Wednesday 31 January 2024

Worth the delay? Province won't say latest cost for new Fredericton courthouse

 

Worth the delay? Province won't say latest cost for new Fredericton courthouse

Cost concerns led to previous delays

 
Shane Magee · CBC News ·
Construction of the new Fredericton courthouse halted after the steel frame was finished last year. (Aidan Cox/CBC)

The New Brunswick government won't say how much it's now expected to cost to finish a new Fredericton courthouse, a project the province has twice halted over its cost.

The province announced this week it had awarded a construction management contract to Ontario-based Bird Construction.

The announcement included no update about the cost of the project and the province wouldn't provide the information or details about the other bids.

"While the construction management contract has been signed by Bird Construction, the revised total estimated project cost still requires approval of the government later this spring, following closing of the current tenders by the construction manager," Bruce Macfarlane, a spokesperson for the province, said in an email.

Opposition want figures

Liberal MLA Chuck Chiasson, the party's infrastructure critic, said he wants to know the new estimated cost of the project. 

"I think the province needs to come clean," Chiasson said. 

Chiasson said he believes the old cost estimate was an underestimation and that with inflation the cost will only have gone up. 

"I don't think by tendering it out to a management company that they're going to realize the savings that they wanted to see," Chiasson said. 

"Surprise, surprise," Green Party Leader David Coon said of the lack of details. 

"Because it's going to be way higher than the original cost that was quoted back in 2017 and, you know, we're five to seven years out now, and so the cost is going to be a lot higher on top of the money they've already wasted."

In 2017, the Liberal government under Premier Brian Gallant approved a new courthouse in a refurbished Centennial Building.

It was estimated to cost $76 million and would replace the Queen Street courthouse that's had security, flooding and maintenance problems.

It was among the projects Premier Blaine Higgs cancelled after taking office in 2018 after $13 million had already been spent.

A rendering of a multi-storey building with few windows. Construction of the new courthouse is now expected by spring 2026. (Joe McDonald/CBC)

In 2021, the Higgs government announced it would go ahead with a new courthouse — on a different site — at an estimated cost of $60 million.

Attorney General Ted Flemming said at the time it was clear the Queen Street building was in an unacceptable condition. 

"Not only was it just unacceptable, I believe that you could almost make a case that WorkSafe [N.B.] should have closed the place," Flemming said at the time. 

Site preparation for the location on King Street was completed in May 2022 and the foundation and steel framing were completed last spring. Then the work halted.

The Department of Transportation and Infrastructure cancelled the main tender for construction after the lone bid from EllisDon came in "substantially over budget" at $93.27 million.

A construction site with heavy machinery behind a fence.     A gaping hole was left where the cancelled courthouse was supposed to be built on the rear of the Centennial Building. (Shane Fowler/CBC)

Last year, the province went back to market for a construction management company.

At the time, it said it wanted the company in place by the end of 2023, though the company was only announced this week.

Bird will oversee the final phase of construction, which a news release says is expected to start this spring.

Coon is glad to see progress.

"The courthouse has been sitting there for months and months and months with the steel skeleton going nowhere."

Coon said the delay affects University of New Brunswick's plans for the Queen Street building. 

The existing courthouse, once the new one opens, will become the new home of the university's law school. 

The federal government, province and university announced last year they will collectively spend $62 million to renovate the building. At the time of that announcement, the law school expected to move there in 2025.

However, the latest news release about the new courthouse says it is now expected to be complete by spring 2026. The province didn't say when it is expected to open.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Shane Magee

Reporter

Shane Magee is a Moncton-based reporter for CBC.

CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
 
 
 
102 Comments
 
 
 
Benny Swim  
The NB office for Bird Construction is located in Quispamsis. I am sure this is just a coincidence but Blaine Higgs, as well as being NB premier, is the MLA for Quispamsis. 
 
 
 
David Amos 
 
Welcome back to the circus
 
 
 
David Amos 
 
"Surprise, surprise," Green Party Leader David Coon said of the
lack of details. "
 Too Too Funny
 
 
David Amos
Surprise Surprise Surprise  
rick haars
Let it be a ............ Surprise!!!


David Amos
Reply to rick haars
Obviously I concur 
 
 
 

Denis Van Humbeck
I think its time the province start making the criminal code laws instead of the federal government.


David Amos
Reply to Denis Van Humbeck
I disagree


Graham McCormack
Reply to Denis Van Humbeck
What does that have to do with the cost of building a new courthouse?
 

Benny Swim 
Reply to Denis Van Humbeck
What does that have to do with a decision that was made by Blaine Higgs that is costing us millions of dollars and counting? 
 
 
 


Lou Bell
What he saved us with the 130 million undisclosed expense by the Liberals should more than cover the cost of the new courthouse and take the old one in Fredericton and the old one in Burton off the provinces books , so it's another Higgs win for all NB !


Lou Bell
Reply to Lou Bell
Many naysayers can't see the forest for the trees .


Graham McCormack
Reply to Lou Bell
Give it a rest! That is over and done with - long ago.


David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Lou Bell
Cry me a river
 
 
Jos Allaire 
Reply to Lou Bell
Now he'll spend a fortune on the Canada games saying that the spin off and exposure will promote the province while the international Francophone Games would have done it many times better. 🦛krits❗
 
 
Bobby Richards 
Reply to Lou Bell
That was like 7-8 years ago 
 
 
Benny Swim 
Reply to Lou Bell
You are a laugh a minute. Thanks for that, it was kind of a gloomy morning. 
 
 
 
 
Sarah Brown
We all want figures. I'm not sure who this government think they are not to be accountable to the people of this province. Higgs has such a sense of entitlement and thinks he can do what he wants, when he wants without having to explain himself. Time to vote him out.


Samual Johnston
Reply to Sarah Brown
No one is saying we won’t see the numbers. They will be released at some point. Really what difference does it make? The government is in charge of spending … not like they need to have everyone’s approval.


David Amos
Reply to Samual Johnston
True If so they would never get it


Graham McCormack
Reply to Samual Johnston
Public has a right to now how much the Higgs' screw ups on this are costing the taxpayer.


Samual Johnston
Reply to Graham McCormack
Why right now? Why not next month?


Sarah Brown
Reply to Samual Johnston
While the government may be in charge of spending, they are wreck less and irresponsible about. It makes all the difference. They need to be accountable and transparent which thruhav


Sarah Brown
Reply to Samual Johnston
They have not been for a very long while


Samual Johnston
Reply to Sarah Brown
Well that is the opinion of some. Others see the financial responsibility of this government and despite the many issues that all governments and leaders have we are still probably much better off keeping this crew than electing any of the others.


Graham McCormack
Reply to Samual Johnston
Why not right now? The contract has been awarded, what is there to hide?


David Amos
Reply to Graham McCormack
Higgy does not want that number in his current budget
 
 
Samual Johnston
Reply to Graham McCormack
It seems like part of the reason is:

“While the construction management contract has been signed by Bird Construction, the revised total estimated project cost still requires approval of the government later this spring, following closing of the current tenders by the construction manager“

 
Jim Lake 
Reply to Samual Johnston 
Of course it makes a difference if a government doesn’t communicate with constituents. The elected government has a responsibility to be open and transparent with the public … the Higgs government is anything but and clearly doesn’t take that responsibility seriously. 
 
 
Samual Johnston
Reply to Sarah Brown
seems like all the costs are not known yet.... 
 
 
Graham McCormack
Reply to Samual Johnston
They announced Bird has the contract, seems to be more than a formality. Again, what do they have to hide? 
 



Denis Van Humbeck
This will not speed up our slow justice system.


David Amos
Reply to Denis Van Humbeck
What system? Justice is a myth


Denis Van Humbeck
Reply to David Amos
Exactly.




Marcel Belanger
This complete snafu on the part og Higgs will wind up costing the
province at least 3 times what the original one would have cost.

That one would be finished by now and the province would not still be
paying the rent for all those temporary offices etc..

The total costs of this fiasco need to be revealed asap.


David Amos
Reply to Marcel Belanger
Par for the course no matter who running the show


Samual Johnston
Reply to Marcel Belanger
Not sure it was a snafu per say. Who could have ever predicted the impact covid would have on our world. It is still hard to believe.


David Amos
Reply to Samual Johnston
IMHO The covid nonsense dreamt up by Cardy was the biggest snafu of all


Graham McCormack
Reply to Samual Johnston
They cancelled contracts twice, they screwed up. 
 
 
Samual Johnston
Reply to Graham McCormack 
How do you know not was a mistake to cancel them? Were the reasons given not good ones? Seemed reasonable at the time no? 
 
 
Bobby Richards
Reply to Marcel Belanger 
Higgs doesn't mind spending/wasting money if it means he gets his own way.
 
 
Benny Swim  
Reply to Samual Johnston
No. He canceled them because it was a liberal plan. The exact thing he has spent years complaining about. Then bought a lot from the Irvings a half a block away from the Centennial building. And the costs have been rising ever since. All politics. 



 
Lou Bell
At least there'll be something to sahow for it once built , unlike the 130 undisclosed millions the liberals were gonna spend .


Graham McCormack
Reply to Lou Bell
You need something new to bring up.


David Amos
Reply to Graham McCormack
Amen
 
 
Bobby Richards
Reply to Lou Bell 
One trick pony eh?
 
 
Benny Swim  
Reply to Lou Bell
Keep them coming, I'm rolling on the floor here now. What a hoot... 
 
 


Allan Marven
Long as Higgs is the first one tried in there, It'll be worth it. Tucker Carlson for premier!!


David Amos
Content Deactivated
Reply to Allan Marven
Welcome back to the circus


David Amos
Reply to Allan Marven
Surely you jest




Geordan Mann
Higgs is a great numbers guy. An expert in hiding them from the public.


David Amos
Reply to Geordan Mann
C'est Vrai


Allan Marven
Reply to Geordan Mann
You think?




Donald Gallant
The secrecy is so disturbing!


David Amos
Reply to Donald Gallant
I love a mystery


Allan Marven
Reply to Donald Gallant
It's amazing the secrecy in Canada. In Maine, you can hear about who shot who, last night, and why...on the radio.
 

MR Cain
Reply to Allan Marven
considered a normal day in the states. 
 
 
 
 
Matt Steele
With N.B. only having a population of a little over 800,000 people ; why does government need to build these massive Taj Mahal like CourtHouses ....and why are they moving the Law School from the UNB Campus down to the old Courthouse downtown when they already have a building  on campus . It almost seems like there is a group of people sitting around somewhere , and trying to think of ways to squander taxpayer cash needlessly ......meanwhile Canadians Canada wide are being crushed with taxes and inflation . It just never seems to end .

 
Le Wier
Reply to Matt Steele
Fredericton does need a modern justice building. Another large jury pool call out like the Raymond trial is inevitable, and there is no place suitable to accommodate that at this time. The Grant Harvey Center is not set up for trials and large jury selections.
 
 
David Webb
Reply to Matt Steele
Reminds me of a quote attributed to Ed Broadbent. "I am not a lawyer, but I do have many other faults". Speaking of Taj Mahal, have you seen some of these lawyers offices, requiring $400 plus per hour billings?


David Amos
Reply to David Webb
Broadbent was funny dude




MR Cain
Donald Bowser, an international expert on political corruption, says he is "shocked to discover that there is less transparency in New Brunswick than in Kurdistan, Guatemala or Sierra Leone..."


Rosco holt
Reply to MR Cain
Look who we have has Premier.


Sam Brown
Reply to Rosco holt
Do not blame the politician.....Blame the people who put them office..

Good Day


David Amos
Reply to Sam Brown
Amen We get the governments we deserve


MR Cain
Reply to Rosco holt
Please, don't remind me.


MR Cain
Reply to Sam Brown
Not a good day.


Samual Johnston
Reply to MR Cain
So do you believe this expert?
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Discussions underway at Fredericton city hall about limiting public hearings

 
 

Discussions underway at Fredericton city hall about limiting public hearings

City staff considering how to make planning advisory committee less political, says mayor

CBC News ·
Fredericton Mayor Kate Rogers says city staff are looking at ways to make the work of its planning advisory committee members less political. 'I want to make their experience as positive as possible.' (Aidan Cox/CBC)

Changes could be coming to a committee that advises Fredericton city council on which development proposals to approve.

City staff are considering changes to Fredericton's planning advisory committee, with discussions being had that include the possibility of removing the public hearing process for proposals, said Mayor Kate Rogers.

"I'm committed and very much support the requirement that we provide that space for the public to come in. Does it need to come in front of the technical body? I'm not certain," Rogers said.

"I would not want PAC members to be lobbied. They don't sign up for that job to sit on that committee to be lobbied by the public, and so I want to make their experience as positive as possible."

The current process

When a proposal to develop a property does not align with the rules laid out in Fredericton's zoning bylaw, the developer needs to file an application with city hall.

That application will then go before Fredericton's planning staff, who complete a report advising whether they recommend the proposal be approved or rejected.

That report is then forwarded to the city's planning advisory committee, which is made up of three councillors and five members of the public.

A green crane lift is pictured in front of an under construction apartment building. Rogers says the city is thinking about changes to the committee process as it anticipates to get more housing built with help from the federal government's Housing Accelerator Fund. (Stephen MacGillivray/The Canadian Press)

They will analyze the staff's report, and hear from the applicant and members of the public before they vote on whether they think council as a whole should approve the proposal.

The proposal will then go before council, which also hears from members of the public before ultimately voting on whether to approve it.

'Increasingly political' work

Rogers said the planning advisory committee is supposed to consider applications based on their technical merits.

However, in recent years, she said their work has become "increasingly political" due to the kind of feedback they're hearing from the public.

"Sometimes [members of the public] are speaking about things beyond the actual land use. They're speaking about how it is that they experience their neighbourhoods in their community, and they would speak more in the self-interest of their neighbourhoods."

Rogers said in recent years, the city has also had challenges with recruiting members to sit on the planning advisory committee, and worries it could be a result of that increased pressure from the public.

"Councillors certainly feel the influence of that and that's appropriate," Rogers said. "We should feel the influence of that."

"I'm not certain that PAC should be politicized so that they're having to be influenced by that."

Rogers said city staff have not decided on any changes yet, but she expects they'll bring something forward for council to consider in the coming month.

Relates to timing of new housing initiatives

She said the talk of changing how the planning advisory committee process works is happening now that the city is planning to ramp up the amount of new housing it allows to be built.

Last week, the federal government announced it was giving Fredericton $10 million to help it build 300 new units on top of what would already be built in the city over the next three years.

Rogers said with all the new development, the city wants to ensure the committee's members are looking at proposed zoning changes "from a technical perspective."

A map showing a townhouse development proposal on Gibson Street in Fredericton   An application defeated at council last December sought to have two properties, one being zoned parkland, rezoned to allow townhouses as tall as three storeys. (City of Fredericton)

At least one recent example of a rezoning application shows how a decision by the committee contributed to blocking new housing from being built.

When committee members vote against an application, the proposal later needs a majority of Yes votes from councillors present at the general council meeting.

But when committee members vote against an application, the proposal instead needs a majority of votes from council as a whole.

In the case of a controversial proposal to build 88 townhouse units at 501 Gibson St., Fredericton city planners recommended approving the development, but the planning committee voted to recommend against it.

When it got to council last month, the proposal was defeated, even though six councillors voted in favour of it, while five voted against it.

Public hearings not held by Moncton's committee

A municipality's obligation to let the public weigh in on zoning changes is dictated by the provincial Community Planning Act, said Andrew Smith, manager of long-range policy planning at the City of Moncton.

Andrew Smith speaks during a virtual meeting. Andrew Smith, Moncton’s manager of long-range policy planning, says that city's planning advisory committee doesn't host public hearings during its meetings. (CBC)

Smith said Moncton's process for handling a development application is similar to Fredericton's, except Moncton doesn't hold public hearings during its planning advisory committee meetings.

"We haven't taken that path that Fredericton has taken where there's almost kind of two opportunities and forums because the way we've structured it based on the way we've interpreted the provincial law," Smith said.

"It's not to say that there's, you know, pros or cons associated with each and with public feedback. You know, there's always opportunity for that NIMBY [not in my backyard] effect to be amplified in either forum."

Feedback to committee important, says former member

Getting rid of the public hearings at Fredericton's committee meetings might not be the right choice, said Fiona Williams, who served on the committee between January 2021 and last month.

She said it's important to allow the community to have input when it comes to development proposals.

While Williams agrees that committee meetings should focus on the technical merits of proposals, she said she thinks there's room for the public to go beyond that in addressing the committee's members.

"It is important to hear the emotional impact, because there will be times when people are talking about … [how] they want a development because they can't get, you know, services they want or rents that they need and all that kind of stuff," she said.

"So, you know, there needs to be that opportunity to hear about the real-life impacts of these decisions, programs, policies, all that stuff."

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35 Comments
 
 
 
David Amos 
Surprise Surprise Surprise  
 
 
 
 
 
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Why it's hard to blow the whistle under New Brunswick's whistleblower law

 
 

Why it's hard to blow the whistle under New Brunswick's whistleblower law

Fired employee says his case highlights lack of protection for civil servants disclosing alleged wrongdoing

 
Jacques Poitras · CBC News ·
After Scott Campbell was fired from Opportunities New Brunswick in 2020, he filed complaints under five different provincial laws as well as a civil lawsuit in the Court of King's Bench, but didn't use the province's whistleblower legislation. (Opportunities New Brunswick)

When Scott Campbell decided to blow the whistle, he used every mechanism at his disposal — except New Brunswick's whistleblower legislation.

The former Opportunities New Brunswick employee, fired in 2020, ended up filing complaints under five different provincial laws as well as a civil lawsuit in the Court of King's Bench.

The one legal tool he did not use was the one designed for his situation: the Public Interest Disclosure Act, also known as the whistleblower act.

"We do not have a safe and responsible system for disclosure in this province," Campbell said in a Jan. 24 interview. "The legislation for the most part is broken.

"The whole situation is extremely skewed in the government's favour." 

Law is 'window dressing,' says researcher

Whistleblower legislation is intended to increase transparency and accountability.

New Brunswick's law is supposed to allow civil servants to go to a supervisor or a designated person in their department or institution to disclose wrongdoing by a colleague or superior, without fear of reprisals.

But the law, first passed in 2007 and updated in 2013, has been criticized as weak, difficult to use and poorly understood by many senior civil servants responsible for complying with its provisions.

"It's kind of a nothing law," said Ian Bron, a former federal whistleblower and a researcher and instructor on whistleblower legislation at Carleton University who recently wrote a report on the New Brunswick law. 

"It's window dressing, is what it is. And people are happy with it being window dressing, in my assessment."

Man with glasses and grey-brown hair and beard wearing navy suit jacket and white shirt with tie.  'It's kind of a nothing law,' says Ian Bron, a former federal whistleblower and a researcher and instructor on whistleblower legislation at Carleton University who recently wrote a report on the New Brunswick law.  (Submitted by Ian Bron)

According to New Brunswick ombud Marie-France Pelletier, there have been only 27 inquiries about the act in the 11 years since it was put under her office's responsibility.

No investigations have happened in that time, "mainly due to inquirers deciding not to proceed with a disclosure" or because some of the complaints were outside the purview of the law and the office's role.

"Given that there's been so little take-up around making public interest disclosures from public servants, obviously you have to wonder what is driving that," Pelletier said in an interview.

Campbell fired for complaint, board finds

In 2019, Campbell accused two ONB executives of unethical actions, including falsifying information in a memorandum to the provincial cabinet for a decision on taxpayer subsidies to a company setting up in Moncton.

Those allegations are unproven, and ONB says an internal review determined there was "no impropriety" and "falsified information did not reach cabinet and decisions were not made premised on false information."

The merits of his allegations aside, the New Brunswick Employment and Labour Board ruled in December that ONB fired Campbell because of his complaint.

That ruling wasn't based on the Public Interest Disclosure Act, however, because Campbell never used it.

Instead, the board based its decision on the Employment Standards Act, which prohibits the firing of an employee who gives evidence of an alleged violation of provincial or federal law.

Campbell said he didn't use the whistleblower act because officials at the Department of Finance and Treasury Board whom he first contacted about his concerns pointed him to other laws and procedures.

Besides the Employment Standards Act, he also used a Public Service Labour Relations Act grievance, the Occupational Health and Safety Act, the Human Rights Act and the Ombud Act to fight his firing. 

It doesn't take much information to be able to piece it together, to identify who someone may be.
— Marie-France Pelletier

The whistleblower act allows civil servants to complain to their supervisors, to a designated officer within their organization, or to the ombud. 

But Campbell said the first two options made no sense given ONB's small size and the fact his complaint was about senior officials. 

"I would have had to walk into the deputy minister's office, or my vice-president's office, and say to them, 'Look, I think you guys are committing wrongdoing here.' It's just not practical." 

Instead he filed a workplace complaint that he was harassed and fired over the concerns he raised, hoping that process under the Occupational Health and Safety Act would better protect him.

Even the whistleblower law's third option, going directly to the ombud, still requires a notification to the head of the department or institution about the substance of the allegation.

Woman with chin-length brown hair wearing burgundy blazer with black top. New Brunswick ombud Marie-France Pelletier acknowledges there's a risk a whistleblower will be easily identified in 'a province that's as small as New Brunswick, in a public service that is even smaller.' (Daniel St. Louis)

Pelletier acknowledges there's a risk a whistleblower will be easily identified.

"In a province that's as small as New Brunswick, in a public service that is even smaller, it doesn't take much information to be able to piece it together, to identify who someone may be," she said.

"If I were a public servant, I would probably be concerned with that, for sure." 

Law's protections 'limited,' says report

Two experts who have reviewed New Brunswick's act have come to the same conclusion.

"Confidentiality is only protective if wrongdoers cannot otherwise surmise the identity of the whistleblower, and this must be accompanied by explicit sanctions for attempting to identify them," Bron wrote in his report. 

Carroll Boydell, a researcher at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in British Columbia who reviewed the act for Campbell, agreed in her report that its protections are "limited." 

In 2017, then-ombud Charles Murray called for a "blind contact" provision to be added to the law, allowing employees to make disclosures through an intermediary. 

He made the comments after then-premier Brian Gallant said he learned key facts in a property assessment fiasco at Service New Brunswick from a media leak, not as a result of a disclosure under the law.  

"A whistleblower in this province has to be fairly courageous and has to take things on faith," Murray said at the time. 

'David and Goliath situation' 

Bron says other improvements are needed, including putting the onus on the province to prove that a firing wasn't a reprisal for a disclosure made by a whistleblower. 

Currently, the act allows a fired employee to use the Labour Board process, but that's after the fact.

"That takes years, and in the meantime you're suffering from reprisals" such as lack of a salary, Bron said — another deterrent for anyone thinking of using the act.

It also means their firing is treated like a routine human resources issue.

"But it's not," he said. "When an organization is implicated in wrongdoing, they're going to mobilize their resources and it's a David and Goliath situation."

Green Party Leader David Coon said he has a constituent who was fired from a provincial public sector job after she attempted to blow the whistle on concerns she had.

Educate people on law, says Coon

In that case, the ombud's office wrote to acknowledge her "difficulties" using the Public Interest Disclosure Act. 

"PIDA is a statute that is not well understood by the authorities under its purview," the office wrote.

Coon is calling for better education for employees who may need to use the act but find the process confusing, and senior managers who may not understand their obligations when the act is used. 

"There needs to be a clearer way for government to make the employees aware of how to navigate that system," he said.

They are afraid of being harassed, and they are afraid of being retaliated against.
— Scott Campbell

Pelletier said an education campaign is part of her plan, along with consultations with her counterparts in other provinces on how the act itself can be improved.

"This is something that we all grapple with, in terms of what might be the right mechanisms to make sure that we can reassure people that they are protected."

In the meantime, she said, her office can give confidential advice to anyone thinking of using the law.

Coon said with an election this year, it's the ideal time to press the government and other parties to commit to improving the law.

"Everyone in the province wants to think or believe that someone who is working in the public service, providing public services, and discovers something that is contrary to the public interest, and could be damaging or harmful, has the ability to blow the whistle on that. And that's not the case." 

Campbell said that without changes, thousands of provincial employees will be living "with their heads down, afraid to come forward when they witness wrongdoing. They are afraid of being harassed, and they are afraid of being retaliated against.

"They are right to be afraid." 

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Jacques Poitras

Provincial Affairs reporter

Jacques Poitras has been CBC's provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. He grew up in Moncton and covered Parliament in Ottawa for the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. He has reported on every New Brunswick election since 1995 and won awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Awards and Amnesty International. He is also the author of five non-fiction books about New Brunswick politics and history.

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12 Comments
 
 
David Amos
Surprise Surprise Surprise  
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
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Clinic 554 to close, bringing clinic-based abortions to end in Fredericton area

 
 
 

Clinic 554 to close, bringing clinic-based abortions to end in Fredericton area

Dr. Adrian Edgar says pro-bono work, increased rent costs are forcing immediate closure of clinic

 
Aidan Cox · CBC News ·
Clinic 554 medical director Dr. Adrian Edgar says he's been forced to close the clinic in Fredericton, leaving women with no place in the capital area to get a surgical abortion. (Aidan Cox/CBC)

A Fredericton clinic that provides surgical abortions will be closing its doors after Wednesday, with its medical director blaming an unwillingness by the provincial government to allow the procedure to be covered by Medicare.

Dr. Adrian Edgar, the clinic's medical director, announced in 2019 he was being forced to close Clinic 554 over financial pressures incurred from providing pro-bono abortion procedures to women who can't afford to pay for them out of pocket.

On Wednesday, Edgar said the clinic, which has been operating one day a week, will now close completely because of the continuing financial strain from providing the procedure free of charge, and a rent increase at Brunswick Street building that houses the clinic.

WATCH | 'Health care cannot be provided in a financial vacuum': 
 

Fredericton abortion clinic set to close

Duration 1:58
Clinic 554 medical director Dr. Adrian Edgar says the closure is due to financial pressures from providing pro-bono procedures to women who can’t afford to pay out of pocket.

"Because Clinic 554 never turned a patient away, regardless of their financial, citizenship or Medicare status, and now, without reliable access to an affordable and suitable space to provide this level of care, we can no longer continue to do so," Edgar said during a news conference outside the New Brunswick Legislature.

Edgar said to avoid delays in patient care, clinic staff will still be answering phone calls for the next month, but only to answer questions and direct clients to where they can turn to instead for abortions.

Surgical abortions are only paid for by Medicare at the two hospitals in Moncton and at Chaleur Hospital in Bathurst. No other hospital in New Brunswick offers the service.

Edgar said he's eager to work with any interested partners to try to address the gaps that will be created now that the clinic is closing.

"We are most concerned about patients for whom travel or a medication abortion is not an option due to financial reasons, mental health or addictions reasons, disability, age, financial or housing precarity, legal status or freedom of movement and personal security," he said.

29-year saga

Before Clinic 554 opened in 2015, the building housed the Morgentaler clinic, which opened in 1994 to provide surgical abortions.

However, the clinic's operators announced in spring 2014 they were being forced to close it over financial pressures also related to the province's unwillingness to fund clinic-based abortions through Medicare.

A brick one-storey building has a large rainbow sign painted on the side. The Progressive Conservative government in New Brunswick has rejected calls that it allow Medicare to pay for abortions performed outside hospitals. (Mike Heenan/CBC)

While abortions are legal and funded by provincial governments in Canada, legislation in New Brunswick stipulates they only be covered by Medicare when provided within hospitals. 

Despite repeated calls from advocates and the federal government for the province to change its policy on funding abortions, successive governments, including that of Premier Blaine Higgs, have chosen not to.

Edgar's last announcement about closing the clinic in 2019 triggered political sparring between the federal and provincial government, with Ottawa going as far as threatening to withhold health-care transfer payments to New Brunswick if it didn't extend its coverage to abortions performed outside hospitals.

The fate of Clinic 554 went on to become an issue in the 2020 federal election, with leaders from the New Democrat, Green and Liberal parties all weighing in.

The debate over access to abortion has continued since then, with supporters of Clinic 554 claiming its services are needed because women are waiting four to eight weeks for hospital abortions.

Other advocates of abortion access say no one is waiting more than two weeks, and some of the need is also being met through the use of the abortion pill Mifegymiso.

CBC News asked for an interview with Health Minister Bruce Fitch about his government's latest stance on funding for clinic-based abortions, but one wasn't granted.

In an email, department spokesperson Sean Hatchard said abortions are publicly funded in New Brunswick by way of surgical abortions in hospitals, adding that the regional health authorities are responsible for their delivery.

He also said an increasingly used option that's available is medical abortion, by way of the pill known as Mifegymiso.

"The introduction of Mifegymiso as an alternative means of abortion has reduced demand for surgical abortions in New Brunswick. It is now the predominant form of abortion in our province and accounts for two-thirds of all abortions in New Brunswick," he said.

Political opponents respond

Provincial Green Party Leader David Coon was at Wednesday's announcement and said if his government is elected, he'd change legislation to provide Medicare funding for abortions performed in settings such as Clinic 554.

David Coon speaks outside the New Brunswick Legislature. Green Party Leader David Coon says if his party forms a government, he'd extend Medicare coverage to surgical abortions performed in clinics. (Pat Richard/CBC)

"When it comes to surgical abortions, this will be a significant gap in the capital region in New Brunswick, and Horizon needs to quickly run in to fill that gap in the short term," Coon said.

"And in the long term, as I said, a Green government will set up, establish community-based abortion services to ensure they're available to everyone in the province."

Opposition Liberal Leader Susan Holt said news about Clinic 554 closing was "extremely unfortunate," and vowed to change provincial legislation if her party formed government after this fall's election.

"It's frustrating because we saw what the government can do with cataract surgeries, why can't they do the same with abortion clinics?" said Holt, referring to a recent move by the Higgs government to fund cataract surgeries in private clinics.

"They can change the legislation to allow for public services to be funded at private clinics, but they won't do that because this is clearly an issue that the Higgs government doesn't want to touch."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Aidan Cox

Journalist

Aidan Cox is a journalist for the CBC based in Fredericton. He can be reached at aidan.cox@cbc.ca and followed on Twitter @Aidan4jrn.

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David Amos
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Oil companies in N.B. being overcompensated for federal clean fuel costs, experts say

 
 

Oil companies in N.B. being overcompensated for federal clean fuel costs, experts say

Federal government a no-show at hearing looking at the cost of its clean fuel policy

 
Robert Jones · CBC News ·
The Energy and Utilities Board heard this week that oil companies could meet new federal clean fuel regulations in New Brunswick in the short term at minimal cost, mostly by putting more ethanol in gasoline. (Kyle Bakx/CBC)

New Brunswick has been overestimating the cost of federal clean fuel regulations on oil companies and have allowed consumers to be overcharged by millions of dollars since last July as a result, two expert witnesses told an Energy and Utilities Board hearing this week.

Timothy Auger of the group Advanced BioFuels Canada and Vijay Muralidharan of Calgary-based R Cube Economic Consulting Inc. are each challenging a formula adopted last year by the EUB to calculate the cost of federal clean fuel rules on oil companies.

This week, that formula is allowing oil companies to add 5.22 cents per litre to the price of gasoline and 5.82 cents to the price of diesel in New Brunswick to pay for the cost of regulations that took effect nationally in July.  

Every one cent added to petroleum prices in New Brunswick costs consumers about $1 million per month at the pumps.

Man sitting at table with a mic Calgary energy consultants Vijay Muralidharan said his figures show New Brunswick consumers have been charged more than double for clean fuel costs since July than is necessary. (Ian Bonnell / CBC)

In testimony Monday, Auger argued consumers in New Brunswick are compensating companies for costs that do not exist yet.

"The net effect is simply passing on additional profits to the primary supplier at the cost of consumers in the province," he told the board.

Federal clean fuel rules are separate from carbon charges and are aimed at forcing oil refineries and fuel importers to lower the "carbon intensity" of the products they sell and the methods they use to refine them.

The policy sets targets for emissions and establishes financial rewards and penalties for oil companies to reach them.  

The regulations do not apply to heating fuels or to petroleum products exported from Canada.

Refiners can comply with the new rules in different ways, including putting more ethanol in domestic gasoline, selling biodiesel products or finding ways to reduce their own refining emissions.

Board told to determine costs

Companies that come in below the federal government's emissions intensity ceiling earn credits they can sell on a market being set up for that purpose. Other producers can buy those credits if their fuels fall short.

It's also possible to earn credits through investments in things unrelated to refining, such as electric vehicle charging stations.

The New Brunswick government passed legislation in 2022 to allow oil companies to pass clean fuel charges onto consumers and instructed the Energy and Utilities Board to determine what those costs might be.

The EUB is now reviewing the controversial formula it adopted for that purpose last year after agreeing to the recommendation of a single consulting firm, Grant Thornton.  

Consultant explains work

Angela Brown, a partner in Grant Thornton's office in Newfoundland and Labrador, consulted with oil companies. Based  on their claims that they would eventually have to comply with clean fuel regulations by importing high-cost "renewable diesel" into New Brunswick to reduce the carbon content of fuels they sell, Brown developed a formula to estimate that cost.

"On the basis of that we did use that as our starting position for our calculation," Brown said Monday during testimony where she defended the formula.

"I did discuss with industry participants what their most likely pathway to compliance would be … and for the most part they all acknowledge … the renewable diesel pathway would be the most likely."

Man in a suit and tie. Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said last June that his department would be happy to show the EUB why it should set costs for clean fuel regulations lower. The department failed to register for this week's hearing. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)

But in his testimony, Auger said meeting clean fuel requirements in the less stringent early years can be done mostly through much cheaper alternatives, such as mixing more ethanol with gasoline.  

That involves little to no cost since ethanol is less expensive than gasoline.

Despite what oil companies may have told Grant Thornton, Auger said, he expects they will use the cheapest options available to them first. He argued that allowing companies to charge for the cost of importing renewable diesel now, when it's not even being used, is a disservice to consumers.

"What Grant Thornton's calculator misses is including a proxy for the lower-cost options that exist," said Auger.  

"It simply takes the highest cost option and applies it across the board in the entire fuel pool, and that misses the point we are trying to make here — that that is not a likely scenario."  

In his evidence, Muralidharan also criticized Grant Thornton's estimate of the cost of clean fuel regulations, saying they exaggerate expenses faced by oil companies.  

Grant Thornton building The EUB hired consulting firm Grant Thornton to recommend a way to estimate the costs of federal clean fuel rules. The result has meant higher prices to consumers in New Brunswick than most provinces. (Patrick Bolger/Bloomberg News)

He suggested amounts allowed in New Brunswick since July were consistently more than double what consumers should be charged and recommended Grant Thornton's formula be reined in.

"In our view, it is unnecessarily complex and does not accurately represent the costs likely incurred by Canadian suppliers to comply with the new regulations," Muralidharan wrote.

A notable absence at the hearing is the federal department behind the clean fuel regulations, Environment and Climate Change Canada.   

Its minister, Steven Guilbeault, heavily crticized the EUB's original decision and pledged to have his officials show up at the first opportunity to prove clean fuel regulations involve little cost to oil companies in the early years. 

"We're confident that we'll be able to demonstrate to the utility board that it shouldn't happen," he said last June of adding millions of dollars of charges onto consumers. 

"There's no reason for it."

However, the department missed the Dec. 5 deadline to register to participate in the hearing.

Last week, the department did submit a report by Energy Super Modelers and International Analysts via email to the board. It suggested the true cost to oil companies in New Brunswick of clean fuel rules in 2024 would be two-tenths of a cent for gasoline and one-tenth of a cent for diesel.   

Federal absence disappoints

But without the federal government formally participating in the hearing and subjecting its report to examination and cross-examination, it could not be entered as evidence or used to help decide the matter, according to a clearly frustrated Christopher Stewart, who chaired the board hearing.

"Unfortunately, Environment [and] Climate Change Canada, despite being given certainly every opportunity to do so, has not come forward to participate in this proceeding or actually to present any evidence," Stewart said at the beginning of proceedings. 

"Accordingly, the report will be received by the board as a letter of comment only and will not form part of the evidentiary record in this proceeding."  

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Robert Jones

Reporter

Robert Jones has been a reporter and producer with CBC New Brunswick since 1990. His investigative reports on petroleum pricing in New Brunswick won several regional and national awards and led to the adoption of price regulation in 2006.

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David Amos 
 
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Tuesday 30 January 2024

Mayor of dysfunctional municipality quits over infighting

 
 
 

Mayor of dysfunctional municipality quits over infighting

Tanya Cloutier says some Lakeland Ridges councillors seem intent on continuing feuds when they’re reinstated

 
Jacques Poitras · CBC News ·
Tanya Cloutier says she has stepped down as mayor of Lakeland Ridges in western New Brunswick because of the behaviour of several councillors. (Tanya Cloutier/Facebook )

The mayor of a troubled rural municipality in western New Brunswick has quit over what she says is chronic infighting and division between her and several councillors.

Those divisions prompted the provincial government to take over the running of Lakeland Ridges last year and have now prompted Tanya Cloutier to step down.

"I'm not doing this to turn my back on you," Cloutier said, addressing residents via an interview with CBC News.

"I'm actually doing this to let you know that this type of behaviour should not be allowed in any level of government."

The elected council is supposed to be on a path to reinstatement by now following the development of a plan by a provincial supervisor.

But Cloutier said she recently concluded that the province's intervention was superficial and had established artificial and over-optimistic deadlines, such as having council start to hold meetings again in February or March.

A river alongside a community with a few homes and lots of green trees. Lakeland Ridges is a sprawling rural municipality of 2,600 that includes the former villages of Meductic, seen here, and Canterbury and several areas between the St. John River and the Canada-U.S. border. (Shane Fowler/CBC)

She said a group of councillors continued to complain and badmouth her, seemingly intent on resuming their difficult behaviour once they were reinstated, such as attempting to fire municipal staff and sell off assets.

"I felt that there was no real change that was coming because of the outbursts and stuff that were still happening," she said.

Coun. Randy Stairs, one of five councillors who convened a public meeting last fall about the situation, refused a CBC request for an interview on Monday.

But he said in a brief phone conversation that the transition back to council authority was getting better, and it was possible things would be more harmonious when a new mayor is elected in a byelection to replace Cloutier.

Asked if he planned to run for mayor, Stairs said, "Oh, God, no."

Lakeland Ridges is a sprawling rural municipality of 2,600 people taking in the former villages of Meductic and Canterbury as well as several rural areas between the St. John River and the Canada-U.S. border.

WATCH | 'I'll never be OK with that':
 

Lakeland Ridges mayor calls it quits over constant quarrelling

Duration 2:14
Tanya Cloutier quit over what she describes as chronic infighting and division between her and several councillors in the western New Brunswick municipality.

It was created as part of the provincewide local government reform on Jan. 1, 2023.

The province's Control of Municipalities Act allows the government to appoint a supervisor when a municipal council "is not able to carry on the business of a council."

A council meeting last June didn't go ahead when councillors couldn't agree on an agenda. 

The two municipal office staff, chief administrative officer and clerk Susie Patterson and deputy clerk-treasurer Lana Sharpe, went out on medical leave. Another council meeting scheduled for July was cancelled because a temporary clerk still wasn't in place.

The supervisor was appointed not long after that.

Some residents suggested the dispute was driven by people who opposed local government reform and didn't want to see their communities folded into a larger municipality.

Woman smiling to the camera.              Cloutier says trouble persisted in the rural municipality even after an intervention by the province, which she called superficial. (Tanya Cloutier/Facebook)

Cloutier, a former mayor of Canterbury, said there were complaints, for example, that a local doctor's one-evening-a-week clinic was happening there and not elsewhere — even though the doctor lived in that area and it was the best way to make it convenient for her.

Last November, supervisor Greg Lutes submitted his report to the province, a document the government is refusing to release. 

Cloutier said Monday that it hasn't even been disclosed to her and the councillors, making it impossible for them to know what needed to change.

The province did publicly release a two-page "transition plan" that included the hiring of mediators and an updated code of conduct.

A note on the plan said mediation "to resolve individual issues and interpersonal relationships" would probably need to continue past Dec. 15.

"The speed at which conflict can be resolved depends upon the complexity of the issue, the individuals involved, and their ability to find consensus to conclude a resolution," it said.

Cloutier acknowledged she had made mistakes, but, "I think the public understands when a mistake is made, then you work as a group together to try to fix it, not point fingers, have outbursts, go to the the local coffee shops and start speaking poorly about your mayor."

In a December interview, Premier Blaine Higgs, who grew up in the area and owns a summer property in Lakeland Ridges, said the dispute appeared to be rooted in "strong independence from competing communities."

"It's the very reason that we have regionalization, to get over that and say, 'How great can we be together?'" he said.

"There are some unique challenges there because of strong opinions of of individual communities. We've got to look bigger than that."

ABOUT THE AUTHOR


Jacques Poitras

Provincial Affairs reporter

Jacques Poitras has been CBC's provincial affairs reporter in New Brunswick since 2000. He grew up in Moncton and covered Parliament in Ottawa for the New Brunswick Telegraph-Journal. He has reported on every New Brunswick election since 1995 and won awards from the Radio Television Digital News Association, the National Newspaper Awards and Amnesty International. He is also the author of five non-fiction books about New Brunswick politics and history.

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David Amos
 "In a December interview, Premier Blaine Higgs, who grew up in the area and owns a summer property in Lakeland Ridges, said the dispute appeared to be rooted in "strong independence from competing communities."

"It's the very reason that we have regionalization, to get over that and say, 'How great can we be together?'" he said."

Yea Right


David Amos
Reply to David Amos

Go Figure

"Last November, supervisor Greg Lutes submitted his report to the province, a document the government is refusing to release.

Cloutier said Monday that it hasn't even been disclosed to her and the councillors, making it impossible for them to know what needed to change."




David Amos
"I'm not doing this to turn my back on you," Cloutier said, addressing residents via an interview with CBC News.

"I'm actually doing this to let you know that this type of behaviour should not be allowed in any level of government."

The elected council is supposed to be on a path to reinstatement by now following the development of a plan by a provincial supervisor.

But Cloutier said she recently concluded that the province's intervention was superficial and had established artificial and over-optimistic deadlines, such as having council start to hold meetings again in February or March."

I believe the lady


David Amos
Reply to David Amos
I don't believe this dude

"Coun. Randy Stairs, one of five councillors who convened a public meeting last fall about the situation, refused a CBC request for an interview on Monday.

But he said in a brief phone conversation that the transition back to council authority was getting better, and it was possible things would be more harmonious when a new mayor is elected in a byelection to replace Cloutier." 
 
 
 
 
Alison Jackson
"Last November, supervisor Greg Lutes submitted his report to the province, a document the government is refusing to release."

- Why doesn't the government want to release the report?


Akimbo Alogo
Reply to Alison Jackson
I thought you lived in Ontario? What business have you in NB politics?
Did you even vote in the last provincial election? Or do you just enjoy the sound of your voice...


Alison Jackson.
Reply to Akimbo Alogo
People have the right to be interested on any region in Canada...or did something change? I travel alot to Alberta , about 6 times a year, that gives me the right to comment on what I see there as well, wouldn't it? You also don't need to "vote" to call out injustices or point out inconsistencies last I heard.


Kenneth Dwight
Reply to Alison Jackson
What does it matter where someone lives in Canada?


Akimbo Alogo
Reply to Alison Jackson
Yes....you do. If you don't vote here, keep your opinions to yourself.
Those who don't vote have no right to complain after the fact. Full stop.


Graham McCormack
Reply to Akimbo Alogo
Or do you just enjoy the sound of your voice...

Really?


Chris Merriam
Reply to Graham McCormack
Truth is inconvenient sometimes, right?


MR Cain
Content Deactivated
Reply to Graham McCormack


Graham McCormack
Reply to MR Cain
It could be any one of a number of names.


MR Cain
Reply to Graham McCormack
labimbo has lots


MR Cain
Reply to Akimbo Alogo
your name on any electorate list? didn't think so.


MR Cain
Reply to Kenneth Dwight
it matters to labimbo


Sylvester Pheelyne
Reply to Akimbo Alogo
That is the most toxic version of democracy that I can think of, but hey, for alt right folks like you this is what we expect.


David Amos
Reply to Alison Jackson
Good question


David Amos
Reply to Akimbo Alogo
What business have you in NB politics?
 
 
 
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