Joe Murphy, executive director of the P.E.I. Road Builders and Heavy Construction Association, said jobs are being lost every day because the work cannot be done without the federal infrastructure dollars.
“I would say the activity is down probably 40 per cent,” Murphy said. “I know one contractor who, in 2012, had 40 (employees), last year he had 29 and he expects only to have about 16 this on their crews. That’s the magnitude of it on the general basis.”
Some officials have said the federal money was supposed to be transferred to the province on March 31, but to date nothing has come down and there is no indication of when the money will start flowing.
“We’re hoping something will still come,” Murphy said. “We’re running out of time. Today’s June 13, if any thing comes it probably wouldn’t be shovel ready until probably September. It’s a darn shame because people are leaving here to go out West and once they go they’re not going to come back in the fall for a couple of months work.”
Along with the loss of jobs, the state of Island highway system needs to be addressed, Murphy said.
“It’s very discouraging. We need the money here. We need it now. The highway infrastructure on the Island is not good. From that long winter and the snow, and frost just made it worse.”
No funding means no work and no new jobs and all of this is affecting local economies.
“People are not making money, they’re not spending and the contractors as well are not buying the supplies and materials they need,” Murphy said. “We’ve been keeping in contact with the (P.E.I.) transportation department and they tell us that they’re working diligently with the bureaucrats in Ottawa on this. It just seems to be creeping and not leaping into action as we would like it.”
The federal government says the money is there and are blaming the province for not getting local projects prioritized in a timely manner.
Murphy said this finger pointing is not unusual.
“That’s what we get all of the time when you’re dealing with the feds,” he said. “They blame it on the province and you talk to the province and they’re blaming it on the feds for it being slow.”
