Regina Pats trade scoring leader and captain Tanner Howe
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The board of the Provincial Capital Commission (PCC) has decided to “suspend further consideration” of the Canadian National Institute for the Blind (CNIB)/Brandt project in Wascana Park.
The PCC board made the decision at its meeting Thursday.
In a media release Monday, the PCC said the project is on hold until the board “has received and considered the report of the Provincial Auditor.” That report is expected in December.
“The board, like all boards, wants to be seen as doing its work with the authority and license of public support. And so, board members were very moved by some of the commentary around lack of information and so we felt that this was an opportune time to hit reset,” said Mike Carr, chair of the PCC board.
Carr explained the controversy around the project was what “informed the decision-making” by the board.
Questions have been swirling for a while about the CNIB/Brandt building, like whether any other tenants will conform to the park’s master plan and what the NDP has been calling Brandt’s “sweetheart deal” to put up and run the building.
Carr said the board is still behind the project and is happy with the decision-making up to this point, but he said the board had concerns about the perceived lack of transparency around it.
“The board is in principle supportive of the project,” he said. “It’s also, though, important that the board ensure that good governance is demonstrated.”
Carr said he’s “very, very” confident the project will move forward after the auditor’s report is received and considered.
The CNIB/Brandt project hasn’t been given final approval from the board, which has been waiting on a report from the architectural advisory committee.
Carr said no further work on the project will happen until it gets approval, but he couldn’t say whether any work will have to be done to shore up the site during the wait for the auditor’s report.
This decision won’t affect any other projects before the PCC board.
From the province
Both the provincial government and the official opposition are looking favourably on the decision to put the project on hold, but after that their reactions diverge.
Ken Cheveldayoff, minister responsible for the PCC, said the pause is just being done out of an abundance of caution.
“It’s a good project, I think it’s followed all of the process, but I respect the decision of the Provincial Capital Commission board,” Cheveldayoff said.
He echoed what the chair of the PCC board said: The project has a perception issue.
Cheveldayoff said the auditor’s report and the pause are the right things to do.
“It’s a respect for what the public wants,” he said. “This’ll be a second set of eyes on things. I’ve had a chance to see the good work that the auditor’s done. I think at the end of the day, we’ll have a better project for it.”
If the auditor were to find something wrong or if it were to come out that the processes weren’t followed, Cheveldayoff said the government would take those recommendations seriously, as it always does.
Opposition leader Ryan Meili said putting the project on hold is a good step, but it’s the bare minimum.
“Let’s start over and have a process that’s actually proper, open and fair,” said Meili. “This has been done wrong from the beginning.”
The CNIB needs a new building, according to Meili, but he said the park doesn’t need a 70,000-square-foot building and it doesn’t need a building that will make a big Sask. Party donor millions of dollars — an allegation the NDP has brought up before.