One-metre-deep pool for east end Moncton makes Liberal want to yank funding

A provincial cabinet minister running for re-election in Moncton is condemning plans to replace an old east end swimming pool with one that's only a metre deep. 

Cathy Rogers, the finance minister, said Thursday that she wouldn't have advocated the province put money into the proposed pool had she known what the final plan would look like.

"I would not have fought for provincial funding … for a wading pool at all," Rogers said.

The surprisingly shallow depth of the $2.3 million pool that city council approved last month is another twist in the years-long saga to replace a crumbling pool that closed in 2013. 

But the city suggested the new pool won't be so shallow if a lot of people use it at once. 

At no point — at no point — was that my intent to have a one-metre pool.- Shawn Crossman

"The water line is at one metre, but typically if you have a number of bathers in the pool, [it] will go up to 1.1 metres," Isabelle LeBlanc, the city's director of communications, said in an interview.

She said the shallower depth was picked so the pool could accommodate all ages, abilities, and uses, such as swimming lessons and volleyball.

Rogers, who is running in Moncton South, was unsure whether the provincial funding could be pulled at this late date and during a provincial election campaign, but she made it clear what she wants to be done with the funding.

"I would say, yes, it would be in jeopardy," she said. "I'm checking into what is possible."

Coun. Shawn Crossman who also pressed for the new swimming pool, said he wasn't aware it would only be one metre when council voted to approve the construction tender at a July 16 meeting. 

"At no point — at no point — was that my intent to have a one-metre pool," Crossman said.

Councillors Paulette Thériault, Robert McKee, Greg Turner, Paul Pellerin and Bryan Butler all told CBC News they were not aware of the depth when they approved the pool. 

"My understanding was that we were replacing the original pool that was there," Thériault said.

A staff report to city council from July 16 does not specifically mention the pool's depth. A diagram included with the staff report also does not show the depth.

LeBlanc said the depth was part of specifications and presentations to council and would have been included in tender documents provided to the province when the city sought funding.

Crossman said he would not have supported the depth.

"At one metre, I think we're holding back and basically cutting corners," Crossman said. "I'd like to see the project continue forward but changed to reflect a deeper end."

The goal was to accommodate more than 200 bathers, LeBlanc said, something that would have been reduced "significantly" if it included a deep end.

The new pool was to replace an outdoor pool that went from 0.9 metres down to 1.5 metres, with a diving end 4.3 metres deep. The pool was closed in 2013.

Residents of the east end called on the city in the years since the closure to replace the pool.

Pikey French, the executive director at the Moncton East Youth Centre, said ​the news about the shallow pool is disappointing to residents and children who come to the centre. 

"The community is pretty devastated to hear that," she said. "As a taxpayer, I'm pretty upset to hear that."

She called the current plans more of a "water feature" than swimming pool.

Rogers said she first found out about the depth of the planned pool while campaigning, when a resident told her about the changes.

"At first I didn't want to believe it," said Rogers.

Chris Collins, an independent candidate in Moncton Centre and an advocate of the pool, also expressed surprise.

"A one-metre pool is not at all acceptable, that is not a swimming pool it is a wading pool," Collins wrote.

The pool is expected to be ready by next summer.