Hon. Deborah Matthews

Ministry of Health and Long-Term Care

10th Floor, Hepburn Block

80 Grosvenor Street

Toronto, Ontario M7A 2C4

Open letter re: Sisters of Providence and the Kingston P3

Minister Matthews,

I am writing today in response to an answer I received during question period on the 29th of May this year. On the subject of the private public partnership you made the following statement:

“I’ve met with the Sisters of Providence. They are delighted that we’re moving forward with this. If it’s good enough for the Sisters of Providence, if the Sisters of Providence support this, then I am very proud to support it too.” Hansard, 29 May 2013

Madam Minister, as you know, the Sisters of Providence have steadfastly refused to be drawn into the debate on the Kingston hospital and the government’s decisions on how to fund it. Their official position is to make no comment “whatsoever” on the process and making any comments on their opinions amounts to a mistruth.

I encourage you to apologize to the Sisters of Providence and the people of Kingston for misrepresenting the opinions of such an important and dedicated group of stakeholders.

Sincerely,

France Gélinas MPP for Nickel Belt

Mathews apology to sisters PDF

On April 26, in the provincial legislature, in response to a question asking if the province will

“listen to the thousands more who want you to stop this wrong-headed P3 plan [for the new

Kingston hospital]?”, the Minster of Health, Deborah Mathews, said, “If it’s good enough for the Sisters of Providence, if the Sisters of Providence support this, then I am very proud to support it too.”

The problem is that the Sisters of Providence do not support the P3 proposal for the new hospital. The Sisters have steadfastly refused to be drawn into the debate. Their official position is to make no comment “what-so ever” on the process.

“The Minister of Health has placed the Sisters of Providence in a terrible position by threatening the future of the new hospital and then incorrectly using them. We abhor these tactics,” said Ross Sutherland, Chair of the Kingston Health Coalition. “The discussion on the new hospital should take place on facts and not misinformation. The government is relying on misinformation because the facts are that their P3-privatization will cost more, be less flexible and less accountable than a public hospital”.

“This is a democracy; we all should be able to speak our conscience and support our values free of intimidation. And, in Kingston, the public has overwhelmingly upheld the values of public non-profit health care based on compassion not private-profit-taking”.

“It is time for the government to listen to the residents of Kingston. They need to publicly fund our new hospital and ensure non-profit maintenance and management for the facility. The contract can still be changed without penalty. We will save tens of millions of dollars and enhance the democratic control and accountability of our new hospital”.

For more information contact:

Ross Sutherland,

613-532-7846,

613-374-5211,

elbe@web.ca

sister media release – PDF

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.

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

We appreciate that you both took the time to attend Keep Our Hospitals Public events and took the time to look at the written information that we provided to Council.  We feel it is important to correct comments based on the article from the University of Toronto professors.

The study starts with a simple problem: the province pays 16% more for P3 hospitals that public hospitals: how can it justify this use of tax payer dollars.  The answer is that it would be justified if the risk transfer to private sector was of great value than the 16%.  You both were correct in pointing out this possible solution but it is not their conclusion as you stated.

The article then looks at whether the risk transfer justifies the extra cost and finds that due to lack of information provided by Infrastructure Ontario “it is not possible to assess key issues such as the cost of raising private finance, or the cost of transferring specific risks”. The article continues to be generally supportive of the short term design, build, finance models, like the KGH project, and critical of the long term finance and maintenance agreements, like the Providence Care project.

What their finding leaves us with is a simple statement that P3 hospitals cost 16% more.

We look forward to continuing the discussion on rebuilding health infrastructure and the municipal role in that process.

Yours sincerely, Ross Sutherland.

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.”

at 12 o’clock noon this Wednesday, March 27 

with

Dr. John Lister

Professor in the Departments of Journalism and Health Policy and the University of Coventry, author of Health Policy Reform: Driving the Wrong Way, a critical global review of health policy reform and privatization

will provide a

Briefing by Video Conference from Cambridge, England

and Question & Answer opportunity on the P3 fiasco in England

P3s have totally lost credibility in England where:

• More than £200 billion in taxpayer money has been spent paying for these projects.
• Research into 154 projects reveals “astronomical profits” averaging more than 50 per cent, according to the researchers.
• P3 consortia involved in building major hospital projects enjoyed the biggest profits, at an average of 66.7%.
• The same multinational companies are involved in the P3s in Ontario.

at the ‘Keep Our Hospitals Public’ campaign office

LaSalle Mews, 303 Bagot Street, Unit 12 (corner of Bagot and Princess Sts.)

We’ll provide a yummy lunch

RSVP is required so we know how many people for whom to provide lunch.

Kingston –Today, current and former patients of St. Mary’s hospital cut the ribbon to officially open the ‘Keep Our Hospitals Public’ campaign office. The office will be the focal point of a four week community discussion on whether Kingston’s new hospital should be public or a for-profit P3 hospital.  On April 13, to help answer this question, a community-wide vote will be held.

“We asked patients to cut the ribbon because this campaign, at its heart, is about patient care,” explained Ross Sutherland, campaign manager. “A publicly funded, operated and maintained hospital will provide a broader range of better quality services to patients when they need it.”

The 15 organizations currently supporting the campaign are: the Kingston Faith and Justice Coalition, the Registered Nurses’ Association of Ontario, the Ontario Public Service Employees Union, the Committee on Monetary and Economic Reform, the Canadian Union of Public Employees, the Kingston Greens, Kingston and the Islands NDP, the Council of Canadians, the Union of Nation Defense Employees, the Ontario Health Coalition, the Ontario Nurses’ Association, the Medical Reform Group, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, the Kingston and District Labour Council and the Kingston Coalition Against Poverty.

The campaign office is located in LaSalle Mews, 303 Bagot Street, and will be open seven days a week for the next four weeks. The office hours are: Monday to Friday from 12 noon to 8pm, Saturday from 9am to 5pm, and Sunday from 12 noon to 4pm. The campaign’s phone number is 613-374-5211.

Monday, March 18, 12 noon

‘Keep Our Hospitals Public’

Campaign Office Opening

303 Bagot Street

(beside the main Bagot Street Entrance in Lasalle Mews)

·         A bagpiper will announce the opening.

·        Patients and former patients of St. Mary’s will cut the ribbon at 12 noon.

·        A list of organizations currently supporting the campaign will be announced.

·        The no-P3 Choir will perform ‘If I had Hundred Million”.

·        Campaign staff will be introduced.

Everyone welcome!

Come out enjoy the fun, have some food and meet the campaign staff.  Less than four weeks to voting day, time to take a sign, talk with your friends, co-workers and neighbours and help make our new hospital a fully public hospital.

For more information call 613-507-6773(NoP3). 

Office hours:

Monday to Friday 12-8

Saturday 9-5

Sunday 12-4