The New Brunswick government is offering to help keep the Canadian Blood Services office in the province by agreeing to pay for an expansion of the Saint John office.

Canadian Blood Services has said it plans to close its Saint John office, which is located near the Saint John Regional Hospital, and consolidate services in Halifax.

New Brunswick politicians have been trying to come up with solutions to keep the non-profit agency's doors open in Saint John, and an all-party legislative committee was struck earlier this year.

Premier Shawn Graham said this proposal reaffirms his desire to keep the Saint John office from relocating to Nova Scotia.

"We've never deviated from the position we feel we can offer those services very competitively for the other Atlantic Canadian provinces," Graham said on Thursday.

The New Brunswick government is willing to pay for a 13,000- square-foot addition to the agency's existing 40,000-square-foot facility.

Graham said that addition will meet the requirements of Canadian Blood Services.

"We're prepared to partner on the additional resource requirements for this new building," Graham said.

"We'll enter into discussions but we feel it's a fair and reasonable offer that we put on the table now to begin those discussions."

The dollar figures on the proposal haven't been worked out, but Graham said the decision to keep Canadian Blood Services in the port city will save the Nova Scotia blood bank from a costly expansion.

Halifax move a 'sound plan:' official

Even with the offer on the table, Paul McGrath, a communications officer with the non-profit agency, said the agency is still planning to move the centre to Nova Scotia.

"Our facility redevelopment plan that we're rolling through Atlantic Canada, it's a national one that really must not only take into consideration the needs of Atlantic Canadians but all Canadians in the areas we serve," McGrath said.

"We believe that the plan we've put out is a sound plan and it's based on much more than cost efficiencies."

McGrath said the agency will be meeting with New Brunswick's Health Minister Mary Schryer next month.

Canadian Blood Services will invest $38 million in the new Nova Scotia facility, along with new blood donor clinics in Halifax in Saint John.

Right move: Opposition

Progressive Conservative MLA Margaret-Ann Blaney, the Opposition health critic, said local Canadian Blood Services workers were waiting for the Graham government to help out.

Blaney, who has been critical of the government's handling of the agency's potential relocation, said the offer is the right move.

The Tory health critic said it makes sense to keep New Brunswick's centre for blood products in Saint John given its proximity to the province's heart centre and trauma centre.

"What [happens if] the Cobequid Pass is shut down? What if the Saint John airport is fogged in? How do we get our blood? Those [questions] are just the tips of the iceberg," Blaney said.