News Release
Office of the Official Opposition

Joyce says Minister Taylor must be challenged for issuing false statements regarding road work

November 23, 2005

"If people were to take the statements made in the Minister press release at face value, it would lead you to believe that government is fixing all the problems on our roads and that is simply not the case," said Joyce. "Government is reannouncing money that has been promised several times already. If the money committed in the budget was actually spent each year instead of carried over to other years, then some progress might be made."

The Liberal MHA believes that the announcement this morning during the current polling period is a desperate attempt to mitigate current criticisms facing government regarding recent highway conditions and a lack of available staff and equipment. "I have looked at the budgetary allocations for the Provincial Roads Program for the past 16 years and I see no noticeable difference since the Williams government took office. It is one thing to talk about what they are doing, it is another to actually follow through with the improvements.

"Since taking office two years ago, government has increased licencing fees for vehicles to $180, it has closed weigh scales, winterized 13 depots and not recalled staff early enough to prepare equipment. With millions of extra dollars in revenues and savings, the people of the province must question why public safety is being compromised.

"Until Minister Taylor and this government are willing to accept that their cutbacks to road maintenance personnel are causing serious safety issues and make real investments in the road network, the people of the province will experience no noticeable improvements. I am asking the Minister to stop defending the bad decisions made by government and take action to fix the identified problems before safety is further compromised."

Media Contact:
Jeff Mackey
Caucus Communications
Office of the Official Opposition
709-729-6427