CN Rail part of funding talks for isthmus mitigation, says N.B. premier

New Brunswick Premier Susan Holt says CN Rail has joined the discussion on who should pay to protect the Chignecto Isthmus from climate change.

Holt said the topic of isthmus mitigation funding was addressed during a meeting with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Fredericton on Tuesday.

“I have big concerns about the cost of that project,” said Holt, to reporters. “It's critical to New Brunswick obviously and a significant amount of the work and the infrastructure is all on the New Brunswick side, and so there were some interesting points made about the role that CN might play in those conversations. So we're going to have quite a conversation there about who's paying for what.”

Any mitigation work along the 24 kilometre strip of land connecting New Brunswick with Nova Scotia could take a decade or longer to complete and cost as much as $700-million.

In addition to a CN Rail line, the area also includes the Trans-Canada Highway – both of which are only slightly above sea level.

In a statement to CTV on Monday, CN Rail said it was “committed to guarding against the effects of our changing climate,” but didn’t detail specifics on what role it had in funding discussions.

Holt said it “would be best for New Brunswick” if Ottawa paid for the entire project, agreeing with the position of Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston and former New Brunswick premier Blaine Higgs.

“They don't seem ready to do that for us right now,” said Holt, after meeting with Trudeau. “I think there's conversations still with Nova Scotia, and with the federal government and now with CN and others on who's paying for what. But we're worried about the cost of that project and New Brunswick's ability to pay. And we'd like to continue to negotiate a deal that works for us.”

Holt, who was sworn in as premier on Nov. 2, said she hasn’t spoken with Houston yet about isthmus funding but had the impression that Nova Scotia and Ottawa had arrived at “a landing place.”

In October, the Nova Scotia government said it was about to begin construction on a $2-million berm along the LaPlanche River to act as backup for the location’s existing "aging and eroding" dike.

In September, the federal government sent letters to both the New Brunswick and Nova Scotia government pushing both to accept a 50/50 split in mitigation costs or risk receiving no funding from Ottawa at all.

In June, a Senate bill declared the Chignecto Isthmus for the “general advantage of Canada” in a 55-10 vote.

An estimated $35 billion in goods and services pass through Chignecto Isthmus each year.

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