Hon. Jim Quinn: Minister LeBlanc, unlike Ontario and Quebec, New Brunswick has an unequal responsibility for the upkeep of international bridges that fall under federal jurisdiction. New Brunswick bears 100% of the costs for all 10 international bridges in the province, and New Brunswick has more international bridges than any other province.

In 1990, the federal government transferred the ownership and maintenance of five of those bridges between Maine and New Brunswick to the Government of New Brunswick, who also received a one-time payment of $5 million. In hindsight, this was a very bad deal for the province, but as we all know, bad deals have been undone and changed by governments in the past.

To put things in perspective, Ontario and Quebec combined have responsibility for only 3 of their 16 international bridges. Today, the federal government is paying 100% of the cost for both the Canadian and American portions of the Windsor Gordie Howe International Bridge.

As a fellow New Brunswicker, do you not agree that federal support for New Brunswick’s international bridges should be reassessed as a matter of fairness?

Hon. Dominic LeBlanc, P.C., M.P., Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities: Thank you again, Senator Quinn, for a thoughtful question that is important for our province of New Brunswick. My department has responsibility for the Windsor-Detroit Bridge Authority in the construction of that megaproject, the Gordie Howe International Bridge. That project has run into some considerable headwind. I believe it may soon be an example of a successful international undertaking, but the scale of that megaproject is much different than these bridges that you’re referring to in our province.

I take note that in 1990, it was the McKenna provincial government with the federal government of the Right Honourable Brian Mulroney who made that decision. We have seen that across the board in small-craft harbours. The federal government, including the successor Liberal government — Doug Young from our province — made a virtue of downloading a bunch of public infrastructure on community groups and local authorities, with what seemed at the time like a significant amount of money. Then — surprise, surprise — 30 years later, as you know, Senator Quinn, from your experience as a senior public servant running the Port of Saint John, these expenses are not predictable into the future.

I haven’t received a request from the Government of New Brunswick yet. By saying that, I’m quite sure that Premier Higgs will quickly send me a letter. He’s never shy to send a letter to the Government of Canada identifying ways that we can spend federal money in the province of New Brunswick.

I would look at that. As I said, I hadn’t reflected on it, other than to take note of the larger examples you gave, but for decades it’s been a tendency across the board for successive governments to leave smaller orders of government with what had traditionally been federal assets and federal responsibilities.

Hon. Dominic LeBlanc, P.C., M.P., Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs, Infrastructure and Communities: Your Honour, through you to Senator Patterson, thank you for that interesting question. It’s not a policy area on which I have very precise knowledge. I will ask my colleague Jean-Yves Duclos as well as Anita Anand, the defence minister. I didn’t understand — and I come from New Brunswick where, you can imagine, with a military base as important as Gagetown — what that would represent to the provincial health system in Fredericton, where the senator sitting behind you resides. I know these have been sources of frustration between the Armed Forces’ health services and provinces and territories. I had a sense of the concern you identified.

The good news, senator, is that the agreements that we have reached with the provinces and territories are agreements in principle. The binding bilateral detailed agreements are still being negotiated. The provinces wanted to sign agreements in principle. It allowed them to book the federal money in their budgets. They responded quickly to what the Prime Minister offered, and Jean-Yves Duclos and I did a quick trip around the country to 13 provincial and territorial capitals. We were very happy with the agreements in principle, but the detailed agreements are still to be negotiated.

I’ll take that question back and make sure that Jean-Yves Duclos, who is leading those detailed bilateral negotiations, gets the information from the Canadian Armed Forces. It is an interesting subject and one I didn’t know a lot about, but I’ll ensure we do the appropriate follow-up. Thank you for the question.

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