Opposition leaders slam government's purchase of hotel to create health-care facility

Nova Scotia's opposition leaders say the provincial government failed to do its due diligence before spending $34 million in a sole-sourced deal for an uncompleted hotel it plans to convert into a site for some hospital patients.

"The whole thing stinks, frankly," said NDP Leader Claudia Chender.

"Why on earth the government would let tens of millions of dollars go out the door without a procurement process, without any oversight for a building that experts say is unfit for the purpose — I think people should be concerned."

Last month, the province completed the purchase of 21 Hogan Court in Bedford from Cresco Holdings Ltd. Cresco bought the property from the hotel developer, subdividing it to keep a piece of empty land, before selling the hotel building and parking lot to the government.

The government's intention is to convert the building into an transitional care facility, a site that would house patients recovering in hospital who no longer need acute care beds, or who are occupying a bed while awaiting a long-term care placement.

But a report obtained by CBC expressed concerns about the building design and the ability to transform the space to meet the needs of patients awaiting a spot in long-term care.

"It is our opinion that even with costly and time-consuming redesign and renovations, the building cannot be adapted to suit the patient profile without severe restrictions on patient admission eligibility," the report by Nycum Associates says.

"These restrictions would require the patients to fit the profile of a hotel guest. Patients awaiting a bed in a long-term care facility would not be eligible."

Liberal Leader Zach Churchill said the government might have found better options if it issued a request for proposals for available buildings.

"When you have the experts come back and say this building is potentially not going to be able to accommodate the patients that you're trying to support, that should raise some red flags."

But Colton LeBlanc, the minister responsible for major health-care construction projects in the province, said the province bought the building with eyes wide open.

"We knew that this is a hotel," he told reporters following a cabinet meeting Thursday.

"We bought a hotel. Anybody that's walked through the hallways of a hotel and has walked through the hallways of a long-term care facility recognizes that there is a significant difference."

LeBlanc said the government would use the consultant's report to guide the work that needs to be done to make the building appropriate for patients. A building under construction is just that until it is finished, he said.