Photo by Justin Dionne 

By Curtis Galbraith

Hospital

Alberta Construction Association asks province to pay hospital contractors

Apr 8, 2019 | 5:30 AM

The Alberta Construction Association is calling on the provincial government to pay companies owed money for work done at the new Grande Prairie hospital.

It has written a letter to the Infrastructure Department, saying that more than two dozen contractors are owed tens of millions of dollars and that it has been over 300 days since some of them were paid.

Association Chair Ian Reid says a dispute between the province and the original contractor means no money is flowing.

“And you have in the neighbourhood of $60-million outstanding to a number of different local firms in Grande Prairie. The action that they have taken has frozen the funds. The funds are due and payable to parties who are not party to the dispute.”

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Reid says the Association believes that companies not being paid was an unintended consequence of the dispute between the government and Graham Construction.

He does not call this an election issues.

“This is an issue that has to do with a function of the government. It doesn’t matter which party is in charge. This is a government function and the election should have nothing to do with this. The contracting entity is Alberta Infrastructure. I would love to have a meeting with the government to see if we can work to a solution to this, but it has nothing to do with which party is in power.”

The letter is asking the government to pay contractors by saying “The protracted payment period puts the financial survival and livelihood of many Albertans at risk.”