Less than 3 weeks before opening, nature centre loses all of its provincial funding
51 Comments
David Amos Methinks Susan Purdy and I should have a long talk about Blaine Higgs and Rob Moore ASAP N'esy Pas?
Shawn McShane Would have had $13 million in the bank if NB Power CEO Gaëtan Thomas didn't give it to his Joi company in Florida. Need to stop him giving $100 million to the meter company as well.
David Amos
Reply to @Shawn McShane: What are you doing about it?
John Haigh Interesting how Cape Jourimain Nature Centre is described as a tourist attraction even though it hasn't opened yet.
David Amos
Reply to @John Haigh: It opened today
Richard Riel Liberals or conservatives you get hit both ways . System is rigged for Corporate purposes.
David Amos
Reply to @Richard Riel: BINGO
Richard Riel Tories cuts services and keeps the taxes for themselves and their corporate friends. It's the conservative trademark.
Shawn McShane
Reply to @Richard Riel: Like Atcon?
David Amos
Reply to @Shawn McShane: Methinks we should not forget that the liberals run cover for the conservatives as well N'esy Pas?
Shippagan caisse bailout could have been avoided: AG CBC News · Posted: Jan 19, 2010
"New Brunswick's auditor-general has issued a damning report on the taxpayer-funded bailout of the Caisse populaire de Shippagan, blaming the former Progressive Conservative government for failing to properly regulate the northern financial institution.
Auditor General Mike Ferguson released the 53-page report on Tuesday that also said a handful of senior managers at the caisse populaire covered up financial problems.
The Liberal government bailed out the northern caisse populaire in 2007 with a $37-million grant and another $16.5-million in guarantees."
Colin Seeley As a New Brunswicker I must pay a toll to get to Halifax or Charlottetown.
I also pay shadow tolls that apply to me but not to those drivers from NS or PEI. They get a free pass.
We need to toll our borders.
David Amos Reply to @Colin Seeley: "We need to toll our borders. "
Methinks you know as well as I that your hero Mr Higgs and his minions called me crazy when I mentioned that N'esy Pas?
Not saying they should have taken the funding away, just saying there are difficult choices to be made.
Maybe a toll could be placed ahead of the bridge, to provide the 50 000 dollars required. I am sure with the traffic from PEI to NB, ahead of the road, you would get a few hundred thousand cars in the summer, even if it was 50 Cents, you would get your money.
Marc Martin
Reply to @Joe Rootliek: A toll would defenitly be a solution, people who travel trough NB to go to PEI or NS should pay a toll.
David Amos
Reply to @Joe Rootliek: Methinks everybody knows we already pay huge shadow tolls on the Trans Canada thanks to Bernie Lord The least the government can do is try to promote a little tourism without more tolls N'esy Pas?
Jeremy McKinnon
Reply to @Marc Martin: Would that mean the NB side roads would be fixed? only been 10yrs of potholes
Peter Shearer Reply to @Marc Martin: people traveling thru the province make at least one stop for gas-then we get them at the pumps.
Marc Martin
Reply to @Peter Shearer: People traveling trough the province are also responsible for the road conditions, why do we have to pay tolls to enter PEI or NS ?
Peter Shearer
Reply to @Marc Martin: I don't pay any tolls in NS for the sake of a few minutes. The ferries were not free so why should the bridge which is so much more convenient. Anyway, isn't it going to be paid for in the next few years?
Shawn McShane
Reply to @Marc Martin: :You don't pay a toll to enter PEI, you pay $50 to leave.
Vernon McPhee
Reply to @Marc Martin: First of all there is no toll to enter either PEI or NS. There is a toll to leave PEI on the bridge. The toll portion of the TCH runs through the middle of the province (more or less) just north of Truro but can be avoided by adding 15 minutes or so by taking the old road through Wentworth valley.
Jeff Smith If it's a good idea then private industry should pick up the rest.
Clive Gibbons
Reply to @Jeff Smith:
Like hospitals, schools, and roads, right? Cons love this kind of thing.
David Amos
Reply to @Jeff Smith: Remember the "Picture Province" ? Well I must ask have you looked around lately or taken a Sunday drive down to Fundy Park from Sussex?
Methinks if you did then you would understand why the government must handle the tourism file because private industry has obviously destroyed this province with its assistance N'esy Pas?
Marc Martin Ah well this is what you get when you elect an CoRservative government cuts cuts and cuts...More to come !!!
Greg Miller
Reply to @Marc Martin: Yes that right when they take over from a fiscally irresponsible LIBERAL GOVERNMENT!
Marc Martin
Reply to @Greg Miller: I see...Is that why the CoRservative ran a deficit for 4 full year when Higgs was finance minister ?
David Amos
Reply to @Marc Martin: Cry me a river
Marc Martin
Reply to @David Amos: Please give me another case number, I need to be bored today....
David Amos Surprise Surprise Surprise I wonder if my cousin Megan Mitton even knows how close these spots are to Amos Point where my Forefather Adam Amos and his son Robert are buried.
Anyway whereas Madame Mitton never returned my calls or emails before the election and I doubt that she ever will methinks I have the right to say she can cry me a river now N'esy Pas?
David Amos
Reply to @David Amos: Methinks Minister Mikey Holland's buddy Marc Belliveau within the Department of Natural Resources must remember being in the news about the area while I was preparing to run in the election of the 42nd Parliament and filing a lawsuit against the Crown N'esy Pas?
"Marc Belliveau, with the Department of Natural Resources confirms his department owns the land. In an e-mail he wrote: "The buildings are in bad shape and unusable, but there has been some interest expressed in the property. It is too early to speak of definitive plans at this stage."
Vernon McPhee
Reply to @David Amos: Nice to know that it is all about you, David. The people over in Cape Tormentine - Bayfield will be very appreciative of your attitude.
David Amos
Reply to @Vernon McPhee: i already talked to them and they thanked me for my empathy. Methinks you should learn such things N'esy Pas?
Vernon McPhee Reply to @David Amos: Both of your posts above still indicate your desire (obsession) with inserting yourself into this story as you appear to do on a regular basis.
David Amos Reply to @Vernon McPhee: Who are you to judge me?
Less than 3 weeks before opening, nature centre loses all of its provincial funding
Cape Jourimain Nature Centre counted on $50,000 from province
Cape Jourimain Nature Centre, the last stop before the Confederation Bridge, opens Friday. (Cape Jourimain Nature Centre )
Cape Jourimain Nature Centre is the most recent tourist attraction along the southeastern edge of New Brunswick to face an uncertain future because of cuts to provincial funding.
The centre in Bayfield is the last stop in New Brunswick before the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island.
It was built, in part, with a stimulus package given to help the community after heavy job losses when the Marine Atlantic ferry crossing was closed, and the bridge was opened in 1997.
Susan Purdy, the chair of the board of directors, said the centre only heard recently about the funding cut.
"We received a letter on May 13 indicating to us that the province was no longer going to contribute $50,000 to our operating costs."
Cape Jourimain Nature Centre is scheduled to open Friday.
Megan Mitton, the Green Party MLA for Memramcook-Tantramar, says the people of her riding feel abandoned after cuts to tourist destinations such as the information centre in Aulac this year. (CBC)
"At this late date, it's difficult," said Purdy.
She said the centre plans to employ its regular 22 seasonal employees, but their hours may be less than expected, and the centre's restaurant will not open this year.
"At the moment we are doing what we can to plan ahead, but if we get halfway through the season and our books are not balancing, then we're going to have to look where we can save money."
Green Party MLA Megan Mitton told the legislature that the spending cut follows other blows to tourism in her riding.
"The people of this region are feeling abandoned."
She said a plan to privatize the operation of Murray Beach Provincial Park has many residents in the area concerned, and the closest tourist information centre, in Aulac, was closed this year, she said.
The nature centre was established after the Confederation Bridge and the disappearance of the ferry service to P.E.I. put people out of work. (Gail Harding/CBC)
"The past government shut down the tourist bureau there, and now [the centre's] funding has been cut, putting it at risk," said Mitton, who represents Memramcook-Tantramar.
But Susan Purdy said the centre will put a push on for more donations.
"We've survived a lot of licks, we've decided to treat this one as another one."
The Department of Tourism, Heritage and Culture would not make anyone available for an interview.
No guarantee of funding for Cape Jourimain centre: N.B. spokesman
CBC News·
Funding for the Cape Jourimain Nature Centre hadnever been planned to continue indefinitely, says a spokesman for the New Brunswick government.
CBC News learned Tuesday that dwindling federal and provincial funding is forcing the centre on the New Brunswick side of the Confederation Bridge to close early for the season, about six weeks earlier than in past years.
Park officials said their annual funding hasshrunk from $160,000 to $40,000 in two years.
The province is having discussions with park officials, said Brendan Langille, but he's not making any promises.
"We're going to continue to try to find a solution, but the fact remains that at this point we don't have a budget base in order to pay for the expenses at Cape Jourimain," Langille said. "At this point it's really trying to work out a solution to get the finances in order at the nature centre."
Langille said it was expected the park would be financially independent by now, and the province came up with the $40,000 grant this year as a gesture of good faith.
The federal government was expected to match that amount, but park officials said they've received nothing from Ottawa.
Paul Bogaard, president of the centre's board of directors, said they've been working on a business plan, but he said funding cutbacks exceed any financial gains the park has made.
Agency working on long-term solutions for Cape Jourimain
CBC News·
The Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency is committed to keeping the Cape Jourimain nature centre open, a spokeswoman says.
The board that runs the centre on the New Brunswick side of the Confederation Bridge saysit hasto close six weeks early this year because of a lack of government funding. Both the federal agency andthe provincial government have provided funding since the centre opened.
But Patricia Field oftheagencysaid it wasn't an indefinite arrangement.
"Our investment has been designed to provide the centre with the foundation and the capacity within the organization to help them move towards self-sufficiency."
The provincial government had a similar arrangement with the centre.
This year, it came up with $40,000 in emergency funding to get the centre through another season. Officials have said their annual funding has shrunk from $160,000 to the $40,000 from the provincial government.
Field saidACOAis working with the board on some long-term solutions, but couldn't provide details.
The centre, located on an island in a 675-hectare national wildlife area, includes a visitor information centre, a boutique, shuttle service to P.E.I., a restaurant and an interpretative centre. It hosts more than 95,000 visitors a year.
