January 30, 2009
NDP and Union Friends Dishonest on Public Private Partnerships
Carole James and her big union friends at the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) are being dishonest about the value of Public Private Partnerships (P3s). The findings of the CUPE study on P3's, released yesterday, have already been rejected by BC's independent Auditor General. Here are the facts on Public Private Partnerships:
- The Auditor General has specifically reviewed the Canada Line Project, the Abbotsford Regional Hospital and Cancer Centre P3 projects and has confirmed $92 million and $39 million in respective savings and benefits for taxpayers.
- The Auditor General has also reviewed and confirmed that the accounting used by Partnerships BC to determine value for money is reasonable.
- That accounting has determined that taxpayers have saved $340 million through the use of P3's including $17 million in savings on the Gordon and Leslie Diamond Health Care Centre and $131 million in benefits on the Sea-to-Sky Highway project.
- In fact every P3 project undertaken by the BC Liberal Government has been on-time and on-budget, or better.
