Health minister has little to say on $120M sole source contract

Nova Scotia’s Health Minister Michelle Thompson is providing few details about a $120-million sole source contract awarded in June to Shannex, the long-term care company that agreed to buy a partially constructed health-care facility in West Bedford from the province earlier this year.

“I can’t say a whole lot about that because negotiations are still underway,” the minister told reporters at Province House on Tuesday.

The NDP raised the issue of the untendered work during question period.

Thompson said $120 million is the amount approved by the treasury and policy board as negotiations with the company continue, but she would not say if that number is only for construction or if it includes operational funding.

The listing on the government’s alternative procurement website describes the project as early works and categorizes it as construction.

In early 2023, the province bought what was, at the time, a hotel under construction at 21 Hogan Court, for $34 million. The plan was to convert the site to a transitional care facility. The site would be used to care for hospital patients who no longer needed an acute care bed but are not well enough to go home.

In February, the auditor general released a scathing report on that purchase and the Tory government’s use of untendered contracts.

With work at the site facing delays, Thompson announced in March that Shannex would take the property off the province’s hands for $46 million, finish construction on the 68 beds and build an additional wing with another 110 beds.

The company already had a five-year, $67.5-million contract to operate the 68-bed site once it opens.

The minister said on Tuesday that Shannex is on track to complete the first portion of the work and the 68 beds will be ready by the end of this year. The second section is scheduled to be ready in spring of 2026, she said.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender said there continues to be too much secrecy around the project.

“This Hogan Court health-care hotel has been a scandal from the beginning,” she told reporters at Province House.

Chender said the model for transitional care sounds good, but the government still has nothing to show for its efforts since first announcing the concept almost two years ago. She said it appears that comments in the auditor general’s report remain unheeded.

“This government has continued secret business as usual and I think that that is deeply concerning.”

Thompson said an urgent approach is required because of the province’s desperate need for more beds. She was not concerned about construction work at the site happening without having finalized a contract with the company.

“I trust the teams. They’re very skilled and we’ll just continue on this path.”