Nova Scotia unsure of costs to merge health authorities

A senior official in Nova Scotia's Health Department said the government does not have an estimate yet on how much it would cost to merge district health authorities.

Acting Deputy Minister Frances Martin said the goal is to have the nine health boards merged into one board by April 1, 2015.

Martin told a legislature committee the government is conducting ongoing consultations with the boards and has not completed the preliminary work yet.

"We are very confident that over the months remaining between when we table the legislation in the fall that we have sufficient time to do that detailed planning," she said.

Martin also said the health department has not calculated the cost of severance to cut the jobs of CEOs and vice-presidents across the boards.

The Liberals promised the merger in last year's election campaign, which would see the IWK Health Centre in Halifax maintain its own board.

"I know how committed the staff are within the Department of Health," said New Democrat MLA Dave Wilson, the former minister of health.

"I believe there has to be some figure attached to the restructuring of the district health authorities and either the minister or the premier’s office is advising the deputy minister not to provide those figures."