“The last thing we want to do is go back to partners and say ‘the project is over budget,’ but, that’s what we’re doing right now,” VIDO business director Dr. Paul Hodgson said after his presentation to the committee.We deliver the local news you need in these turbulent times on weekdays at 3 p.m.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. You may unsubscribe any time by clicking on the unsubscribe link at the bottom of our emails.
While $50,000 isn’t much in the context of a $26 million shortfall, Hodgson said just the fact of having the city on board helps when VIDO makes its pitches to the federal and provincial governments for funding. He noted it’s almost unheard of in Canada for a municipal government to make any contribution to a capital project like this; having the city increase that contribution would send a strong message, he said.
Hodgson noted that VIDO’s expansion has been planned for 15 years. The project took on new urgency since the COVID-19 pandemic. He said if the facilities expected to form the expansion were available when the virus arrived in 2020, it’s likely Canada would have been the first country in the world to develop and mass-produce a COVID-19 vaccine.
He added that the facility VIDO will have once it finishes upgrading its laboratory containment systems, vaccine manufacturing and research capacity will be among the most advanced on Earth, and will likely draw a cluster of medium and small-sized firms to Saskatoon.
just another taxpayer money eater
How can that be when the library is still on budget?