EDMONTON — Alberta’s Opposition NDP is asking the auditor general to investigate the province’s failed attempt to privatize community lab testing.

David Shepherd, the NDP’s health critic, says an independent analysis is needed, and that the United Conservative government can’t be trusted to transparently report what went wrong.

Last week, Health Minster Adriana LaGrange pulled the plug on the handover of community lab testing to private provider Dynalife after months of complaints of long wait times and service bottlenecks in Calgary and the southern region.

Dynalife has run lab testing in Edmonton and northern Alberta for more than two decades and expanded the service to the rest of the province late last year under contract with the province.

LaGrange has declined to say how much Alberta will pay Dynalife to take back assets and assume operations, saying those details are still being hashed out.

Shepherd says the secrecy around the cost shows the United Conservative government is hiding something from Albertans or has bought something without knowing the cost.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 21, 2023.

The Canadian Press