MLAs to ask P.E.I.'s auditor general to look into North Rustico rink project
Cabinet loaned $3.5M to the town last week to help it pay off arena debt
Opposition MLAs are calling on P.E.I.'s auditor general to do an audit of cost overruns associated with the construction of a new rink in North Rustico.
During a legislative standing committee meeting on economic growth Thursday, Green MLA Peter Bevan-Baker put forward a motion asking the AG's office to look into what went wrong with the Eliyahu Wellness Centre.
The centre, which was built to help host the 2023 Canada Games, was supposed to cost $10 million. That price tag more than doubled to about $23 million, with the town citing the impacts of the COVID pandemic, labour shortages, supply chain issues and inflation.
"It's looking forward, for sure, to lessons learned, but also looking back as to when the decisions were made, how a municipality was left with this sort of debt to carry — which is close to 10 per cent of their budget," said Bevan-Baker of an investigation by the auditor general's office.
"I think a report by the AG would give us a level of assessment of this that we're not going to get anywhere else."
Last week, the provincial cabinet authorized Finance P.E.I. to provide a $3.5-million loan to North Rustico over a five-year term to help the town pay off some of the debt related to the arena's construction.
CBC News confirmed last year that $2.5 million in liens had been registered against the town for unpaid bills — one for more than $1 million.
At that point, about $400,000 in work still remained to be done to install ventilation systems, complete the kitchen and canteen, address outside drainage concerns, and finish the landscaping.
Progressive Conservative MLA Brad Trivers, who represents North Rustico, said Thursday that the province had already done its own audit on the rink, but it hasn't been made public.
Bevan-Baker suggested that audit would lack the objectivity of a report from the auditor general.
'I'm a little mystified'
Liberal MLA Robert Henderson supported the motion to ask the AG to look into the arena issue.
"I was a bit involved back during my time as minister of health and wellness, and at that particular time no community wanted that project. I'm a little… mystified why Rustico all of a sudden did want it," Henderson said.
"The rationale why was that it was an Olympic-sized ice surface. How do you compete with the operational expenses of an Olympic-sized ice surface… where the operational costs are significantly more?"
Bevan-Baker's motion passed, so the committee will now write to the auditor general to request the audit.