The Kenney government is dangerously cutting corners by allowing unqualified contractors to install fire safeguards at the new Calgary cancer centre, says the Opposition NDP.

Subcontractors working on the $1.42-billion project next to the Foothills Medical Centre were told late last month that those installing fire protections would no longer need to have undergone previously required specialized training known as the Qualified Firestop Contractor Program.

“It’s unacceptable for the Alberta government to be cutting corners,” said NDP infrastructure critic Thomas Dang.

The NDP MLA said he questioned Infrastructure Minister Prasad Panda about the change and in a Nov. 2 letter in response was told the work would meet municipal and national safety codes.

“Albertans are not paying for a building that meets the bare minimum legal standard, they’re paying for a world-class health-care and research facility, and that’s what this contractor agreed to build,” said Dang.

The safeguards are designed to resist and contain fire and smoke in environments hosting vulnerable people, often with reduced mobility.

There’s a crucial safety distinction between installers who’ve been trained under the program supplied by the Underwriters Laboratories of Canada and those who haven’t, said Kevin Lecht, business manager with Insulators Local 110.

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