The Princess Margaret Bridge is back open in Fredericton, but summer tourism advertisements for the capital city could make you believe otherwise.
The bridge is still undergoing a $77-million refurbishment and weathered tarps have become a main feature on the bridge.
Rather than have the tarps also feature prominently in Tourism Fredericton's new publications, the organization decided to Photoshop the bridge out altogether.
Tourism Fredericton spokesman David Seabrook says the decision to erase the bridge wasn't made lightly.
"It wasn't an easy call and it's something we're perfectly willing to fess up about. It wasn't done in secret, it's pretty obvious," says Seabrook. "We just made the decision from a tourism perspective, in terms of attracting visitors that it was better to leave it out until the bridge was finished and we'd re-shoot it then."
It didn't take long for people who saw the publication to notice something was missing.
"It's part of our city," said one area resident. "You can't really erase a part of our city just because it's under construction. It's almost like lying."
"They could fix it up for the picture and maybe Photoshop out the white stuff, but it should definitely be in the picture," said another.
Still, others thought it was a reasonable edit.
"If it was journalism we were talking about, I'd say it should be accurate, but it's for tourism purposes," said one city resident.
"You have to do what you have to do, and I think it looks great to me," said another.
Construction on the Princess Margaret Bridge is expected to be completed by the end of this year. Once that happens, Tourism Fredericton says it will gladly showcase the bridge in future publications.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Nick Moore
