[OHC] debate with local MPP fraught with P3 misinformation

Save Public Medicare! Information

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North Bay Health Coalition Ontario

 

Health Coalition

 

705-476-9534                                             416-441-2502

 

For Immediate Release                                                                                             June 25, 2007

Attn: Assignment Editor       

 

“Reality Check” on Monique

 

Smith’s Claims

 

Regarding the North Bay Privatized

 

P3 Hospital

 

North Bay - This morning, while delivering the first 4,000 pledges to make the P3 privatization of the local hospital redevelopment a key election issue, local liberal MPP Monique Smith got into a debate with North Bay health coalition co chair Sheena Nesbitt.

 

“Either Monique Smith has done no research of her own on this issue, or she is playing fast and easy with the facts,” noted Sheena Nesbitt. “Ms. Smith is wrong on some key information. There is no question that the North Bay hospital is a privatized P3.  It is simply fact that the new hospital will be controlled by a 30 year contract with the multinational for-profit consortium and this limits the powers of the public hospital board.   It is a clear fact that the for-profit companies involved can sell off their interest in our hospital to other multinational consortia, despite Ms. Smith’s claims to the contrary.   We hope that Ms. Smith and other MPPs will do some independent research and learn about the consequences of the P3 privatization policy for our health system.

 

“In fact, the global evidence is extremely clear that privatized P3 hospitals lead to cuts in service and loss of democratic control.   All of our concerns are based on expert opinions, credible sources and systematic studies.  P3 privatization threatens the future of our local health services. That’s why we will work through the summer and the election campaign to gather thousands of pledged in our community to make this a key election issue,” she concluded.

 

The coalition is issuing a “reality check” briefing note to clear up any misinformation.

 

1) North Bay Regional Health Centre is a privatized P3 hospital.

This morning MPP Monique Smith repeatedly claimed that NBRHC is not a P3. She is wrong. By all accepted definitions of P3s  used by the industry itself, academics, consultants and all other provinces in Canada and governments around the world  the NBRHC is a privatized P3 hospital. For proof: http://www.pppcouncil.ca/aboutPPP-definition.asp (pro-P3 lobby group), http://www.projectfinancemagazine.com/default.asp?page=1100&subtype=notloggedon&Status=8 (Project Finance magazine online article about the renaming of the P3s, Brampton, Ottawa and North Bay), http://www.lexpert.ca/500/lb.php?id=119 (law firm), www.policyalternatives.ca/documents/Popular_Primers/bottom_line_ p3.pdf - (think tank).

 

2) North Bay Regional Health Centre is same financial model as Brampton’s disastrous privatized P3 hospital

This morning MPP Monique Smith claimed that NBRHC is not the same financial model as Brampton’s P3 disaster.   This is not true.  In fact, the McGuinty government tried to pretend that the Brampton hospital was no longer a privatized P3 deal when they announced that they had made the contract their own and signed the deal. At that time, they claimed that Brampton was different from the Conservative’s deal: they had changed the deal substantially and they later began to call it an “Alternative Finance” mechanism hospital.  Now that we have completely disproved these assertions, they are claiming that Brampton is a P3 and it is not their deal, it is the Conservatives’ responsibility. Now they are claiming that North Bay will be different, it is an AFP/AFM etc. For proof see government news releases at the time:  http://ogov.newswire.ca/ontario/GPOE/2003/11/21/c5076.html?lmatch=&lang=_e.html

 

In fact, Brampton has private financing, with services and commercial deals on the public property bundled into the deal for 25 years.   North Bay has private financing, with services and commercial deals on the property bundled into the deal for 30 years. While the number of services privatized in the North Bay deal are fewer, at least initially (though the contract provides for more privatizations and commercial deals to be bundled into the 30 year contract as it proceeds) the private financing model and the gargantuan contract with services and commercial deals bundled into it for 30 years remain. The same cost overruns, missed deadlines, higher financing costs, rafts of lawyers and consultants cashing in on millions in fees are already happening in North Bay’s privatized P3 hospital.

 

3) The Multinational For-Profit P3 Consortium Can Sell Off Their Interest in the North Bay Hospital to Another Multinational Company

This morning, Monique Smith claimed that the multinational consortium could not sell off its interest in the new North Bay hospital as a revenue stream from which it can take profit. This is untrue. In fact, the P3 contract specifies exactly how the consortium can sell off its part of the hospital to another set of for-profit companies. In fact, the for-profit consortia tend to flip the hospitals within the first decade and take a generous windfall profit from the deal . For proof: Project Agreement, esp. pgs 145  147.  The OHC can provide additional articles about the sell-off of the British P3 hospitals and the windfall profits taken by the consortia.

 

For more information: Sheena Nesbitt 705-476-9534

Natalie Mehra 416-441-2502