Paving projects delayed until after election
Last Updated: Friday, May 8, 2009 | 4:27 PM ET
CBC News
The province's decision to stop issuing tenders for roadwork and other projects has prompted a round of finger-pointing.
The Progressive Conservatives blame the opposition, who argue the PCs are responsible.
The proposed 2009-10 budget died when Rodney MacDonald's minority PC government was defeated last week. Without a budget, no new tenders for paving and other seasonal work can be awarded.
"That budget was not approved by the legislature, so projects that were part of 2009-2010 that were announced on May 4, if they don't have an existing contract they are subject to review and they may have to wait," said Cathy Shaw, a spokeswoman for the Finance Department.
Under the Finance Act, the province can spend up to half of last year's appropriation without a budget.
But MacDonald said that legal spending limit has already been reached.
"We are only allowed to put out so many tenders in Nova Scotia based on a percentage of last year's budget. We are now at that limit," he said Friday.
MacDonald blames the opposition for triggering the election and pre-empting the budget.
He said hundreds of millions of dollars worth of work is now stalled until politicians pass a new budget, which cannot happen until the June 9 election is over and the legislative assembly reconvenes.
"They made the decision to stop that plan," MacDonald said of the opposition. "As a result, Nova Scotians are the ones who end up suffering."
The opposition leaders say MacDonald has no one to blame but himself.
'Inability to manage'
Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil said the MacDonald government did not act fast enough.
"We were the last government to sit. We were the last government to introduce a budget. And we're in this election campaign because of his inability to manage," McNeil said.
NDP Leader Darrell Dexter said the province can continue to issue tenders because those bills won't come due until long after the election.
"He knows a commitment to a tender is not spending, right? I mean, the money is not spent until it actually goes out the door," Dexter said.
Dexter said this is another example of MacDonald's lack of leadership.
While some construction projects are stalled, two major Cape Breton projects — the Northside civic centre and the soccer facility at Cape Breton University — continue.
Provincial health officials said funding is already flowing to the soccer field project, while funding for the civic centre is through the Be Fit program, which is not dependent on the spring budget.
