It will cost about $30 million to equip the new acute care tower at the Victoria Hospital with equipment, fixtures and furniture. (Image Credit: Submitted)

By paNOW Staff

$30 million price tag

Who pays how much: SHA, city and regional municipalities to negotiate costs needed to equip Victoria Hospital

Feb 4, 2026 | 4:26 PM

When the provincial government announced the renewal and expansion plans for the Victoria Hospital in 2020, it committed to fully fund the capital costs, waiving the 20 per cent community share.

The local healthcare foundation and users of the hospital – in this case, the city and regional municipalities – are responsible for funding all the equipment and furniture needed to fill the hospital during the expansion phase of the project. The current estimate to do that is about $56 million. After the Boreal Healthcare Foundation makes its contribution, approximately $30 million of that price tag will fall to the city.

“Every community that has patients that end up at the Victoria Hospital, the rural municipalities and other communities in the region will be asked by the Saskatchewan Health Authority (SHA) and the provincial government to contribute to the furniture, fixtures and equipment,” said CEO of the Boreal Healthcare Foundation Cody Barnett.

At a Prince Albert and District Chamber of Commerce ‘State of the City Address’ luncheon on Tuesday, Mayor Bill Powalinsky brought up the $30 million ask, which set off a political tit-for-tat between the province and the official opposition.

The NDP accused the Sask. Party of lying when it promised to cover the cost of the hospital. The initial estimate, prior to the pandemic, was between $300 million and $500 million. In February 2024, the construction contract was listed at $898 million.

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“As this project balloons way over budget, the government expected Prince Albert to pay $200 million for the hospital. Then, Scott Moe promised he would cover it. Now Moe is back expecting the city to find $30 million?” said Jordan McPhail, Saskatchewan NDP Northern Affairs Shadow Minister in a news release.

“The incompetencies of this premier and health minister shouldn’t be the burden of the municipal budget of Prince Albert to bear.”

The provincial government responded in quick succession, saying the funding arrangement was clearly outlined when the hospital renewal and expansion project was announced on March 6, 2020.

“It is impossible to take the NDP seriously when they are clearly unfamiliar with the funding arrangements for building health-care facilities in our province. When they had the opportunity to serve as government, the NDP were more focused on closing hospitals across the province, including the Holy Family Hospital in Prince Albert. In the exceedingly rare cases when the NDP did promise to build a health-care facility, they made the local community commit to pay for 35 per cent of the capital cost of the facility plus the furniture, fixtures and equipment. It was our government, in 2011, that lowered the community share to 20 per cent,” read a statement from the Government of Saskatchewan.

The expansion and renewal of the Victoria Hospital is a two part project. The first part is the construction of a new acute care tower which will increase overall capacity by about 40 per cent. (Image Credit: Submitted)

Meanwhile, Mayor Powalinsky said discussions remain ongoing with the city, other users of the hospital, and the SHA to determine a proportionate per capita allocation for the costs to equip the new acute care tower.

“I basically just wanted to give taxpayers a heads up that we’ve got a lot of really important priorities to work on,” he said. “I know we’ve got a new cultural event centre that we’re driving to the finish line, wastewater treatment, and now the ask from the health authority for furniture and equipment.”

He added there are still a lot of questions as to what exactly the taxpayers in Prince Albert are expected to be funding.

“If it’s waiting room chairs, somehow that’s not going to be as relevant or meaningful as saying that we’re purchasing dialysis units or we’re looking at purchasing NICU equipment. And I’m not being shallow in that regard. I’m just saying I think taxpayers need to know that and need to understand it. So, at this point, we’ve asked for the information and they’re working on giving us some answers to several questions.”

Whether or not the final price tag for the City of Prince Albert stays at $30 million remains to be seen, but there is some money set aside in city coffers. In 2024, city council decided any permits and development levies that came from the Victoria Hospital expansion would be used to cover costs for equipment and furniture.  Powalinsky said there is currently about $6 million available.

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panews@pattisonmedia.com