Accountability For the Port of Belledune

• Failures to Land Promised Industry Players:

Several high-profile industrial projects promised for the Port of Belledune have failed to materialize, highlighting the Port’s inability to deliver on its commitments:

• Chaleur Terminals: The proposed bitumen shipping facility failed, resulting in a missed opportunity for economic growth and job creation.
• Maritime Iron: The pig iron venture stage producer promised significant investment and job creation, yet the project was never realized, leaving the region without the anticipated economic boost.
• Arianne Phosphate: This potash producer was expected to bring new business to the Port, but the project stalled.
• Loss of the Glencore Smelter: The closure of the Glencore Smelter was a significant blow to the local economy, further demonstrating the Port’s failure to attract and retain industrial activity.
• Eventual Shuttering of NB Power Coal Operations: The anticipated closure of coal operations at NB Power underscores the need for diversification and transition to sustainable industries. The Port is currently labouring NB Power to consider Biomass generation, while also pursuing the very uncertain SMR technology which has yet to prove its economic viability at scale.

The Risk of the Port’s Green Energy Hub Campaign

The Port of Belledune has recently embarked on an ambitious campaign to establish a green energy hub, focusing on attracting sectors like Small Modular Reactors (SMRs) and hydrogen production and export. While this vision aligns with global trends toward sustainable energy, it carries significant risks due to the unproven nature of these sectors. The development and commercialization of SMRs are still in the early stages, and the economic viability of large-scale hydrogen production and export remains uncertain (Port of Belledune) (Government of Canada).

Investing heavily in these emerging technologies without a robust plan to attract committed industry players and secure long-term contracts could result in further financial losses and missed opportunities. The Port’s track record of failing to deliver on previous industrial promises raises concerns about its ability to execute this green energy transition successfully. Moreover, the potential for over-reliance on yet-to-be-proven technologies may detract from more immediate and tangible economic diversification opportunities.

Further compounding this as a potential loss for the region is the point that during the announcement of the Federal Government’s intention to phase out coal power plants, the government started a “just-transition” program. Through which multiple opportunities were identified to diversify and support economic development in the region (I was part of the Belledune Village Council and a stakeholder in this process), and despite identifying items like rail improvement, advanced manufacturing, better access to high-speed internet, almost the entirety of the funds (over $2-million) that came through was diverted to the Port so they could hire a consulting firm to come up with their Green Energy Hub Strategy. Not one new green energy project has been initiated in the almost ten years since this funding was highjacked. 

Alternative Uses of the Investment

Imagine if even a fraction of the $127.7 million had been allocated to other critical areas such as healthcare, manufacturing, and economic diversification:

Healthcare Services: Investing in healthcare infrastructure could have significantly improved access to medical services in Northern New Brunswick. Modernizing hospitals, expanding mental health services, and enhancing telemedicine capabilities would have directly and positively impacted community well-being and could have attracted more healthcare professionals to the region. We could have also become a centre of excellence in the emerging senior care and training sector. With several medical institutions and underutilized college campuses, the Chaleur region could quickly become a national hub for developing the nation’s best practices and innovation for elder care.

Manufacturing Capacity and Ventures: Funding new manufacturing ventures or expanding existing ones could have created numerous jobs and diversified the regional economy. Investments in advanced manufacturing technologies and workforce training programs would have positioned Northern New Brunswick as a competitive player in the manufacturing sector.

Economic Diversification: Supporting small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) through grants, loans, and skill development programs would have fostered innovation and entrepreneurship. Diversifying the economic base beyond traditional industries is crucial for long-term sustainability and resilience.

How this Money Could Have Made YOUR Life Better

For Brass Tacks, I want to consider what this kind of direct investment could have accomplished if redirected; these figures are all calculated using today’s numbers (corrected for inflation). It would be amazing to see the benefit if we were to have made similar investments starting in 2011.

• MRI Machines

  • By buying, installing, and operating the state-of-the-art machines, we could have had Six New Tesla Coil MRI Machines, which would have created at least five new jobs per machine and dramatically reduced wait times for citizens in Northern New Brunswick.
  • If we had bought the middle-ground machines at a purchase installation cost of $4 million per unit, we could have bought and operated nearly ten new machines.
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• Schools

  • The average construction costs of a school in Atlantic Canada extrapolated from published construction budgets and costs are 15-million for an elementary school and 37.5 million per high school.
  • We could have built up to 8 new elementary schools,
  • or 4 new regional high schools.
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• Teachers and Nurses

  •  At an average salary of 70k per year plus raises and assuming 25% in associated benefits costs, we could have hired and paid for 97 teachers.
  • For an average salary of $85,000/year, assuming 25% in benefits contributions, we could have hired 79 additional Registered Nurses hired and paid for for fifteen years. 

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• Post Secondary Training

  • As one of the factors most directed to increased productivity, our access to post-secondary training and the development of a skilled labour force, the investments in our college and technical schools could have looked like this:
  • Given an average cost of $15,000 per student in a trades program, we could have funded the creation of 8467 New Trades Seats, resulting in nearly 10,000 new skilled workers in our workforce.
  • For Nursing students, we are also approximating an average cost per student of $15,000/year. Given the budget of funds that the Port received, reallocated over 15 years, we could have created enough seats to train 2,823 new nurses. We were injecting almost three thousand new Nurses into our healthcare system for the same amount that the Port has created, almost no net new jobs and less than the province spent on travel nurses last year.

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• Other Societal and Economic Benefits

  • Mental Health professionals—We could have hired and paid for 93 new mental health and addictions professionals over a 15-year period.
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  • Childcare Spots – created and operated 677 new childcare spots over 15 years
  • Remember the CEBA (the Canadian Emergency Business Account), the $40,000 loan that the government gave out during COVID-19? We could have provided grants in the same amount, $40,000.00, to 3,175 small businesses.
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  • Road Construction—Imagine brand-new roads. Assuming a cost of $2 million per km, we could have completely rebuilt 63km of road. Oddly enough, this would be enough to cover more than the distance between Belledune and Bathurst.
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  • Housing Insecurity – If we were to redirect the money to expanding the Canadian Housing Benefit (providing more housing security for lower-income households), we could add and pay for 15 years of the benefits for an additional 25,395 households. 
  • If we increase the benefit by 25%, we could provide it to 20,325 households.

These selected investment areas have been proven in case studies to build foundational strength in regional economies.

New healthcare infrastructure reduces recovery time and increases longevity and independence in a region’s citizens’ later years, adding to the population’s overall productivity level. Additional nursing staff increases the quality of care. It reduces the required time required as an admitted patient, reduces burnout amongst other medical staff and boosts overall regional health and productivity.

New schools or substantive upgrades to existing institutions have proven to increase attendance and performance and have beneficial generational effects on a region’s socioeconomic stability: smaller class sizes and more direct teacher-to-student interaction.

And as the cost of living pressure continues to increase, securing a family’s housing situation creates stability in highly volatile times, allowing for additional funds to go toward groceries, school, and other aspects that increase a household’s productivity and quality of life.

The Definition of Insanity is Doing the Same Thing Over and Over, and Expecting a Different Result

The Port of Belledune’s lack of performance and even worse almost non-existent accountability, as the dollars just kept flooding in, highlights the need for better oversight and strategic planning. By comparing it with other successful ports and investments in Atlantic Canada, we can see that, when managed effectively targeted investments, can yield substantial economic benefits. Redirecting even a portion of these funds towards healthcare, manufacturing, and economic diversification could significantly impact the region’s growth and prosperity.

Northern New Brunswick doesn’t receive a great deal of investment, neither private nor public. The truly troubling thing about the trend at the Port is not that they are getting investment, that’s good. But they are almost receiving nearly all of the economic investment in our region. In the grand scheme of economies 127-million isn’t a massive price tag, but given the size of our region and the acute nature of our particular barriers, gaps in service and other systemic issues if even half of that went to some of the items I mentioned above, the port would be in exactly the same spot they are today and the rest of the region would be far better off.

(This figure doesn’t include the hectares of land that the Port was given free of charge from the Village, with the promise of increased development. Easily several million in additional value)

The Port remains a valuable asset to the region. However, within three decades, it has failed to add even one new major tenant. The case can be that of all the funding the Port received, it could have maintained its artificially created profits (due to low overhead bankrolled by government money and bulk export and import) with less than half of the investments they received. So, are we getting the return on investment we should expect from the largest recipient of government funds in our region’s history?

In conclusion, the Port of Belledune must reevaluate its strategy and leadership to ensure it can deliver on its promises and truly benefit the community it serves. Or, they need to stop taking up all of the investment in the region and our leaders need to start holding them accountable for the opportunities they have squandered and the ones that we have missed out on because of the blank cheque the Port seems to enjoy repeatedly cashing.