Cape Breton may be getting a new addiction recovery centre, after its current centre was shut down this spring following allegations of mismanagement.
The province shut down Talbot House after complaints were filed against executive director Father Paul Abbass, who ran the program in Sydney, N.S.
Allegations of mismanagement and personal misconduct surfaced, but no charges were laid and some have criticized the government for how the case was handled.
Now the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services has announced a request for proposals for a new centre, but critics say the announcement is a smokescreen to hide the department's own mismanagement of the Talbot House case.
"Here, look at the bright shining object," says Liberal MLA Kelly Regan. "They don't want us to look at the fact that they brought in standards in 2008, they did nothing to oversee this organization, to help the board."
Complaints about treatment of patients at Talbot House led to Abbass' resignation and the centre's board of directors shut it down in March.
However, police investigated the allegations and said there was no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.
Progressive Conservative MLA Keith Bain says Abbass deserves better.
"That man was slandered and they would not accept responsibility whatsoever, and no apology," says Bain.
Abbass says any comments on the issue should come from the board of directors at Talbot House.
The executive director at the Nova Scotia Department of Community Services admits lessons have been learned from the case.
"We will be doing more frequent reviews, but we were given information that there were more complaints than there were," says George Savoury.
Talbot House, which operated as a recovery centre for 50 years and has been credited for saving lives, will be free to apply to serve as an addiction recovery centre once again.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Ron Shaw
