Nova Scotia·NewNova Scotia’s auditor general reaffirmed her view Wednesday that the provincial government is not following public procurement laws by giving long-term care home operators a right of first refusal on new builds, but the seniors and long-term care deputy minister will only commit to revisiting the approach.Seniors and Long-Term Care Department says it’s following procurement rulesMichael Gorman · CBC News · Posted: Nov 06, 2025 2:47 PM EST | Last Updated: 43 minutes agoListen to this articleEstimated 4 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Auditor General Kim Adair, right, attended Wednesday’s public accounts committee meeting. Witnesses at the meeting also included, from left, Janet Lynn Huntington, Lora MacEachern and Paula Langille of the Seniors and Long-Term Care Department. (Michael Gorman/CBC)Nova Scotia’s auditor general reaffirmed her view Wednesday that the provincial government is not following public procurement laws by giving long-term care home operators a right of first refusal on new builds, but the seniors and long-term care deputy minister will only commit to revisiting the approach.Kim Adair’s audit from September was the subject of discussion at the legislature’s public accounts committee. Among other things, the report found that more than 4,000 beds were not procured using a competitive bid process.“These are 25-year service agreements, including an operating component and a major capital component in excess of $15 billion,” Adair said during the meeting.Department officials have said they do not need to follow the terms of the Public Procurement Act because their interpretation is that the legislation applies to goods and services, while they treat the funding to long-term care operators as grants.“We very much understand what’s kind of at the heart of the auditor general’s recommendation when it comes to [this issue] and it’s for that reason that we’re really taking a close look and are looking forward to potential other ways of approach in the future,” deputy minister Lora MacEachern told reporters following the meeting.’We don’t know if there was even a negotiation’Opposition MLAs said they doubted whether the government plans to change the approach.Liberal MLA Iain Rankin said there is no way right now for the public to be certain that the government is getting the best possible deal when it is not using a competitive bid process and it refuses to release the contracts signed with operators.“We don’t know if there was even a negotiation, and we’re talking about several billions of dollars,” he told reporters.NDP MLA Lisa Lachance told reporters that the public has a right to know how the government is spending their money and why it makes the choices it does.“These are huge investments. They’re very long-term investments and they’re really about the future for lots of us in this province.”Auditor general calls for better oversight of long-term care construction projectsNew Glasgow unveils future site of long-term care home to replace aging facilitySeniors and Long-Term Care Minister Barbara Adams has repeatedly refused to release the contracts signed with service providers. Last month she told reporters the government gets the best possible price by keeping the process confidential.Adair’s report comes amid a massive expansion of long-term care beds by the Progressive Conservatives, a plan they first started pushing prior to forming government in 2021.WATCH | New long-term care home opens in Mahone Bay:New long-term care facility opens in Mahone BayThe waitlist for long-term care in Nova Scotia has nearly 2,000 people on it, but the opening of the Mahone Bay Nursing Home will shorten that list by a few dozen names. Taryn Grant was at the grand opening on Tuesday.The initial promise was to build 2,500 beds within three years, but that number was later increased to 3,500 beds by 2027. The government later added another 2,200 beds to the goal, with the plan for all 5,700 replacement and new beds to be complete by 2032.Department officials told MLAs on the committee that the work remains on track and that the renewed commitment by the government, which has also included incentives for people to train and enter the long-term care workforce, has rejuvenated the sector.“Our goal and our kind of raison d’etre is to make continuing care a sector of choice,” associate deputy minister Janet Lynn Huntington told the committee.MORE TOP STORIESABOUT THE AUTHORMichael Gorman covers the Nova Scotia legislature for CBC, with additional focuses on health care and rural communities. Contact him with story ideas at michael.gorman@cbc.ca
N.S. auditor general continues to raise concerns about long-term care home contracts
