A travel nurse company has launched two more lawsuits against VitalitéHealth Network for allegedly breaching the terms of two contracts that expired last year.
Canadian Health Labsfiled notices of actionwith theCourt of King’s Bench in Saint John Wednesday over the contracts, which were both signed in 2022 and expired inJune and September 2024, respectively, according to the documents.
The Ontario-based company alleges,among other things, that Vitalité deployed fewer “human health resource professionals”than stipulated in the contracts,failed to pay invoices, and terminated a renewal”unilaterally and improperly.”
Itcontends it has suffered losses as a result of the health authority’s actions and is seeking compensation, including punitive, aggravated and special damages, as well as costs and pre-judgment interest at a rate of seven per cent.
Canadian Health Labspreviously filed a lawsuit againstVitalitéfor allegedly breaching another contract that was slated to continue until Feb. 5, 2026, after the health authoritycancelled the remaining shifts of its travel nursesin January.
Bill is ‘as tight as we can make it,’ minister says
The two new legal actionscame to light Tuesday night when Health Minister Dr. John Dornanappeared before the legislature’s standing committee on economic policy to discuss a number of proposedamendments to abill designed to get the government out of that costly contract without facing any legal or financial penalties.
Green Party Leader David Coon questioned how the bill, entitledAn Act Respecting Travel Nurses, got tabled in its original form “without the experts in contract law catching the problems” that prompted the numerous amendments, echoing earlier musings by Tammy Scott-Wallace, theTory MLA forSussex-Three Rivers,about whether the original was “scribbled on the back of the napkin.”
Dornan told Coon that when the government first presented the bill, its “primary purpose, with advice from the [Office of the Attorney General]was to protect ourselves from the third contract, which was still in force.”
Since then, “actions have arisen that included the expired contracts,” he said.
Vitalité’s lawyers had also raised concerns about the expired contracts not being included,Dornan said. So the government decided it would be “prudent, and perhaps safer, to nullify all three contracts,”which covered from July 2022 toFebruary 2026 and totalled $98 million,according to Auditor General Paul Martin.
The company chargedabout $300 an hour per nurse — roughly six times what a local staff nurse earns.”The contracts with private nursing agencies were not reflective of best practices and did not demonstrate value for money,” Martin hassaid.
The bill passed second reading and will readily become law, given the Liberals’ majority, but whether it willprotect the government andVitalitéfrom being sued by Canadian Health Labs remains unclear.
“It’s as tight as we can make it,”Dornan said in response to questions from Scott-Wallace.
“Itdoes not absolutely preclude these current actions or subsequent actions, but it does afford us a better protection than the original bill, and we feel that the actions commenced are less likely to be successful with these amendments,” Dornan said.
Company lawyer slams bill
In response to the amended bill,Canadian Health Labs’ lawyer Matthew Hayes fired off a lettertoJustice Minister Rob McKee Wednesday, urging the province toreconsider.
“We assert that the Legislature’s actions to deny Canadian Health Labs its contractual rights, while actively resisting transparency, represent an unprecedented and troubling misuse of legislative authority,” he wrote in the letter obtained by CBC News, which was copied to Dornan,Premier Susan Holt, Coon and interim Opposition Leader Glen Savoie.
Hayesdescribedthe amended bill as a “deliberate act of legislative bad faith.”
“As acknowledged by the Dr. Dornan, Minister of Health, Canadian Health Labs played a critical role in responding during a time of urgent crisis, saving lives in New Brunswick. However, once the contract was deemed no longer advantageous, the government appears to have taken steps to deprive Canadian Health Labs of the negotiated benefits,” he wrote.
“The Minister of Health has also admitted that Vitalité Health Network continues to employ nurses from other agencies, raising questions about the fairness and intent of these actions.”
In addition,Vitalitéchose not to terminate its agreement with Canadian Health Labs, “seemingly to enable the government to attempt to legislate this commercial agreement out of existence,” demonstrating a “lack of honesty, transparency and accountability,” Hayesalleged.
None of the allegations in the statements of claim have been proven in court.
Vitalitéhas not yet filedresponses and did not respond Wednesday for a request for comment.
Canadian Health Labs declined to comment.
