Saint John Mayor Don Darling delivered his third State of the City address to a business audience in Saint John, NB on July 27th, 2019. (Tamara Steele/CHSJ News)
Familiar subjects came up when Mayor Don Darling delivered his third State of the City address to a business audience on Thursday hosted by the Saint John Regional Chamber.
Saint John’s mayor spoke about financial challenges and the need for growth.
On regional cooperation, Darling thinks political officials need the chance to dream bigger.
“The elephant in the room is cost-sharing, I have been consistent about from day one. If I had never brought it up, we’d be getting along great. That is not a slight of anyone but, if we solve the money and cost-sharing formula we are going to supercharge ourselves and move forward.” Darling said.
Darling says in ten years; the city has contributed $27 million dollars to five regional facilities and their partners have put in $8 million.
He says it is not laying blame but, it shows the need to bring cooperation to another level.
Darling says this is a fact. pic.twitter.com/fBHyQxazZT
— Tamara Steele (@tamarasteele1) June 27, 2019
On the provincial auditor general’s report on the new deal with the province, Darling says they are concerned about the impact on the city’s reputation.
“If there is anything there for the city to learn from the process, we’ll learn from it. Some of the comments made that we lobbied for less stringent standards are simply untrue.” Darling said.
Darling says they respect the work of the auditor general’s office but, also said he thinks politics is at play with the report.
On the controversy surrounding $22.8 million from the previous Liberal government for the new deal, Darling re-iterated a tweet from last week saying if there is an investigation he will testify and defend the city’s reputation.
“Because we did nothing wrong and frankly what I said today if any business leader was facing what we were facing and the prospects of gutting this city. Year one we could have got through it.” Darling said.
Darling issued a call to action to those on hand to remove barriers for municipal reform.
“Why not us?” Darling wants #SaintJohn to be one of the 50 best managed companies in Canada. pic.twitter.com/5Au30kpQ7g
— Tamara Steele (@tamarasteele1) June 27, 2019
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