Nova Scotian’s deserve to know the details of a deal that puts over $300 million of taxpayer’s money in the hands of Irving Shipbuilding.

But taxpayers could be waiting a long time, as neither the government nor the shipbuilder seems willing release it.  

The Nova Scotia Government & Irving Shipbuilding have blocked attempts by the Canadian Taxpayers Federation (CTF) to disclose the specifics of  $304 million in grants/loans awarded to the company back on March 30^th 2012.

The CTF asked through freedom of information (FOIPOP) on the first week of April for the “terms and conditions” of those grants and loans.

FOIPOP rejected

In a letter to CTF Atlantic Director Kevin Lacey, the Freedom of Information officer for the Department of Economic Development and Tourism (EDRT) dated May 15^th, denied the CTF request for two reasons.

First, it says releasing the information “comprises third party confidential business information to the disclosure of which the notified third party [Irving Shipbuilding] does not consent [section 21(1)].”

Section 21(1) of the Freedom of Information Act, is supposed to protect companies from being forced to release data that could harm their business. However, that section also states in section 21 (4) that information can be released if the third party consents.

In other words Irving could have released the information, they just didn’t want to.

When Irving accepted that money, they also accepted the need to be accountable to the people who gave them that money…the taxpayers of Nova Scotia, and that means disclosing the deal.

Second, ERDT rejected the request citing section 17(1) that allows the government to deny the release of documents that could “harm the financial or economic interests of a public body or the Government of Nova Scotia or the ability of the Government of the government to manage the economy.”

How could it harm the economy now? Irving has already won the contract.

And Premier Dexter sang a different tune when he announced the deal.

He told reporters at the time of the announcement that he didn’t think he’d have a problem selling the investment.

“It is one of the largest investments that the province has ever made but it is also the single largest return on investment that we have ever had.”

Surely if the Premier and Irving Shipbuilding thought this deal was so good for the province’s taxpayers then they should stop hiding behind lawyer language and technicalities and make the terms and conditions of those grants/loans public. 

You can find a copy of the Freedom of Information Act HERE

A copy of the decision letter from EDRT to the CTF can be found HERE

The CTF will be asking for a review of FOIPOP decision. But given a third party is preventing the release of the documents, it’s unlikely that we will win that review. 

Why does knowing terms and conditions of grants/loans matter?

Knowing the terms and conditions of the grants/loans will tell us if the deal includes things like; protection for Nova Scotia jobs (a recent article in the Chronicle-Herald reported that a delegation from the Philippines visited the ship yard to drum up business for workers in that country), what interest rate is being charged and how much of the loans can be forgiven.

CTF Position on Irving Deal

The fact of the matter is these grants/loans given to Irving will draw millions out of health care, education and tax reductions.

There is no chance the government will cancel the $304 million gift, however its important that this issue is debated in its entirety to ensure government never makes these kinds of deals in the future.

The Nova Scotia government gave one of the richest companies in this province, who is already receiving $25 billion of taxpayers money, another $300 million from taxpayers who pay the highest taxes in all of Canada.

And now neither government, nor company getting the money, want to disclose the details of that money.

There is something terribly wrong here.

Notes:

• CTF assumes that the "third party" mentioned in the FOIPOP response refers to Irving Shipbuilding, however it should be noted that is not explicity stated in the documents. 

• Many supporters of the Irving deal say that without this money, Irving would not have won this contract. However, the CTF points out that the forgivable portion of the total deal equals only 1.02% of the total $25 billion dollar contact. So it’s unlikely this money was the make or break aspect of this deal.