The McGill University Health Centre is one of two major healthcare networks in the city ofMontreal, Quebec. It is affiliated with McGill University and is one of the largest medical institutions in Canada. Most of its funding comes from Quebec taxpayers through the Ministry of Health and Social Services. The centre provides inpatient and ambulatory care. The centre announced that it would consolidate its services in a single facility in 2007; it was a long and troubled process. It was budgeted at around $700 million but cost around 1.3 billion; it was meant to take only three years but took much longer. The project was completed in 2015. The facility replaced the existing facilities of the Royal Victoria Hospital, the Montreal Children's Hospital, and the Montreal Chest Institute. It did not replace either the Montreal General Hospital or the Hôpital de Lachine. it added a cancer centre and a part of the building also houses the research institute of the MUHC. The 2004–2011 tenure of Arthur Porter, a politically active Montreal physician, as the hospital's CEO attracted extensive media scrutiny which intensified when it was revealed that he had received $22.5 million in consulting fees from SNC-Lavalin. After receiving these payments, Porter awarded the firm with a $1.3 billion contract related to the construction of the hospital. These dealings were found to be in violation of the Quebec Health Act, and along with the emergence of other questionable business activities undertaken by Porter, led to calls for his resignation. Porter resigned on December 5, 2011. Further investigation of the case by Quebec anti-corruption investigators resulted in allegations of the involvement of SNC-Lavalin and health centre employees in fraud and forgery. The investigators then issued a warrant for Porter's arrest on February 27, 2013, on charges of fraud, conspiracy, breach of trust, taking secret commissions and money laundering. Porter left Canada, and was apprehended by INTERPOL agents with his wife in Panama, where he was imprisoned while awaiting his extradition to Quebec. Porter has since died from metathetic lung cancer in 2015 before he could be extradited. Two SNC Lavalin executives pled guilty in the bribery scandal. Former SNC-Lavalin vice president of construction Riadh Ben Aissa entered a guilty plea in court to one charge of using a forged document; in this plea bargain, prosecutors dropped 15 other charges against him. He was sentenced to 51 months in jail. Former SNC Lavalin President and CEO Pierre Duhaime pled guilty to helping a public servant commit breach of trust, and was sentenced to 20 months of house arrest, with less restrictive conditions after having served 6 months.
