Calgary’s $1.6 billion cancer centre is showing signs of life after Premier Prentice confirmed the project would continue, albeit at a different location, despite Alberta’s bleak economic situation.
“We want to see a cancer center constructed,” said Prentice on Wednesday. “We will look at creative ways to finance it and will do that as quickly as possible working with the people that have been proposing this project and who are passionate about it.”
In December, the provincial government halted progress on a number of planned projects including Calgary’s new cancer centre citing low revenue forecasts tied to falling oil prices. The cancer centre was to have been built at the Foothills Medical Centre as an eventual replacement for the Tom Baker Cancer Centre.
The Alberta Cancer Foundation has committed $200 million to the project.
“We’re really encouraged that the government has decided to proceed with the project and pleased to hear that it is a top priority,” said Myka Osinchuk, Alberta Cancer Foundation CEO.
Funding and development plans for the South Health Campus cancer centre have not been released.
A scheduled goal for completion of the construction project is slated for 2021.
