Victoria General's future becomes a little clearer

A Nova Scotia bureaucrat speaking to reporters during a background briefing Tuesday shed light on the province's plan to replace an aging hospital complex in Halifax.

The civil servant cannot be named since the briefing was not for attribution andwasprovided for background purposes only.

But in explaining why only $1.5 million has beenset aside this year for planning the replacement of the problem-proneCentennial Building, he provided information others within government have been reluctant to share.

What CBC learned during the briefing:

• The possibility some services will be moved from the VG site before the Centennial Building is permanently closed, with the exception ofcancer treatment andsurgeries.
• Someservices or programs might move into arenovated space at the Halifax Infirmary.
• Services might be transferred to other locations within Halifax or even outside the city.
• The Centennial Building won't completely close until new facilities are ready or all services have found a new home.
• The possibility some services currently offered at the VG will be delivered differently.
• The Centennial Building will either be demolished or "repurposed" after it'svacated.

We might have learned more had the deputy minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal, Paul LaFleche, not intervened fiveminutes into the discussionto tell reporters we were moving well beyond the discussion at hand.

The briefing was to deal with the province's latest capital plan, which will see the province spend $480millionin 2016-2017$26.5 million of that is earmarked for hospitals.

NDP reacts

Former health care minister and current NDP Leader Maureen MacDonald said she wonderswhythe Liberals areonly planning to spend $1.5 million towards the VG's replacement.

"That needs to be job number one in a capital plan. This is a priority for Nova Scotians," she said. "That's a tertiary health care centre and it's a disgrace."

Finance Minister Randy Deloreysaid before the province can design and builda replacement hospital, it has to develop a planand thatis set to happen this year.

"The costs of getting it wrong are far too high. We need to ensure that appropriate planning goes into place," he said.

Health Minister LeoGlavinesuggested last Thursdaya VGupdate was imminent, but government officialsnow say a briefing will come "within weeks."