(Quebec) Minister Christian Dubé assures that Valérie Plante “does not have to worry” about the gradual expansion of the Maisonneuve-Rosemont Hospital (HMR). The Minister of Health asks for some patience while the “business case” for the project is finalized.
Posted at 1:14 p.m
“When the business case will be completed, we will announce this. Ms. Plante needn’t worry,” the minister said just before Wednesday’s Question Time in Quebec.
On Wednesday, the Mayor of Montreal took up a pen to voice her concerns about the HMR expansion and modernization project. She is urging the Legault government to publicly present “a clear proposal” for the hospital’s “gradual” expansion plan, a scenario she says is “worrying” about patient care.
“Mrs. Plante needn’t worry. We are committed to building 720 rooms, we are strict. We followed the steps, we created an opportunity file last year, we chose the location, now the location is very clear. The second step is the business case. When the business file will be finalized, we will announce that,” added Mr. Dubé.
Minister Dubé did not want to venture a timetable or put a budget figure on it. “I don’t want to play with words, it’s very strict. We’re talking billions. I think we have to put things right,” he reiterated on Wednesday.
La Presse recently revealed that the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal was evaluating a much less ambitious expansion scenario that would involve the renovation of the most dilapidated building, the Cross, to stay within the overall budget of 2 .5 billion announced by Quebec in August 2021.
However, according to a financial analysis by Société Québécoise d’infrastructures, the expansion project would cost $4.2 billion. In the course of these revelations, Minister Christian Dubé confirmed for the first time that the expansion project would take place “in phases”. He promised to add “the sums necessary to provide 720 beds as planned,” without specifying how many and when.
François Legault is “seriously” considering increasing the investments planned to carry out the project, PQ leader Paul St-Pierre Plamondon said earlier this month after his meeting with the prime minister.
“I have specifically requested that Phase I be fully completed, that the project not be trimmed to fit within budget parameters that are clearly inadequate for the challenge ahead,” he reiterated Wednesday.
“Let’s not do things by halves and then regret it for decades and take stock of the situation at this hospital. Let’s also measure the level of injustice for the east end of Montreal that we can and must correct,” Mr. St-Pierre Plamondon continued.
A schedule without “Tataouinage”?
The affair revived during Question Time, when supporting Rosemont MP Vincent Marissal urged Minister Dubé to come up with a clear plan for the future. “Can the minister make a promise: a hospital, 720 beds, with the right budget, with a schedule without Tataouinage? ‘ he cursed.
Christian Dubé confirmed that the government is completing the business case for the project. “What we asked was, given the complexity, the parts of which the member knows very well, of a building that is in ruins, it is absolutely necessary to find a way to build the new hospital properly and rigorously. That’s what we’re doing,” the minister replied.
“His answer is nonsense. It went everywhere. […] Sorry but the job has been done right by the CIUSSS who have researched 24 possible locations, they have done their homework, we know how many beds it takes, the only fault is the CAQ government is scratching the pennies, because “he doesn’t want to spend it anymore,” lamented the MP for Rosemont in an interview.
The scenario envisaged by the CIUSSS de l’Est-de-l’Île-de-Montréal to comply with the budget announced by Quebec would involve the redevelopment of spaces in the shape of a cross, an option that we wanted to avoid. It is understood that the renovation of the old building, whose main facade is covered with a metal mesh to prevent concrete blocks from coming loose, would complicate the construction work.
Asbestos is also present in the walls. Redeveloping the rooms while strengthening the building will be difficult when patients are likely to remain in the hospital.
“As the government pushes the project and then doesn’t go through with it, not only are costs skyrocketing, but it’s patients who don’t have access to services,” said interim leader of the Quebec Liberal Party, Marc Tanguay.
With Hugo Pilon Larose