Ghiz lobbies PM for big ticket items

Several multimillion-dollar items, a convention centre, a new power cable to the mainland, and a bypass around Cornwall, were on P.E.I. Premier Robert Ghiz's list for a visit to Ottawa last week.

Ghiz went to the capital for one of two meetings he gets each year with Prime Minister Stephen Harper. It was a 45-minute meeting and the list Ghiz took to Ottawa was long, so he had to talk fast.

"There was nothing really at the top," said Ghiz. "They're all at the top."

The list includes money for a new underwater power cable to New Brunswick for exporting wind power. Ghiz is looking for $45 million from a billion-dollar federal green infrastructure fund for that.   "Hopefully it will fit, and if it does, great," he said.

"If not, then we'll have to go look for other pots of money to make it happen."

Ghiz is also looking for money from Atlantic Gateway. That project is to build transportation infrastructure to funnel goods through the port of Halifax to reach Asian markets. Ghiz made his pitch to have that fund pay for an extension of the bypass around Cornwall.

"I mentioned how we're excited about Atlantic Gateway and how we have an issue with a highway that's really going through an expanding town, and that it would make it easier for our goods and services to be able to take a highway around the town," he said.

Then there is the much talked about convention centre for downtown Charlottetown. Ghiz said he is hoping for some good news on that within the next two to three months.

Less specific was a discussion of the 150th anniversary of the Charlottetown Conference in 2014. Ghiz noted on 100th anniversary of that meeting P.E.I. got the Confederation Centre of the Arts.