A pile of rubble in North Head has been removed after several years of delays on the project to dredge the area and improve the fishermen’s wharf.
The contract was awarded to Greenfield Construction in 2021 for $15.8-million, which was slated to be completed in January 2023. For years, the material removed during the work sat in a pile, creating an eyesore for islanders and tourists alike.
“Since then, we’ve entered into a memorandum of understanding with Public Service Procurement Canada,” said Village of Grand Manan Deputy Mayor Roger Fitzsimmonds. “We’re able to clean the site up now.”
Fitzsimmonds said this is only a band-aid for the time being, adding the contract has been removed from Greenfield Construction. The company has faced other issues, including its connection to Atcon.
Greenfield Construction is led by Carolyn Tozer, the daughter of Robbie Tozer, the former CEO of Atcon. It was founded in April 2010, around the same time when most of Robbie Tozer’s Atcon group of companies, which had received $50 million in loan guarantees from the New Brunswick government in 2009, were going through bankruptcy proceedings. The province had to cover the loan guarantees when Atcon faced financial difficulties, according to previous reporting by CHCO-TV.
The Courier has reached out to Greenfield Construction on confirmation the company has been removed from the contract, why work was delayed, and is awaiting a response.
Fitzsimmonds said the restoration of the area will improve the view for those who live or work along the water, but it won’t be the same.
“It just won’t be as grassy and nice as it used to be, but will be able to see,” he said.
However, questions remain about how the project ended up delayed and what will happen to remediate the area – and whether the project will go back out to tender.
During the June 2 council meeting, Chief Administrative Officer Chris Rayner said he reached out to Small Craft Harbours on February 5 – the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) program that operates and maintains a system of harbours for commercial fishers and other users – for an update on when the project was expected to resume.
He was told, at the time, Greenfield would resume work in the spring, but said it never happened. Rayner reached back out on May 23.
“No response,” he said during the meeting.
He said on May 30, they responded saying it was in the middle of a storm water evaluation project, which Rayner believed was connected to nearby properties. He said he never got any details about what it meant.
“They were supposed to give me more details, but they didn’t,” he said.
Fitzsimmonds said this project has been a headache for the council, much of it out of its control.
“None of our bylaws pertain to it,” he said, adding this is a federal project on land owned by the government.
Conservative MP John Williamson said he also has been asking DFO for answers on the project, but isn’t making any progress.
“The Department of Fisheries and Oceans has been completely uncooperative in terms of providing straight answers both to my office and the Village of Grand Manan,” he said.
He was also told the work would pick up in the spring, which never happened. Williamson said Greenfield had been removed from the project at the end of 2024.
“To me, it just shows the level of incompetence with this project and it’s two years behind schedule,” he said. “It’s a firm that has no history of working in Charlotte County.”
Williamson said there is no blacklist for contractors who fail to complete projects on time or have a history of issues – and will advocate for a registry like that to be created – and wants Greenfield added to that list.
“This is a firm that you would put on a blackballed list and not to be hired again by the federal government,” he said.
He said it remains unclear what the next steps are, including whether the project will be put out to tender again for unfinished work.
Right now, he said the issue is with the insurance company, who guaranteed the work. He said he believes there is a problem with that as well, but hasn’t been able to get a response.
“The government should turn this out to tender again, they should bring in companies that know what they’re doing and have a history working on the islands and in southwest New Brunswick,” he said.
Williamson remains concerned the project could end up in litigation and be delayed until that is resolved.
The Courier has reached out to DFO but did not receive a response by publication. It also reached out to Public Service Procurement Canada for comment and also did not receive a response by publication time.
