(May 8, 2007)

1. On April 26, 2007 the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care (the Ministry) filed the record of its approvals for the William Osler Health Centre (WOHC) P3 hospital with the Ontario Divisional Court despite the determined efforts by the private consortium involved in the P3 to prevent its details from being made public. These documents, now filed as part of the public court record, provide unprecedented insight into the details of a P3 hospital scheme.
2. This memo briefly describes the events leading up to this point in the litigation, and summarizes some important information about the P3 scheme that we can only now discuss with you.
3. In our view, the inevitable conclusion that must be drawn from assessing the full details of the WOHC P3 is that it represents a serious betrayal of the Ministry’s obligation to manage the public purse, and to ensure that hospital services are provided in an efficient, transparent and accountable manner.
4. Not only are the costs of the WOHC P3 much higher than a public sector equivalent, but the structure of the scheme compromises the ability of the WOHC Hospital Board to meet the needs of patients where these conflict with the interests of private investors. This in turn is likely to compromise the Board’s ability to ensure that hospital services are allocated in a manner that is consistent with the requirements of the Canada Health Act: ie. according to need, not ability to pay.

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