OTTAWA, ON – Construction of the future Ottawa Hospital Civic Campus has yet to begin, but the government’s decontamination cost estimates are already 34% out of whack, according to new documents obtained by Metro Ottawa.
“It is not clear whether the decontamination of the Carling Site would have been required regardless of the site of the future hospital, but what is clear is that the federal Liberal government did not do its homework before it forced the hospital to move to the site of the former John Carling Building, instead of the hospital’s preferred location across the street from the existing Civic Campus,” Poilievre said.
In March 2017, the Liberal government estimated it would cost at least $11.1 million to clean-up the contamination found at the Carling Site. Today, documents obtained by Metro Ottawa reveal the clean-up costs could run as high as $14.9 million – a one-third change in just five months.
“First, the Liberals tried to force the hospital to move to Tunney’s Pasture,” said Poilievre. “Then, after a public backlash, the Liberals chose the former Carling Site, and now we know that they had no handle on clean-up costs at the latter location. The miscalculation raises the question of whether there are other yet-unknown costs associated with the Carling Site, which requires knocking down buildings, removing hundreds of trees, and building on a sloped, irregular-shaped lot next to a fault-line. Once again, I say it’s time for the Liberals to get out of the way and let the hospital locate where it originally chose years ago: the big open field across the street from its current campus.”
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