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Dear Mayor Gerrestsen,

At the April 11 Kingston City Council meeting you stated, in your comments to Council,  that you had read the  Ontario’s Auditor General’s reports on the Brampton Civic Hospital and that the Auditor said, indicating a direct quote, “P3s,  [like the proposal for the new Providence Care Hospital] were the way to go.” 

I cannot find any reference anywhere to any such statement. Only one hospital P3 project in Ontario has ever been audited by Ontario’s Auditor General. This project, the Brampton Civic Hospital P3, was found by the Auditor to be $200 million more expensive on the private financing alone. We have carefully read the two reports on the Brampton P3 in the 2008 and 2010 Annual Reports of the Auditor General. In neither report does the Auditor recommend continuing with privatized P3 schemes. Further, we have done a thorough media search and internet search. Yet I can find no reference to the policy recommendation you allege the Auditor made – neither in the colloquial terms as you put it —  nor in any less prosaic language.  

Could you please direct me to the evidence that Ontario’s Auditor General stated that privatized P3s “are the way to go.”

Thank you for your help on this matter.

Kingston -  On Saturday April 13,  9,885 people voted at 55 polling stations spread from Sharbot Lake to Gananoque to Amhertsview in a community referendum on whether the region’s new hospital should be a public non-profit hospital or a P3 for-profit hospital.  96% voted in favour of keeping the new hospital public and non-profit.

The results were released this morning by the Vote Monitors: Barb Linds, James Leake and Susan Shaw.   The results were: total votes, 9,885; 9,492 voted in favour of the proposition that “the new Kingston hospital should be publicly funded with 100%  non-profit ownership, operation, administration  and maintenance; 250 voted against and there were 143 spoilt ballots.

“It was a great day for Kingston and Area residents and for local democracy, “said Ross Sutherland, Chair of the Kingston Health Coalition. “Almost 10,000 people braved the cold, rain and wind to vote at 55 polling stations staffed by 180 volunteers to keep their new hospital public and non-profit.”

“ Voters were knowledgeable about P3 hospitals and wanted the government to pay attention to the community’s desire for a public non-profit  hospital without the expensive private financing and long term contracts with for-profit multinationals. Many of the voters thanked the volunteers for giving them  a voice on this important decision. The results are clear: Kingston and area residents want the government to drop the long term for-profit financing, maintenance and facility management contracts from the new hospital plans.”

Sutherland thanked all those who worked on the campaign, all the business and organizations that permitted the voting on their premises and all the residents who took the time to vote.

“The Health Coalition will be taking these results to Queen’s Park to increase the pressure on the government to make the financially responsible decision, the decision that improves health care and the one that respects the wishes of Kingston and area residents.”

For more information contact:

Ross Sutherland,

613-532-7846,

613-374-5211,

elbe@web.ca

Coalition “disappointed” as Kingston Mayor breaks tie vote on new hospital,   tipping balance in favour of P3 privatization

Kingston , Ontario – Final preparations are underway for a community-wide vote to be held tomorrow in Kingston where, weather permitting, the Kingston Health Coalition expects thousands of local residents to cast their ballot as to whether they want the 30-year P3 privatization of the community’s new hospital or whether they want to support the project as a public non-profit hospital.  More than 180 residents from Kingston and outlying areas are preparing to staff voting stations set up at 55 local businesses across the community.  Workplace votes are underway today.

Health Coalition spokespeople are pleased to have successfully created the debate about the role of for-profit multinational corporations in the new hospital development in Kingston, but are disappointed in the close result in last night’s Council meeting. The Mayor’s vote were enough to tip the balance and defeat a motion that would have seen Council send a letter to the provincial government asking them to remove the 30-year privatization of hospital facility management, financing and maintenance from the redevelopment plan.

“We are disappointed with the result of the vote on one hand,” said coalition chair Ross Sutherland. “But we are really pleased that we have been able to successfully start a serious democratic debate about the privatized P3 hospital proposal.”

“The privatized P3 proposal would bind our new hospital into 30-year long contracts with a for-profit multinational consortium for the facility management and maintenance and allow for additional privatization proposals to be included into the long-term contracts in the future,” he noted. “It deserves close public scrutiny and much more public accountability than has been afforded so far and we are pleased that Council started that process in its meetings this week.”

This week in City Council, the Coalition reported that the publicly-reported costs for the new hospital have already increased over the last three months by up to $50 million and the new hospital is 6 – 8 months late. All the privatized P3 hospital projects have seen significant cost increases and higher financing costs, and all of them have been significantly later than announced.

“The feedback we are getting from the community is that people are concerned about the long-term privatized service contracts and the for-profit multinational consortium’s involvement in the financing of the hospital,” said Sutherland. “We expect a huge turnout tomorrow with thousands coming out to vote and more than 180 volunteers staffing voting stations all across our community.”

“The evidence shows that P3 privatization costs more and the higher costs would siphon millions of public dollars away from needed health care services to the for-profit consortium,” he concluded. “There are better alternatives that would ensure that the new hospital is built without long-term privatization contracts and financing.  We will continue to advocate with the provincial government to have these long-term contracts removed from the deal and we look forward to the final vote count and the community’s say in the process.”