Alberta Premier Jason Kenney promised the Grande Prairie Regional Hospital would be completed in 2020 after over eight years of construction.

According to Kenney in a Monday interview, the hospital is about 85 per cent done. A provincial release added that construction on the main portion of the hospital will wrap up this summer.

The $763-million facility was originally slated for completion in 2015.

“The most important thing for Grande Prairie residents is that after a decade of extraordinary patience, finally, that hospital will be done this year,” Kenney said.

“Once Infrastructure Alberta has certified that the work has been completed and accepts the hospital from the contractor, there will then have to be a period of cleaning and testing of equipment.”

The hospital will then be turned over to Alberta Health Services, which will prepare the facility for operations and determine when it can start receiving patients.

In September 2018, the former NDP government announced the termination of its contract with Graham Construction as construction manager, citing concerns over the project’s timeline and budget. Work was suspended for several months before the province hired Clark Builders as the replacement.

The province was later accused of owing a collective $60 million to 26 subcontractors for work on the hospital. The Alberta Court of Queens Bench later ordered a payment of $13 million and another of $10 million to subcontractors from $30 million in court-held government funds.

Kenney noted that Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda worked with local MLAs Tracy Allard and Travis Toews to solve most of the payment issues. He added that a majority of the old subcontractors were now working under Clark Builders.

“We understand that not all but a vast majority of those contracting problems have been resolved,” Kenney said.

“There were obviously some deficiencies related to the previous contractor’s work and those are on a separate track towards litigation and arbitration.”

Kenney described the delayed construction of the hospital as “bizarre” and noted the project should become a case study, as previously suggested by Allard.

“It just seems, doesn’t it, like we can’t build big things in this country anymore,” Kenney said.

“I think we need to get back to some common sense in how we get these things done, get the politics and the endless litigation out of these things.”

Caucus meeting

On Monday, the Alberta UCP caucus met in Grande Prairie, which is the first city to host the entire caucus outside of Calgary and Edmonton since the 2019 provincial election.

Kenney said they decided to host the caucus in the Swan City since the local region was a “microcosm” of Alberta and faced unique challenges regarding growth.

“We want to celebrate what’s going well here and talk to the community about how we meet those challenges,” he added.

The caucus also met with the Grande Prairie and District Chamber of Commerce.

“I’m always impressed by the drive and enterprise in GP and northwest Alberta,” Kennedy said. “I think it’s a sign of hope for the rest of the province, much of which is struggling.”

“My takeaway is we can get a lot more done here and this region can be a bit of an inspiration for the rest of Alberta.”

Supervised consumption site

The fate of Grande Prairie’s supervised drug consumption site (SCS) hangs in the balance as a review of SCSs is expected to be released with the next few weeks.

The premier did not comment on the future of the site but highlighted how this review was a platform commitment to have an expert panel look at the social and economic impacts of SCSs and consult with the affected communities.

“The previous government seemed largely indifferent to the social and economic impacts on local communities,” Kenney said.

“We’ve seen some devastating increases in crime, social disorder, decline in property values (and) violence in areas around some of the drug sites in the province.”

The local site saw 2,646 visits by 119 individuals in the third quarter of 2019, according to a report from the Grande Prairie Community Opioid Response Task Force.

The reported added that no fatalities occurred and 37 overdoses were responded to, which was a decrease from 42 overdoses in the previous quarter. This site is the only mobile SCS currently operating in Alberta and is situated next to the Rotary House shelter.

Kenney explained the government would respond to the review over the course of the spring and determine which sites will be funded.

“We see a role for aspects of so-called ‘harm reduction’ but within a more holistic strategy to combat addictions,” he said.

The premier added they wanted to focus more resources on detox, treatment and life-time recovery support, noting the province had committed an additional $150 million towards combating addictions and support mental health programs.

“The previous government put all of its emphasis on helping addicts feed their addiction because I think at the extreme end of the harm-reduction ideology is a belief that many people or most people can’t get out of their addiction,” he said.

“I think it’s kind of a hopeless message that they send. I think we need to send a message of hope.”

Twinning of Highway 40

Kenney emphasized that the twinning of Highway 40 was a “regional infrastructure priority” and good for the economy while admitting the current highway was unsafe.

The 2019 budget included funding for the engineering study and preparatory work.

“We want to get this done as quick as possible but we’re broke,” Kenney said, noting the other capital infrastructure demands across the province.

The province is currently consulting with municipalities and the private sector to see if they would be willing to contribute to the cost.