David Raymond Amos @DavidRayAmos
Surprise Surprise Surprise
https://davidraymondamos3.blogspot.com/2019/03/taxpayers-hit-with-31m-in-cancellation.html
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/new-brunswick/infrastructure-budget-new-brunswick-1.5047546
Taxpayers hit with $31M in cancellation costs after Higgs stops 4 major projects
Province must pay $31M this year after cancelling new Fredericton courthouse and other infrastructure projects
The
Progressive Conservative government of Blaine Higgs has stopped work on
a new courthouse and refurbished Centennial Building in Fredericton. (Shane Fowler/CBC)The cancellation of four major Liberal infrastructure projects represents higher costs for taxpayers in the short term, according to figures released by the Blaine Higgs government.
The Finance Department says the scrapping of the projects adds $31 million in expenses to the province's budget this fiscal year.
The cost of building a major piece of infrastructure is normally spread out over the life of the project. But if a project is cancelled after work begins, accounting rules require that the costs be added to the books at that time.
"Costs are primarily associated with paying for and expensing work completed to date on these projects," spokesperson Vicky Deschenes said in an email.
The
province has bought land for an 11-kilometre, two-lane bypass leading
into Miramichi, but that project was cancelled in December. (Department of Transportation)
She said the cost breakdown is:
-
$16 million for the cancellation of two phases of the Route 11 upgrade.
-
$11 million for the aborted plan to refurbish Fredericton's Centennial Building and construct a new courthouse attached to it.
-
$3 million for the scrapping of a replacement New Brunswick Museum in Saint John.
-
$1 million for road work in the Perth-Andover area that is not going ahead.
Deschenes said some of the costs were offset by savings in other areas, leading to capital account spending projected to be $21.7 million over budget in 2018-19.
The savings from the cancellations will add up in future years when the spread-out costs don't appear on the books.
The $272-million Route 11 project was to twin the highway from north of Shediac to near Bouctouche and to build a bypass road near Miramichi. The province was going to spend $147 million with the rest coming from the federal government.
The new Progressive Conservative government said it will finish one part of the Shediac-Bouctouche section but will cancel the other section as well as the Miramichi bypass.
The
new Fredericton courthouse was going to connect to the remaining part
of the Centennial Building by a two-storey passageway, but the project
was cancelled after construction started. (Joe McDonald/CBC)
Premier Blaine Higgs signalled when he was still opposition leader that he didn't think Route 11 needed the upgrades the Liberals had promised.
And he said last fall that Fredericton didn't need the new courthouse attached to the Centennial Building, a project that would have cost $76 million.
"We don't need more government buildings in this province," he said. "We do this all over the province. We build one here because there's one somewhere else."
At the legislature's public accounts committee last month, the deputy minister of justice told MLAs that a new Fredericton courthouse would address "security concerns" of people using the existing building, which dates to 1930.
Mike Comeau told MLAs that judges, lawyers and staff using the building were reluctant to describe their security concerns in detail.
"Honestly, they don't want to expose any weaknesses to anyone who might have bad ideas," he said.
"So I'm loath to catalogue in detail the specific things that make, for example, the Miramichi courthouse, or the Saint John or the Moncton law courts more desirable than the current justice building in Fredericton."
Former New Brunswick Court of Appeal Chief Justice Ernest Drapeau also complained publicly in 2016 that the court's small hearing room in the building can't accommodate simultaneous translation, despite the requirement that the court function bilingually.
"You may be surprised to know that, but that's a fact," said Drapeau, who applauded the announcement of the new building in early 2017.
Comeau said after the PCs cancelled the project, officials were asked to assess the "functional and security limitations" of the existing building so that it can be upgraded.
The New Brunswick Museum replacement would have cost provincial taxpayers $50 million.
The cancelled road work in Perth-Andover was a $19 million project to re-engineer the village's downtown, lifting Route 105 above flood level and reconfiguring where it meets Route 109.
David Amos
I agree - who would have thought, a conservative government having to come in and make tough choices to stop the liberal bleeding....
Tim Astle
* The estimated completion cost is far more.
* Each project will have a cost overrun.
I would not be surprised to see the cost overruns alone would be more than $8 million each. I don't think I've seen a project that doesn't underestimate.
Claude DeRoche
only the beginning !
Gotta love the CORservatives!
We elected a bunch of ideologues who believe in "get your hands off my gigantic pile". Suddenly the rich feel richer as their money starts to gain in meaning when government can no longer do what it is meant to do. I'm sure they' ll offer to buy everything we ever build for 2 cents on the dollar seeing that it's half built and not in any condition t be used.
No...we follow the grand pouba leader of the PANB...the real premier of NB
Stephen Doran
Sadly when citizens do vote for politicians they believe have a 'Moral Compass' they find that after a year or two in office those 'high-minded politicians seem to loose their compass or it gets broken and they never seem to be able to find the old one or to get a new one....
Governments that do not work at circulating money to a degree that is manageable are actually starving their population of a well being that is attainable. Conservatives are the worst accountants, IMO. They think only of the liabilities column.
Marguerite Deschamps
Your sentence makes absolutely no sense...pull up on the substances.
James Reed
Mario Doucet
Graeme Scott
Really!?
How fiscally responsible is it that we keep paying for the crownland giveaway.
Higgs could have fixed this months ago by voiding the forestry agreement the Alward government gave industry.
But no he's still lobbying for this subsidy.
I concur
michael.Doyon
What’s foolish, is the liberal ideology that debt incurred through limitless spending eventually just takes care of itself...
Its actual a logical decision to spend on infrastructures it creates jobs...
It isn't any different than the crownland giveaway. It created jobs for foreigners in Chipman.
Rosco holt
It will be worst next year, all these cuts where creating jobs lol, its wise to spend money on infrastructure next years budget will be a diseaster...I am still waiting for him to remove the special gaz tax, lower tax on income and lower the GST ...
His plan was to cut taxes, instead of paying down the debt. He isn't my hero, pay down the debt quickly, then we can look at lowering taxes.
Some of the projects that were cancelled are needed for safety sake.
Axel Roosevelt
Save long term? Having to sell your house to live joblesss in a basement apartment is not a winning strategy.
I forgot that it hits close to home for you.
For all Lew cares he or someone in his family is probably missing out on summer pogey hours as a result of these excellent cancellations, get a real job pal.
Don't worry about my job...I worry more about lack of economic development and tax increases for the 40 thousand or so fellow tax payers that keep this province afloat.
Lewis Taylor
People voted for him, now they have to live with their mistakes..
Why does racism always have to come up?
June Arnott
Drive more carefully
A lot more cars than on the deserted 4 lane white elephant from St John to Maine!!
Real intelligent.
Like by raising taxes - yeah, that’s a great idea... Raising government “revenues” only leads to higher spending and greater debt serviceability and less accountability - i.e. more debt.....
Feel free to donate more of your hard earned paycheque to the cause. As for me, I lose sleep every night trying to figure out how to keep more of mine.
Truth is stranger than fiction N'esy Pas?
Investing in infrastructure is actually a very logical way to increase revenue, you create jobs. Higgs is lucky he had a surplus left to him by the Liberal government...
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