Crane Collapse: Business Owners - Support - Question Period

THE SPEAKER « » : The honourable member for Dartmouth South.

BUS. - CRANE COLLAPSE: BUS. OWNERS - SUPPORT

CLAUDIA CHENDER « »: Mr. Speaker, I wish I could follow up on that, but my question is for the Minister of Business. My question is around the crane. As the minister would be aware, many small businesses on South Park Street and Spring Garden Road remain either closed, or open and severely impacted after the crane collapsed adjacent to them. While the government quickly acted to assume responsibility for the private developer's property, the small businesses have been forced to resort to an expensive and very likely risky class-action lawsuit to endeavour to recoup their losses.

The businesses' legal counsel stated that the lawsuit was born out of the frustration that these businesses have experienced in terms of seeing no solution to the desperate economic situation they find themselves in. I'll table that.

Mr. Speaker, will the minister please explain what support is available through his department for the many small local business owners who face this desperate economic situation?

HON. GEOFF MACLELLAN « »: I thank the member for the question. From the business perspective of the department and just as a government that certainly has done a lot of work around the economic tools and the economic pillars of this province, we never want to see any business impacted by any events, unforeseen or otherwise.

For us, the absolute priority was with respect to public safety, to ensure that we were making the proper decisions, to ensure that the crane was removed, that no one was hurt, and there was minimal impact on the physical infrastructure.

As the member stated, there was harm done to the local businesses in that area. I did hear through media around what would happen in terms of a potential lawsuit, some of the insurance movements that were going to take place and some of the endeavours to recoup money through insurance, but there are no direct incentives or anything that we can do from the Department of Business. This was about public safety. But if those businesses want to discuss that with me, my door is always open for sure.

CLAUDIA CHENDER « »: I thank the minister for that answer, and I'd be happy to arrange the meeting.

Mr. Speaker, my next question is for the Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure Renewal. Finally, the last pieces of the crane have been removed from the site, 49 days after the crane's collapse. Now seems as good a time as any to step back and account for this decision. Along with the many small businesses impacted by the crane collapse, Nova Scotians are also left wondering if we are the ones footing the bill.

With the safety risk now largely clear and the work mostly done, is the minister ready to reveal to the public what the final tab will be for the cleanup and who will pay it?

HON. LLOYD HINES « »: I thank the member opposite for the question because it gives me the opportunity, where we are nearing the final parts of the process of the crane cleanup, we're attempting to see if there's an instance of this happening in the country before; we certainly know we haven't had it in Nova Scotia. I am so proud of the people who stepped into the breach and took control of that situation on behalf of Nova Scotians, on behalf of those small businesses that were impacted, where there was gridlock between the various insurance companies and the legal advice that was there. This government moved ahead and solved that problem expediently. Thank goodness we had no injuries when it happened and no injuries or fatalities or any other issues during the cleanup.

THE SPEAKER « »: The honourable member for Cumberland South.