ATV mess lands in Morse's lap

BY JOHN DECOSTE

jdecoste@kentvilleadvertiser.ca

NovaNewsNow.com

Provincial Natural Resources Minister David Morse will encourage the province’s off-road vehicle industry to assume the cost of a controversial ATV purchase.

Health Promotion and Protection Minister Barry Barnet was chastized publicly last week by Premier Rodney MacDonald for the $230,000 purchase, part of a province-wide program of ATV safety, suggesting the matter was “handled poorly.”

MacDonald stripped Barnet of the ATV file Thursday and handed it to Morse, whose department was charged with finding a way to recoup the money that was spent.

Speaking Friday morning, Morse confirmed he is now in possession of the entire file, which had been split previously between his department and Barnet’s.

“My department has jurisdiction over Crown lands,” he said, “while the Department of Health Promotion and Protection was responsible for the safety component.”

Morse suggested that Barnet, who otherwise has been “a great advocate for safety and deserves a lot of credit for that,” nonetheless “made a mistake” in not discussing his course of action with the Premier and his cabinet colleagues. “If he had done so, he would have gotten some good political advice – in other words, not on your life!”

Morse added, “money is not the issue here.” Barnet, like all cabinet ministers, “got approval for a global budget.”

Accept responsibility for wrong decision

As ministers, “we’re supposed to explain any major financial deviations from the accepted parameters of our departments. Unfortunately, he didn’t do that: not to the Premier, the cabinet or me as holder of the rest of the file.”

Barnet, he added, “has done the right thing and accepted responsibility for a wrong decision that shouldn’t alter all the good things he has done in running his department. He has learned a tough lesson. He made an error in judgement and he’s paying for that.”

As for where the issue goes from here, Morse stated, “the Premier has taken a firm position that we disagree with the decision, and every effort should be made to recoup the money spent.”

Unfortunately, simply voiding the purchase is not an option. “It’s a done deal,” Morse said. “The machines have already been delivered and are in the hands of ATVANS (the All-Terrain Vehicle Association of Nova Scotia).” Morse confirmed that he will ask ATVANS and the rest of the off-road vehicle industry to assume the cost of the purchase.

“I will be trying to persuade the industry, as the primary beneficiaries of the intiative, to step up and accept responsibility for this program. The industry as a whole benefits the most and that’s arguably where the money should have come from in the first place.

“It’s not appropriate for the government to be using taxpayers’ money to purchase ATVs for ATVANS. We need this program, but those who are benefitting the most should be the ones covering the cost” rather than Nova Scotia taxpayers. Nor should the age of the drivers be an issue. “Adults or children, it was the wrong decision.”

Morse has no problem with the safety program as a whole, or with the $30,000 the government has contributed to it. The Department of Health Promotion and Protection “provides funding for other safety programs. I feel we have a societal responsibility to help with these kinds of programs, and this is no different.”