The province has pulled out of a previously announced agreement to purchase Lunenburg Foundry Shipyard.
The government announced in December that it hoped to secure a deal for the historic waterfront, which it described as a “key piece of infrastructure”.
However, the province now says it is not moving forward after completing its due diligence.
The government declined to be interviewed but said in a statement to CBC News that the deal would not have been in the best interests of taxpayers.
“It was clear there would be additional costs that might be reasonable for a private buyer but not for the taxpayer. We are not prepared to ask the taxpayer to bear the ultimate cost at this time,” the statement said.
The shipyard has not been in operation since November 2021.
Liberals want investigations
As a potential buyer, the statement said, the province is permitted to access confidential information but “not to publicly share those details.”
Liberal opposition leader Zach Churchill said Nova Scotians deserved more details.
“I think there was something incomplete going on with that agreement,” he said, adding that there were a number of unanswered questions.
“Why did the government bid against a private bidder? How high were the renovation costs? Why would the province buy a shipyard that would then compete with other private shipyards in the province?”
Churchill tells the Auditor General to investigate.
Scrutiny of the agreement increased after AllNovaScotia.com reported that the province had outbid two private companies for the property by a substantial margin.
Economic Development Minister Susan Corkum-Gree said in the December announcement that the province hopes to buy the land with the intention of leasing it to a private operator so that the site can be preserved at a time when shipyards across the province already do capacity worked on it.
But that was news to the owners of several shipyards in the south-west of the province, who told the business news website there was enough capacity within the sector to take on more work without the province’s intervention.
AllNovaScotia.com also revealed that there is a family link between the yard’s largest shareholder and a close confidante of Prime Minister Tim Houston, although the parties involved have denied being involved in the sale.
