Airport money surprise 'manna from heaven': mayor
Last Updated: Friday, April 11, 2008 | 5:27 PM AT
CBC News
The mayor of the Region of Queens Municipality says he still doesn't know what to do with a surprise $250,000 cheque for the local airport.
John Leefe said the municipality never asked for the money from the province.
"I suppose one might describe it as manna from heaven," he said Friday. "Every once in a while, we get a nice surprise from federal or provincial governments."
The $250,000 is to be used for improvements to the municipally owned South Shore Regional Airport in Greenfield, which serves small planes, as well as drag racers when the runaways are free.
The small airport is among seven locally owned airports receiving grants from the province. The grants were included in the minority government's $300-million round of spending announcements at the end of March.
Leefe was handed the cheque by Kerry Morash, the former Tory MLA for the area who has been hired by the premier's office to serve as the rural outreach co-ordinator.
Vicki Conrad, the New Democrat who now represents the district, said the governing Tories seem determined to raise their profile in Queens.
"The local Tories here are feeling a little pushed to the wall, should there be an election," she said. "Certainly they are trying to up the ante, if you will, by making a presence by throwing money around."
Conrad said the $250,000 should have been used to pave roads instead of on an airport better known as a drag strip.
Nova Scotia's minister of transportation, Murray Scott, dismisses any suggestion that politics played a part in the decision.
"We provided money through our department from the government for those seven airfields," Scott said. "We also gave money for our museums. So you know, they all asked for money. I know the ones in my own area were very grateful to get it."
One of the airports that received money is in Digby, a district held by the Liberals.
