Statement made on 23 November 2010 by Senator Terry Mercer
Hon. Terry M. Mercer:
Honourable senators, I am concerned that the minister has sloughed this project off as something that is not important.
In the announcements that the government has made repeatedly about the money it was going to put into the Atlantic Gateway it said that there would be wonderful programs. We have continued to ask questions about spending on the Atlantic Gateway. We can find no money that has been spent.
It has been determined by the New Democratic government currently in place and by the previous Progressive Conservative government in Nova Scotia that the number one priority of the province is the dredging of Sydney Harbour. There is nothing complex about the dredging of the harbour. It is a simple matter of the federal government coming to the table and making a decision.
I remind the leader that I asked a similar question about the dredging of Sydney Harbour and about the use of Atlantic Gateway money to do the job, with no gateway money having been spent thus far. I am still waiting for a response to that.
The leader says that this is a complex matter. Everyone can tell the leader that the dredging of Sydney Harbour is the simplest part of the entire gateway project.
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