CALGARY—The United Conservative Party wants to scrap construction of a so-called “super lab” for medical testing and put the brakes on plans to consolidate testing services under a public model.

The NDP government announced in 2017 that the testing and research facility would be built on a piece of provincial land near the University of Alberta’s south campus in Edmonton. Health Minister Sarah Hoffman said at the time that the space would bring together operations spread across several other city facilities, which are currently privately run.

The facility is part of a broader government plan to integrate lab services by 2022 at two major hubs — one in Edmonton and one at the Calgary Cancer Centre, which is under construction.

In early 2016, the Health Quality Council of Alberta issued a report recommending reforms to the lab-testing system in northern Alberta, including reducing the “fragmentation” of the services and expanding Edmonton’s lab facilities.

UCP Leader Jason Kenney slammed the super lab plans Monday as a “huge bureaucratic empire.” He said there’s no reason why the private sector can’t continue to offer the service, and criticized the government for spending money on changes “that will not actually touch patients or heal people.”

He said cancelling the play would put $590 million back into front-line care.

“This is money that could be better spent on patient care, on infrastructure to build hospitals to actually help patients,” he said.

“There are massive, competing demands for scarce health-care infrastructure dollars,” he added, accusing the government of pursuing the project because of “ideology” rather than an effort to improve the health system.

Kenney’s remarks were met with criticism from Mike Parker, president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta, who said the idea of cancelling the integrated lab is “absolutely absurd.” Parker represents 26,000 lab workers — 1,500 of whom are based in Edmonton.

Parker said the current system involves multiple labs working independently across the city, many of which are “bursting at the seams” and cannot keep up with demand as medicine progresses. He added the money spent on the integrated lab is an investment in health care, as lab workers play an important role in the delivery of health care by diagnosing illnesses.

“I don’t think that they understand what they’re saying when they say they’re going to cancel this project,” Parker said.

Hoffman also called Kenney’s proposal “wrong-headed,” noting that site preparation has already begun on the Edmonton super lab.

“For Mr. Kenney to think that he can just wave a wand and go back in time, I think it’s wrong, I think it would be problematic, and I think it would be bad for the health-care outcomes of people in Edmonton and in the north,” said Hoffman.

The Alberta Union of Provincial Employees — the province’s largest union, with half of its members working in health care — also spoke out against Kenney’s plan. Union vice-president Bonnie Gostola said it goes against the recommendations of the Health Quality Council of Alberta, which said in 2016 that the best way to move forward with lab services is through a public delivery model.

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“To kill this laboratory hub, and open the door to the further privatization of lab services, is a move in the opposite direction of what’s in the best interest of Albertans.” Gostola said in a release.

The NDP government announced in late 2017 that all laboratory services in the province would be consolidated and operated by an Alberta Health Services subsidiary. Calgary Laboratory Services already operates under this type of model as a wholly owned subsidiary of AHS. In Edmonton and other parts Alberta, routine testing is handled by a patchwork of companies, including the private provider DynaLife.

With files from Nadine Yousif and The Canadian Press

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