Manitoba health critic protests personal care home price tag

NDP health critic Andrew Swan is denouncing the province for "unrealistic" and "confining" financial expectations of communities that need a personal care home.

The NDP recently got ahold of the WRHA's expression of interest for the construction of 120 personal care home beds. While it projects the cost of personal care home construction at $32 million (about $266,000 per bed), it will fund only half of that (about $133,000 per bed), leaving a $16 million gap to be filled by "community contribution."

"It's not reasonable to expect a community to be able to raise $16 million," said Swan.

"It's pretty clear that it's going to make it very very difficult if not impossible for the majority of communities in Manitoba to ever have that happen."

We have lots of interest: government

The government has previously committed to paying $133,000 per bed for new personal care home construction. In a statement, a spokesperson for Health Minister Kelvin Goertzen reiterated that election commitment. 

Swan says asking communities to pay half the cost will be a barrier for interested parties, something the government refutes.

"The NDP's assertion that the funding formula is unrealistic is disproved by the fact that the WRHA's deadline had to be extended to accommodate submissions," wrote the spokesperson on behalf of the minister. 

A spokesperson for the WRHA added that the deadline was extended two weeks, from the original date of Jan 31, to allow more time for proponents to make their submissions.

Beds will go to communities with money: NDP

The NDP is also arguing that the conditions are restrictive and favour communities with means, as opposed to need. They're calling on the government to increase their contribution to allow more communities to "be in the running."

"The government needs to admit that they were wrong when they believed that a contribution of $133,000 per bed would be sufficient to develop the kind of PCH beds that we need and that they've promised," said Swan.

Swan said when the NDP government worked with Lac du Bonnet they were willing to accept a $2 million community contribution in order to begin construction of a personal care home there. 

"We thought that was a reasonable expression of good faith and interest by the community and with that we were prepared to go ahead," said Swan.

Lac du Bonnet Mayor Gordon Peters says the PCH promised by the NDP was never built in his community.