September 1, 2004

Will MUHC take P3 route?

With the Ontario and British Columbia governments having taken the plunge into P3s for construction of new hospitals, the Quebec government has given clear signs that it is interested in having public-private partnerships involved with each of the $1.1 billion-hospitals for the McGill University Health Centre and the Centre Hospitalier de l’Universite de Montreal.

“The government is quite vocal about it,” said Jean Dufresne, MUHC’s chief planning officer.

“It’s a possibility, but at this point we are doing things that a P3 cannot do effectively—pursuing a zoning change and designing a new road solution.”

Dufresne says that it would be the government’s decision to go the P3 route.

“A P3 will describe a fair description of what we want further than a program,” he said.

“You need to put people on an equal footing, so you need a very fair description of what your needs are so that they can provide solutions.”

—Irwin Rapoport

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