Vaughn Palmer: B.C.’s governing NDP introduced a new euphemism — ‘re-pace’ — to describe ‘not cancelled,’ but moribund, health-care projects
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VICTORIA — The New Democrats introduced a new word into the budget debate this year with the announcement that $3.5 billion worth of capital projects would be “re-paced.”
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“There are pressures on the government’s fiscal and debt outlook,” explained the budget documents back in February. “These create conditions where government must make careful choices on its capital plan in the long term.”
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The projects targeted for “re-pacing” included the $1.8 billion Phase 2 of the redevelopment of the Burnaby Hospital, long term care facilities in Abbotsford, Campbell River, Chilliwack, Delta, Fort St. John, Kelowna, and Squamish, and an expanded student housing project at the University of Victoria.
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What did “re-pacing” mean? The budget spoke of “strategically sequencing major projects over a longer term,” and “adjusting timelines.” With Burnaby hospital, it also meant an opportunity to “refresh plans to ensure the project meets the needs of the community.”
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Project completion dates — ranging from 2027 to 2030 in previous budgets — were replaced with “TBC,” meaning to be confirmed at a later date.
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The B.C. Conservative Opposition pressed for details from Infrastructure Minister Bowinn Ma, proprietor of a new ministry that was established to “expedite” construction of major projects.
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“That’s exactly what the Ministry of Infrastructure was created for,” Ma told the legislature. “Part of the work that is now underway, particularly on the long-term-care file, is to actually take a pause on the way that we’ve been doing things before, in order to be better able to deliver those projects at scale at a reasonable cost to taxpayers.”
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For long-term care homes, it meant wrestling down an estimated cost of $1.8 million a bed. For the Burnaby hospital, it meant reining in a budget-busting increase from the initial estimate of $1.8 billion.
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“We can charge ahead and continue to build projects regardless of the cost escalations, or we can take another look and actually make better decisions and take better approaches, more innovative approaches, to actually delivering those projects,” said the minister.
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“That’s why we’re taking a pause. We’re taking a look at standardized design models. We’re taking a look at the opportunities that prefabricated builds and construction technologies can afford us so that we can actually deliver the projects that these communities need in a sustainable way.”
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In short, re-pacing meant a pause, a rethink, an opportunity even — to refresh plans to better serve the community.
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There matters stood until the past week. Then the Conservatives got their hands on an internal memo from the Fraser Health Region confirming cancellation of the contract with the would-be builder of Phase 2 of the Burnaby Hospital.
