T&T’s High Commissioner to Canada Phillip Buxo, a former director with SNC-Lavalin, is denying that he was ever involved in the selection process of the Canadian conglomerate to design the Penal hospital. In a statement yesterday, Buxo said, “There is a vast amount of misinformation circulating in the local media about the proposed hospital in Penal, which is to be built through a government-to-government arrangement with the Canadian government.
“The high commissioner wishes to make it absolutely clear that he has had no influence in discussions with respect to the matter of SNC-Lavalin working in T&T. “I wish to reiterate that the T&T Government is not involved in the decision-making process to hire any Canadian company to construct the hospital. The full responsibility for the selection of any company is the exclusive responsibility of the Canadian government’s designated co-ordinator, the Canadian Commercial Corporation (CCC).”
Buxo, who returned to T&T on Friday night, also said he was advised that discussions between SNC-Lavalin and the CCC were initiated in 2011 through the Canadian authorities in Port-of-Spain. “It involved only two Canadian companies that had expressed an interest in working in T&T in the delivery of healthcare facilities. One of the companies was SNC-Lavalin.”
Buxo said the other Canadian company had an interest in refurbishing the PoS General Hospital. “This left SNC-Lavalin as the only Canadian company that expressed an interest in building a hospital in T&T from the ground up.” He said it was against this background that CCC engaged in discussions with SNC-Lavalin and recommended the company for the first phase of the Penal hospital.
Defending his position, Buxo said, “The high commissioner has stated previously and wishes to reiterate that it is not proper to support or disenfranchise any company.” He said he has continued to keep an arm’s length relationship with all companies wishing to do business in T&T. “This is especially so with SNC-Lavalin because of my prior relationship with the company as director of the its Caricom energy and infrastructure division,” Buxo said.
He said, “There is no contradiction between this position and what the high commissioner stated in an interview in 2011 with a Canadian publication in which he said his interest is in going directly to Canadian blue-chip companies to highlight the potential of T&T as an ideal place for Canadian investment.” Buxo said part of the responsibility of a T&T diplomat is to market T&T while keeping a professional distance.
He added that the Canadians are conducting the necessary due diligence for phase two of the Penal hospital project before making any recommendation to the T&T Government. “The proper thing to do is to let the process determine the merit of any Canadian proposal,” he added.