Nova Scotia auditor general flags weaknesses in plan to increase nursing home beds

CITYnews halifax / By The Canadian Press

A new report by Nova Scotia’s auditor general says the province is not following procurement rules for new nursing home beds and isn’t properly monitoring new facilities under construction.

Kim Adair says the government did not use a competitive bidding process for 4,836 new nursing home beds and awarded contracts to existing nursing home owners without a competitive bid process.

Adair says that raises questions about transparency and value for money spent.

In 2021, the government set a target of 5,700 new and replacement nursing home beds in 54 new facilities by 2032 at a total operational cost of $8.6 billion over 25 years.

The audit also says that while the government has a robust approval process for new construction oversight, it is not following all of its rules.

Adair says her audit looked at five new nursing home projects and found that 44 per cent of the required approval documents were missing.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 16, 2025.