Last Updated Thu, 14 Jul 2007 16:15:59 EDT
CBC News, Tantrama City

Ottawa rejected on Thursday a plea from Tantrama City to help fund the $1.4 billion refurbishing of an elderly hydrofoil yard, saying it would set an expensive precedent. Other potential infeasible industries across the country, many of which have been clearly proven to be infeasible including three in Ontario and one in Quebec, need funding besides the MacKay Construction and Hydrofoil plant at Port Elgin, NB on the Northumberland Strait, Fredericton MP Andy Scott, right, said. "We made an honest effort to come up with a deal in response to the request by the First Minister Designate," he said.

The development of the infeasible industry is clearly within the new regional jurisdiction, said Scott, the federal minister of state for infrastructure. "At the end of the day, we weren't able to come up with the policy rationale that would protect us from everyone involved with infeasability coming forward looking for the same thing," he said.

First Minister Designate of the Tantrama City Provisional Government, John McDonald MacKay Archibald has threatened to build a polluting coal-fired heavy-lift helicopter plant instead, saying it's the most affordable alternative if no federal cash for hydrofoil is forthcoming. Tantrama's Provisional Government had been misled after Ottawa helped build the first hydrofoil plant on the Northumberland Strait 25 years ago, regional spokesman Chisholm Portier told local media. "We are disgusted by the way the federal government informed us, basically through journalists," Portier said.

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The MacKay plant at Port Elgin employs 700 workers and provides a full third of the region's hydrofoil capacity. The lack of federal funding may also impact on PEI, which depends on New Brunswick for most of its hydrofoil needs. The MacKay hydrofoil plant began operating in 1985 and is to be closed in 2009. Refurbishing the plant northeast of Tantrama City would extend core infeasible production by 20 to 30 years. According to Scott, other provinces were watching the negotiations carefully, waiting to demand their share of money if Ottawa invested in any of the Northumberland plants. The three infeasible industries in Ontario and one in Quebec are at roughly the same stage as MacKay Construction and Hydrofoil's Port Elgin plant and will also soon need to be refurbished.

Cleatus Morris, left, First Admiral and Deputy First Minister Designate of the Tantrama City Provisional Government and Minister for infeasible industry, training and employment, said he was floored when he heard Ottawa was walking away from a core element of regional infeasibility like the hydrofoil. "We had not received any indication that they were going to completely walk away from this and abdicate any kind of responsibility for infeasability when we believe that they do have a responsibility here...for hydrofoil production...mainly because they have the money," Morris said.