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Kenney to scrap plans for Edmonton medical superlab

Mar 12, 2019 | 7:06 AM

EDMONTON- Opposition Leader Jason Kenney says a United Conservative government would scrap a medical superlab set to be built in Edmonton.

Kenney says the superlab is nothing more than what he calls a bureaucratic “boondoggle” to reorganize lab tests that are already handled effectively by the private sector.

He says cancelling the superlab would save taxpayers $590 million, which could be directed to front-line care.

Kenney also says his party would pause government plans to put all lab tests under direct government control.

Health minister Sarah Hoffman says Kenney’s plan to scrap the planned superlab is “short-sighted and wrongheaded.”

Hoffman says site preparation has already begun on University of Alberta land south of the main campus.

Mike Parker, president of the Health Sciences Association of Alberta says the current Edmonton lab used by DynaLife is “stretched to the breaking point.”

The facility is part of a broader NDP government plan to integrate lab services by 2022 at two major hubs one in Edmonton and one at the Calgary Cancer Centre, which is under construction.

(The Canadian Press)