MLAs to ask P.E.I.’s auditor general to look into North Rustico rink project [Video]

Opposition MLAs are calling on P.E.I.’s auditor general to do an audit of cost overruns associated with the construction of a new rink in North Rustico. 

During a legislative standing committee meeting on economic growth Thursday, Green MLA Peter Bevan-Baker put forward a motion asking the AG’s office to look into what went wrong with the Eliyahu Wellness Centre. 

The centre, which was built to help host the 2023 Canada Games, was supposed to cost $10 million. That price tag more than doubled to about $23 million, with the town citing the impacts of the COVID pandemic, labour shortages, supply chain issues and inflation. 

“It’s looking forward, for sure, to lessons learned, but also looking back as to when the decisions were made, how a municipality was left with this sort of debt to carry — which is close to 10 per cent of their budget,” said Bevan-Baker of an …