Records show SNC-Lavalin pandemic field hospitals delivered by rush order two years ago under a $150 million contract remain warehoused at a secret location, according to Blacklock’s Reporter. “The SNC-Lavalin mobile health units are currently stored in a warehouse facility in Ontario,” said cabinet in an inquiry of ministry tabled in the House of Commons.“The exact location of the warehouse cannot be shared due to security concerns.”The Canadian government gave SNC-Lavalin a sole-sourced $150 million contract for field hospitals no one asked for in 2021. READ MORE: SNC-Lavalin gets $150 million contract for field hospitals nobody asked forRecords from Public Services and Procurement Canada (PSPC) show five months after signing the contract, no one has bothered to fix any delivery dates for the mobile health units.“There is no fixed delivery date at the moment,” said PSPC staff. Cabinet said the field hospitals were used three times in Hamilton, Sunnybrook Hospital in Toronto, and Stanton Territorial Hospital in Yellowknife. Details were tabled at the request of Conservative MP Kelly McCauley (Edmonton West, AB), who asked for each time the field hospitals were used. SNC-Lavalin was paid to supply field hospitals equipped with 200 beds, ventilators, masks, medical gowns, and ten days’ worth of medication, backup generators, water, oxygen tanks, X-ray machines, shower bays, and latrines. Access to information and privacy records confirmed Health Canada was told of the contract after the fact. McCauley asked at a House of Commons Government Operations Committee hearing in 2021 whose decision was it. “It was the department,” said former public services and procurement deputy minister Bill Matthews.Because it was urgent, McCauley said he heard it had to be sole sourced. “No province requested them before it was determined to be urgent and ordered,” he said. PSPC disclosed in a budget document in 2022 storage of the field hospitals cost taxpayers $136 million. The spending was marked as funding to provide supplies for the health system. “That $135.9 million was something that is not exactly directed to preventing or treating COVID,” said former public services and procurement minister Helena Jaczek.“It is actually the storage of four mobile health units that are being warehoused and they are in the possession now of the department.”
