 3.7%.
The NL Government has stated that the Corner Brook long-term care facility will cost $120-140 million and the hospital will cost $700-900 million. Assuming the province is borrowing money to finance these projects, P3 deals would cost almost twice as much to borrow as public procurement. Why on earth would we do that?
The P3 deals that the Ball Government wants to use are a Trojan Horse that will allow the quality of our public health care to be influenced by private interests and profit margins.
CUPE Newfoundland Labrador urges the Ball Government to take the following action: Make public the full details of the Corner Brook value-for-money report and business case – before final decisions are made and any contracts are signed.
See more examples of failed P3 Trojan Horse deals at https://nl.cupe.ca/Trojan-Horse.