Doucet Fires Back At Conservatives For "Hogwash" Excuses

A Liberal MLA fighting back against comments made on the Deer Island Ferry.

The Conservatives claim the promise to replace the John. E. Rigby ferry with a 24-car ferry, rather than an 18-car,  was made by the previous Liberal government back in 2007.

Liberal Rick Doucet tells Tide News, that may be true, but he claims when the Premier was campaigning, David Alward made two promises while standing on the Deer Island wharf. He says one promise Alward made was not to privatize the ferry service, and the second was to honor the promise of a 24-car ferry to Deer Island.

Doucet says the Conservatives are claiming a savings of approximately $2.5 million is choosing an 18-car ferry over a 24-car due to construction and dredging costs. He says this is hogwash. "Dredging costs, that's not an issue because they could utilize one side of the wharf. That's something that people have always been trying to figure out, why don't they just use one side instead of having the two sides? So that's not an issue."





Doucet says the community is coming together to host a public meeting on the issue, but a date has not yet been set.

Two Fatalities Under Investigation In The Province

The RCMP in Moncton are investigating a fatal collision involving a motorized wheelchair.
 
A 76 year old woman, in a motorized wheelchair, who was crossing an intersection was struck by a minivan and killed.
 
The man driving the minivan and a woman who was with the victim were not injured.
 
The circumstances of the collision are still under investigation but alcohol is not believed to have been a factor.

Another fatality is under investigation int he northern part of the province.. 

This one happened along Highway 2 near Perth-Andover when a vehicle left the highway and collided with the guard rail before rolling over, killing a 61 year old man from Ontario. Speed and alcohol use are not believed to be responsible.

TransCanada Offers More Details On Pipeline Jobs

Trans Canada announcing the economic benefits that will stem from the Energy East Pipeline based on a report by Deloitte and Touche. 

Deloitte used 40 years as a example for the life of pipeline but expects it will be around a lot longer than that.

The gross domestic product is forecast to be 10 billion dollars in the construction and development phase.  Russ Girling is the President and CEO of TransCanada and he says that's going to mean a significant number of jobs--over 10,000 in the construction phase.

In the operating phase, the pipeline, when completed, will create 1000 jobs and when you add in spinoff positions it increases to 4000 jobs.

Maine Governor Likes Proposed Pipeline

More support for the Energy East pipeline.......This time from a New England governor.

Maine's governor Paul Lepage is attending the New England governors and Eastern Canadian premiers meeting in Quebec and calls it a great project.

In an online report, Lepage says he would like to see oil transported by pipeline rather than by rail, adding the Lac Megantic disaster was a perfect storm involving aging equipment and human error.

Scam Alert

Loblaw, which includes the Atlantic Superstore, is warning of a fraudulent scam that targets you over the phone. 

Several people have reported receiving an automated phone call that advises them they have won a free vacation from the Superstore. 

The automated caller asks them to press one if they agree and two if they disagree. If the customer presses one it takes them to a live caller who asks for their personal information including their credit card information to book the vacation. 

Loblaw says customers would never be asked to provide their personal or credit card information over the phone.