City pleased to have stimulus extension

The City of Thunder Bay was one of the many municipalities asking for an extension for their projects fueled by the economic-stimulus plan, said city manager Tim Commisso.

With a large portion of the Prince Arthur’s Landing project tied to landscaping, Commisso said weather has really been a concern about finishing the project by the original March 31, 2011 deadline and the city is pleased with the seven-month extension Prime Minister Stephen Harper announced Thursday.

"We were doing everything possible to finish by March 31, but as of late, certainly with the snow coming in November, we knew we would be challenged and likely not able to finish the landscaping by March 31," Commisso said, noting whatever wasn’t finished by the end of March would have had to be covered by the city.

"The reason we’re pleased is it really eliminates a financial risk to the city in terms of having to cover off any unspent amount," he added. "It provides us with the flexibility to finish the landscaping but to also do it so we’re not doing it in a rushed fashion."

Harper said Thursday that 90 per cent of stimulus-funded projects would still be finished by March 31, but the extension was to help a small number of projects impacted by weather or "Murphy’s Law." Parliamentary budget officer Kevin Page said in a report that more than $300 million might not be spent on stimulus projects if the spring deadline held firm.

Other than the waterfront project the only other project the city was worried wouldn’t make the spring deadline was the facelift to the Thunder Bay Community Tennis Centre, which received funding through the Recreational Infrastructure Ontario fund.

Commisso said the rest will be done by the original deadline; he believes it’s important to have them done in the spring for people to use and said they’ve already set schedules for reopening facilities like the Mary J.L. Black Library and the Fort William Stadium.

Page’s report also stated that the economic-stimulus fund wasn’t creating jobs like it was created to do; Harper said Page was wrong and there has been strong job creation.

Commisso said he can assure the city has seen direct job creation through construction.

"I can’t recall the exact numbers but we’re seeing a very busy construction environment in Thunder Bay," he said.

He added he also believes the stimulus projects have created an artificially inflated construction market.

"Everybody was aware of the deadline," he said. "When contractors were pricing all their projects, they were pricing them so they could finish by March 31. Whether they were building any extra contingencies, it’s difficult to know. We weren’t getting as many bids as we expected and prices in some cases were higher."

With some tenders still left to be awarded, Commisso said he’s hoping they’ll see better pricing with the deadline extension.