Province says there are no documents to support Massey bridge project

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – The promised new bridge over the Fraser River to replace the aging Massey Tunnel is a carrot that has been dangled in front of commuters for the last two years. But with construction set to start as soon as 14 months from now, it seems the province doesn’t have a single document supporting the massive project.

A number of freedom of information requests have turned up virtually nothing.

“In September 2103, the premier announced to the UBCM that a bridge would be built to replace the Massey Tunnel. You might mistakenly think the premier had been briefed on that decision before making the announcement,” said independent Delta South MLA Vicki Huntington, who made two of the FOI requests herself.

“When a constituent of mine made a freedom of information request of the premiers office for any records supporting the announcement he was subjected to BC’s mantra, ‘although a thorough search was conducted, no records were located.’ Not even the premier’s speech was found!” said Huntington during Question Period in the Legislature Tuesday.

“Can the minister responsible for freedom of information please explain how a premier can make a decision to spend $3 billion with no supporting information?”

Technology Minister Amrik Virk simply stonewalled Huntington, but she kept at it.

“Following the premier’s announcement that a bridge would be built, I asked [the Ministry of Transportation] for the business plan, the cost-benefit analysis of the bridge, a document that any competent decision-maker would require before committing to a multi-billion dollar project, but there was nothing,” said Huntington, who has publicly supported replacing the Massey Tunnel.

“In fact, I was told the ministry was in the process of building the business case. Is that how the government does business? It creates the evidence to back up the premier’s decision? If that is not the case, will the Minister of Transportation provide the records that supported the premier’s multi-billion announcement?”

Minister Virk again dodged the question.

The business plan for the bridge was initially promised for the spring of 2014 and it is now 18 months overdue.

It’s not the first time questions have been raised about the proposed bridge. The Auditor General announced in the summer that she would conduct an audit of the project “to evaluate the quality of evidence” used to justify the new crossing.

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