MUHC managers excessive discretionary power in superhospital planning – Charbonneau Commission

Charbonneau Commission: MUHC managers were allowed excessive discretionary power in the superhospital planning.

Former senior managers at the McGill University Health Centre were given far too much discretionary power in the planning of the $1.3-billion superhospital – a situation that allowed corruption to take root and thrive, the Charbonneau Commission has found in its final report.
“The existence of substantial discretionary power is … one of the factors that is linked to poor governance,” Charbonneau concluded in her report, adding that such power can lead to “illicit (schemes) in the awarding of construction contracts in the public sector.”

One senior MUHC manager granted the winning bidder, SNC-Lavalin, an “outrageous” exemption to build what should have been an underground parking lot as an above-ground garage.

Nearly all the entire chapter in Charbonneau’s voluminous report to the bidding process that led to the awarding of the $1.3-billion construction contract to build the MUHC superhospital, has been redacted because of a publication ban.
Source Montreal Gazette