Some new light was shed today on the province’s controversial decision to choose a public-private-partnership (P3) model to build new healthcare facilities to replace the crumbling Victoria and Centennial buildings at the VG site of the QE2 Health Care Centre. Last July, the former auditor general reported the secret process used to determine if P3...
Were it not for COVID, “we probably would have got by for hundreds of years” with double rooms in nursing homes: deputy minister
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. The legislature’s Health Committee met yesterday for the first time in six months to talk about the government’s response to the pandemic and future preparedness. “All in all, we have fared well,” said Chief Medical Officer of Health Dr. Robert Strang, pointing to just a […]
Nursing home operators go public with call for better paid staff, updated facilities
Starting today, Public Health is allowing for contact between visitors and residents, but some nursing homes have lost insurance coverage and so aren't allowing that visitation.
The Halifax Examiner is providing all COVID-19 coverage for free. “Enough Talk” is the title of a nine-page statement released Tuesday by a group representing the majority (83%) of 96 licensed nursing homes in the province. The Nursing Homes of Nova Scotia Association (NHNSA) is fed up with government inaction when it comes to long-identified […]
Opposition critics react to AG’s P3 report
“The auditor general has said today that governments pay a premium when they bring in private companies to build and maintain public infrastructure,” said Susan Leblanc, the NDP’s Transportation and Infrastructure critic. “Without the Public Accounts Committee or the Legislature meeting, the public doesn’t have access to the information necessary about whether this is a...
“I have never dealt with a landlord like this”
Tenant in north end Dartmouth building gets rent increase of 45% after making complaints about safety and maintenance issues.
A Dartmouth woman recently got a rent increase of 45% for what she believes is retaliation for making complaints about safety and maintenance issues in the building where she lives. Kimberly Rankin has lived at 6 Nivens Avenue in north end Dartmouth since January 2019. But this year, she started reporting issues around the building. […]
Province issues bids for baby biomass plants
The province has issued a tender to build and operate a half-dozen small-scale biomass plants that will heat government buildings around the province by November of this year. The plants will run on wood chips supplied by private woodlot owners and are being advertised by the Department of Lands and Forestry as both a response...
How the proposed Summer Street parking garage fits into province’s plan to replace the Victoria General Hospital
The largest infrastructure project in the province’s history got the once-over from the legislature’s Public Accounts Committee yesterday. It will be at least the end of 2026 before the patients putting up with what some doctors have described as “third world conditions” in the leaking Victoria General Hospital will be moved out. The bad news...
Zombie ideas that won’t die
Morning File, Thursday, December 12, 2019
I’ve said this before, but when I first started writing for the Examiner, a friend asked how much Tim paid. After I’d replied, the person I was speaking with said, “Oh, so it takes [x] monthly subscriptions just to pay for you to do one Morning File.” I’d never thought of it in such bald […]
Auditor General: $2 billion QEII redevelopment at risk for fraud
The province’s auditor general released a critical report yesterday that looked at the $2 billion project to expand the Halifax Infirmary and build a new Community Outpatient Centre at Bayers Lake to replace the decrepit Victoria General and Centennial buildings. Michael Pickup’s strongest criticism and first recommendation declared: “The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal...
Euphemism watch: Jails are now “prisoner care facilities”
Morning File, Tuesday, December 3, 2019
News 1. Health care funding Canadian premiers met Monday and issued a call for a 5.2% annual bump in the Canada Health Transfer, among other demands. Andrea Gunn reported on the meeting for the Chronicle Herald: Nova Scotia Premier Stephen McNeil said he wasn’t sure whether a 5.2 per cent increase would be sufficient to […]