Funding for a proposed downtown centre was on the agenda as the mayor of Moncton, the city’s Member of Parliament, and provincial cabinet ministers sat down for a meeting yesterday.
Few details were revealed after the meeting but the city, the province and the federal government all seem optimistic… and as Mayor George LeBlanc points out, timing will be crucial.
He says, “We do have some deadlines internally with respect to the consortiums who have been on this project. We have requested deadline previously, so June and July is going to be a very important timeframe for the downtown centre…
Provincial Infrastructure Minister Roger Melanson says the downtown centre proposal is under review based on new criteria to fund large community projects.
He says, “I think the criteria is pretty clear. We want to see some true economic growth, some return investment and we want to protect the taxpayers of New Brunswick. The assessment is ongoing and we’ll see what the result brings us.”
They all agreed that the meeting was productive and progress was made, but no word on a possible timeline for funding has been released.
