Saturday 9 February 2019

$17-million bid for Francophonie Games lacked advice from Ottawa

https://twitter.com/DavidRayAmos/with_replies





Replying to and 49 others
Who is Gallant to anyone now? Methinks Ottawa needs to watch its back now that the Conservatives and the NDP have their knives out and Jody's daddy is on the warpath again N'esy Pas?


 https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2019/02/17-million-bid-for-francophonie-games.html





https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/francophonie-games-low-bid-francoise-roy-1.5011689


$17-million bid for Francophonie Games lacked advice from Ottawa



60 Comments
Commenting is now closed for this story.



  
Shawn Tabor
Shawn Tabor
Excuses gets 1 point......Accountability 0. Sound Familiar anyone.


David Amos
David Amos
@Shawn Tabor Mais Oui







David Amos 
David Amos
Who believes Francoise Roy, the deputy minister of tourism, heritage and culture?

Survey Says?








Matt Steele 
Matt Steele
Lots of SPIN going on about these failed Francophonie Games that nearly cost taxpayers 130 MILLION dollars . Now the explanation seems to be that there were no Prov. Govt. employees , or games PAID organizers , who were actually competent enough to create an accurate budget . So without the Federal Govt. doing a budget for them , the PAID organizers just plugged random costs into the budget ; and Brian Gallant rubber stamped the submission . Maybe the solution would be to ACTUALLY HIRE GOVT. EMPLOYEES THAT ARE COMPETENT ; and NOT hire based on who can speak french , and who political friends are !!!


Marguerite Deschamps
Marguerite Deschamps
@Matt Steele, crosseur!

David Amos
David Amos
@Marguerite Deschamps Methinks many think the same about you N'esy Pas?

Marguerite Deschamps
Marguerite Deschamps
@David Amos, who cares? No skin off my neck!

David Amos
David Amos
@Marguerite Deschamps I thought you had scales

Marguerite Deschamps
Marguerite Deschamps
@David Amos, like your species!









Shawn Tabor 
Lou Bell
So basically , an incompetent government appointed an incompetent committee who put in an incompetent bid that was over 3 times that of a competitor AND WON !! Sounds like incompetency all the way around , right from the Francophonie at the top right down to those at the bottom . And all for the low sum of 130 MILLION DOLLARS !!!


daryl doucette
daryl doucette
@Lou Bell Oh , they are not " incompetent"....they just don't care.....about the taxpayer. They serve their masters.

David Amos
David Amos
@daryl doucette Oh So True








Shawn Tabor 
daryl doucette
What a load of crap. Now Trudeau and Dominique are trying to blame a working stiff for this folly of the " Francophonie Games". Guys, just get over it. You guys got caught with your hands in the cookie jar. You should be concentrating your efforts on filling out job applications dated October 20, 2019 instead of attempting to bull s$% us more.


Mack Leigh
Mack Leigh
@daryl doucette

Totally agree !!! And talking about hands in the cookie jar, what is with the multi million dollar complex going up on Providence St. beside the Georges Dumont Hospital in Moncton ?? Main player being Dr. Ouellette who is really close friends with Dominic LeBlanc, Victor Boudreau, Brian Gallant and is a staunch Liberal supporter...... Remember when Saint John raised the money for new equipment and Boudreau had a fit........... Now all of this is happening, I wonder where Ouellette got all of this funding for this massive project ?? How much is taxpayers money ??

David Amos
David Amos
@Mack Leigh Thanks for the tip









Douglas James 
Douglas James
Gimme a break! I have no experience in hosting an international sporting event of this magnitude and even I would have known that $17 million seriously underestimated the true cost. You don't have to be an 'expert' to know when things are completely out of whack. What did they do, pull the $17 million out of a hat? It had to be based on some kind of calculation and it should have been obvious from the get go that it wasn't nearly enough. More likely they low-balled it in an effort to get the games figuring all along that governments would bail them out. Gallant likely went along with the charade and had he won the election, he would have bailed them out at our expense.


David Amos
David Amos
@Douglas James Its not rocket science

Graham McCormack
Graham McCormack
@Douglas James Have you not been paying attention? The 17 million was the number included in the template.

Fred Brewer
Fred Brewer
@Graham McCormack
" The 17 million was the number included in the template."
And the template was provided by the international francophonie committee.








Shawn Tabor 
Mack Leigh
This whole fiasco stinks of corruption, collusion, nepotism and possibly fraud... In my opinion there needs to be a complete investigation and let the heads roll where they may..


David Amos
David Amos
@Mack Leigh I concur








Shawn Tabor 
Richard Dunn
It cost Ottawa/Gatineau $50 Million to host the games 20 years ago. I am not sure how anyone with a brain could think we could host them for 65% less 20 years later.

To me it was clear deception to get the games, and sweep the true cost under the rug. The problem was that Gallant assumed he would be premier forever and could manipulate this to his advantage.

We don't need an inquiry to get to the bottom of this. it seems pretty obvious. I would hope that Gallant, and his buddies, are proud of the scam they pulled off.


DJ Redfern
DJ Redfern
@Richard Dunn

Almost pulled off Richard

David Amos
David Amos
@DJ Redfern Methinks Gallant had many buddies collecting big paychecks, enjoying fine dinners and taking fancy trips etc for quite a while N'esy Pas?

Fred Brewer
Fred Brewer
@Richard Dunn
Oh but we do need an inquiry to hold those accountable and to make darned sure this never, ever happens again.








Shawn Tabor 
Bob Smith
The fact is, the bid was submitted figuring there were enough existing facilities to cover the games with minimal upgrades needed. Between that, and knowing Sherbrooke was going to be the main competitor, they lowballed the figures to give a good chance of winning. Once Gallant was re-elected, the real costs would be figured in for Dec. announcement and Gallant would be smiling as he announced it (flanked by Rogers and Melanson). Any fury/backlash would have been denounced as anti-french bigotry. That WAS the plan...but reality crashed in and now the blame game is on.


David Amos
David Amos 
@Bob Smith Methinks you forgot the fact that the Conservatives (They are PC in name only) knew about it all along N'esy Pas?

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/government-spent-thousands-bid-event-1.3529841

"Interim Progressive Conservative Opposition Leader Bruce Fitch has criticized the Liberals in the past for spending thousands on a networking dinner aimed at encouraging New Brunswickers to return home.

But Fitch says he sees a clearer return on investment in spending to win the right to host the Francophonie Games.

"The taxpayers, they'll deal with the respective politicians when it comes time to vote on whether they think that's a good investment or not," Fitch said."



Bob Smith
Bob Smith
@David Amos Two different things entirely. Networking thru dinners or at private lodges is a time honored political thing that the public hates but can do nothing to change. However, Gallant blaming the media for the extravagant price tag his own friends slapped on this event is laughable...it's a Liberal fiasco and no one else.









Shawn Tabor 
André Bérubé
During an interview on Radio Canada in October 2018, Claude Laverdure, who was a personal representative of former prime minister Jean Chrétien's to the Francophonie was asked if the organization was a bastion of the French Language and democracy. Here is Mr. Laverdure's reply:
',,,If you tried to do 30-second interviews with each one of the leaders, you'd find that many of them don't speak French, and many of them could be considered as dictators.'

At a Francophon ie summit in Mauritius (another member of the organization), deletates were greeted with a giant banner in English only announcing: "Welcome Francophonie Delegates.'

I think that the New Brunswick government made the right decision; the province should also get out of the Francophonie..


David Amos
David Amos
@André Bérubé "the province should also get out of the Francophonie"

Methinks the Quebeckers don't like Jean Chrétien's and Trudeau The Elder's questionable charter either N'esy Pas?









Shawn Tabor 
David White

David Amos
David Amos
@David White Trust that I didn't









Shawn Tabor 
Paul Bourgoin
If all New Brunswickers were to stand up about Subsidies, Tax Breaks, Crown Land Wood, Energy, Electricity, Property Taxes to single out a few to those who bank their profits in off shore banks maybe we would have a better Financial Standing.


Bob Smith
Bob Smith
@Paul Bourgoin I would suggest you put aside the anti Irving talk and focus on the topic of the article...an event that spiraled out of control for costs and was cancelled due to the fact Gallant is no longer premier.

David Amos
David Amos
@Paul Bourgoin YUP

David Amos
David Amos
@Bob Smith Methinks we all need to talk about the actions of the Irving Clan before we talk about who they control in our public offices N'esy Pas?









Mark (Junkman) George 
Mark (Junkman) George
Move along, nothing new to see here folks.............
Just the feds playing "duck and cover" in an election year.


David Amos
David Amos
@Mark (Junkman) George Methinks whereas I am gonna run again I should not miss a minute of the circus N'esy Pas?



Mark (Junkman) George
Mark (Junkman) George 
 @David Amos

I would wait until at least until February 25th and see how that goes.
This upcoming election is going to be interesting, more so if the NDP remove themselves from the game.
It is going to be a battle in the cities. The ruling party has thrown some farmers under the NAFTA bus, making their message a hard sell in rural Canada.
I expect plenty of cash, or promises of cash, spent in cities by the ruling party.
I don't expect all of Atlantic Canada to vote red again, but think a run in a rural riding the best chance of a win.
If the NDP drops off the board I expect a very close election, maybe even mirroring what happened in NB, but without the stupidity. These folks know how to play well with others and a coalition would be possible









Ray Bungay 
Ray Bungay
Something like this, Ottawa to NB, Don't sweat the small stuff, it is only small stuff, so we got your back Mr Premier (Mr Gallant)


David Amos
Content disabled.
David Amos
@Ray Bungay Who is Gallant to anyone now? Methinks Ottawa needs to watch its back now that the Conservatives and the NDP have their knives out and Jody's daddy is on the warpath again N'esy Pas?


David Amos
David Amos
@Ray Bungay Methinks that Ottawa did not like reading the truth about itself N'esy Pas?


David Amos
David Amos
@Ray Bungay Who is Gallant to anyone now? Methinks Ottawa needs to watch its back now that the Conservatives and the NDP are sharpening their knives N'esy Pas?








Doug Leblanc 
Doug Leblanc
We are one country, but have three separate memberships (all paying full fees, so three times the cost), and a federal tax payer funded sport agency refuses to help anyone with budgets because NB and Quebec are competing, and apparently no francophone liberal in NB is competent to price such an event. Here’s an idea. Instead of getting Gallant’s buddies a job, they could have talked to the organizers of the FIGO games and hired some people with experience. Next step should be to cancel the NB membership and support the CANADIAN membership.


David Amos
David Amos
@Doug Leblanc Methinks the questions swirling around the former Justice Minister this week in Ottawa have caused the Feds to no longer care about the silly francophonie games practiced by SANB N'esy Pas?



McKenzie King
McKenzie King
@Doug Leblanc Or they could have realized thst we just can't afford this type of thing and just not started down the path.

maude windsor
maude windsor
@David Amos trudeau fired jody wilson-raybourne because she refused to act against the law as trudeau ordered...the same action trudeau ordered against vice admiral norman.....methinks there is a lot of stinks in the PMs office!

David Amos
David Amos 
@maude windsor "methinks there is a lot of stinks in the PMs office!"

Trust that Mr Scheer and everyone else who sits in opposition know that Jody Wilson-Raybould may have lost her mandate as Justice Minister because of her failings in Federal Court and the Federal Court of Appeal within my lawsuit against the Crown that was filed when Harper was the Prime Minister and Mr Scheer was the Speaker.

Everybody knows I about to put that matter before the Supreme Court of Canada and file several more lawsuits against the RCMP and the CRA etc and also run for a seat in Parliament again.

Methinks truth is stranger than fiction and anyone can check my work by Googling "David Amos Federal Court File No" or simply two names "Jody Wilson-Raybould David Raymond Amos" in order to sort out the truth from fiction for themselves. Its blatantly obvious that Mr Trudeau should have paid particular attention to statement 83 of my lawsuit long before he was elected in October of 2015 N'esy Pas?

P.S. Need I say it irritated me bigtime when Jody appointed her Deputy Minister to the bench of Federal Court not long after I argued his minions in the Federal Court of Appeal?








Doug Leblanc 
Danny Saulnier
How does anyone actually think NB can afford to have these games ?? Don’t we have bigger and more important things to look after with this kind of money?? We don’t have the economics to do this now or in the future...


David Amos
David Amos
@Danny Saulnier True







$17-million bid for Francophonie Games lacked advice from Ottawa

Tourism deputy says original games bid was too low because Sport Canada didn't help committee


The organizing committee in Moncton could not take advantage of Sport Canada expertise in developing the bid to host the Francophonie Games. (AFP/Issouf Sanogo)


New Brunswick's initial low bid for the Francophonie Games was hobbled by Ottawa's decision to not provide advice and expertise, a senior civil servant told a committee of MLAs Friday.

Francoise Roy, the deputy minister at the Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture, said Sport Canada would normally have been "at the table, helping to develop the bid" to host the 2021 games in Moncton and Dieppe.

But federal officials decided to stay out of it because New Brunswick was up against another Canadian bid, from Sherbrooke, Que.






"Because there were two Canadian communities bidding, Sport Canada recused themselves from this process," Roy told the legislature's public accounts committee.

"The organizing committee in Moncton didn't have the benefit of that expertise."

The result was the now-discredited $17 million bid that helped clinch the awarding of the international sport and cultural event for New Brunswick in April 2016.



CBC News
The Francophonie Games mess, explained

 The games have been cancelled. But what's the story behind the mess? 2:31


Last month, the Progressive Conservative government cancelled the province's plan to host the games, citing last year's forecast of the games costing $130 million, more than seven times the original estimate.

Premier Blaine Higgs announced the decision days after the organizing committee for the games offered the province a new, dramatically reduced cost estimate of $62 million.

Higgs said given the various figures that had been made public, he wasn't confident the revised number would stick.


Francoise Roy, the deputy minister of tourism, heritage and culture, said the bid committee asked for cost of previous games from the International Organization of La Francophonie. (Jacques Poitras/CBC)

Roy made her comments in response to questions from PC committee member Glen Savoie, the MLA for Saint John East, who called the subject "a tough one. It's sensitive."

Savoie said it was too bad that the province "missed a chance to have New Brunswick as the centre of the francophone universe during the time of the games," but the costs would be "difficult to rationalize" given the province's finances.

Roy's appearance was the first time since the issue flared up in December that a senior civil servant has given an account of the games timeline.
She said without expert help from Sport Canada, the local bid committee put together its submission by asking the International Organization of La Francophonie "if they had any numbers for costs for previous games."

That template led to the $17-million estimate, she said. Sherbrooke, which hosted the Canada Games in 2013 and which has a municipal office devoted to organizing sports events, bid $52 million.

Once New Brunswick won the games, Roy said, the bid committee was transformed into an organizing committee that developed the business plan. It submitted the plan, with the $130 million figure, to the province last spring.

In an interview with Brunswick News this week, former premier Brian Gallant complained that media reports had focused on the higher figure even though it was "just a submission" and was "never going to be the cost" because his government had refused the figure.


The Francophonie Games are the largest sporting and cultural event in the French-speaking world. (Hussein Malla/Associated Press)

But Roy told the committee Friday that a consultant hired by Sport Canada to evaluate the organizing committee's proposal said it was in the ballpark.

"The evaluation basically came back and said, 'Yeah, that's about right for this scale of international event,'" she said.

That report said the games could be mounted for $115 million, and even lower costs were possible if some elements were cut, Roy said. The report, obtained by Radio-Canada, also said a significantly lower cost would lower the quality of the event.
But she told the MLAs that the Francophonie also has a "very formal process" with clear requirements for "what you need to deliver on" when hosting the games.

"It's really quite unfortunate, but that was the process," she said.

Savoie used the discussion to send a message to francophones that despite the cancellation, the new PC government was sensitive to their language and culture.

"It's important for people to know that we value the francophone culture," he said, speaking in French.


Premier Blaine Higgs cancelled New Brunswick's plan to host the games because of an estimated $130 million price tag. (CBC)

During an earlier discussion about tourism sites, Savoie told Roy that his great-great-great-great-great grandfather built the Maison Savoie, which now stands at the Village Historique Acadien near Caraquet.

"I hope in the future we have the chance to show the heart and the spirit of the francophonie here in New Brunswick," he said.

Roy said Tourism, Heritage and Culture was not the lead department on the games. That was Intergovernmental Affairs, which hasn't appeared at the public accounts committee since the games controversy broke out.

She said her department hadn't spent any money on the games but had sent two employees to the 2017 Francophonie Games in Abidjan, Ivory Coast.


The last time the games were held in Canada was 2001. They cost Ottawa and Gatineau $32 million at the time. (Jim Young/Reuters)

Asked if she had a role in internal discussions about the games, she said her officials briefed the new PC government on the timeline of the bid, the costs and the potential spinoffs, including the impact on sport and cultural programs.

"It was a good opportunity to develop more of that capacity in the province," she said. But she added that the department's role was to advise the government and let elected officials make the decision.

Roy also told Liberal MLA Cathy Rogers that some of the funding that might have gone to the games could be shifted to other programs with that mandate.

"There are conversations about that right now," she said. "We're definitely having conversations about what we might do to support our sport and cultural industries in light of that decision."

About the Author

 


Jacques Poitras
Provincial Affairs reporter
Jacques Poitras has been CBC's provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. Raised in Moncton, he also produces the CBC political podcast Spin Reduxit. 


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