Road money could build convention centre

The Nova Scotia government has asked Ottawa to use money from a federal fund normally used to repair roads and bridges around the province to pay for its share of a new convention centre in downtown Halifax.

Federal Transport Minister Chuck Strahl has been asked to re-direct the portion of the Build Canada fund dedicated to Nova Scotia as the federal contribution to the proposed $159-million convention centre.

The deal depends on Ottawa contributing $47 million. That money has not been committed yet.

Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Bill Estabrooks said Wednesday that he sees no reason why the infrastructure funding couldn't be used to help pay for the new convention centre.

"A lot of it has ended up in my department through highways and bridges and various other things. In this case, it would be appropriate from my perspective as minister responsible for the convention centre. This would be a good use of public funds," he said .

"We haven't taken from Peter to rob Paul; that's not the approach here. But these are dollars that we believe the convention centre project could benefit from, and that's our advice."

The city and province have already agreed to put in $56 million each toward the convention centre, which would be built on the former Halifax Herald Ltd. site. The centre would be ready in January 2015.

Estabrooks said the province is still committed to its five-year plan for highway construction, although projects may not happen as quickly if some of the money is used to build the convention centre.

"Perhaps we won't see as quickly as possible when it comes to the five year plan but there are dollars to take care of our highway needs," he said.

There has been no response from the federal government to the proposal.