Taxpayer group says Nova Scotians are being charged 43% markup on Bluenose materials

A group that watches government spending wants Nova Scotia’s Auditor General called in to investigate the Bluenose II restoration project.

Kevin Lacey at the Canadian Taxpayers Federation says he’s received documents that show materials ordered to rebuild the famous ship in Lunenburg are all marked up when they’re billed to Nova Scotians.

“The markups they’re charging are 43% on every single piece of material that’s going into that boat,” said Lacey. “As an example, just to add two windows onto the boat, it cost somewhere in markup about a little over $5000 on a $12,000 item.”

The government has already announced a departmental review of the Bluenose project, but Lacey says an independent review by the Auditor General is what’s really needed, and wants the Premier to order it.

Minister Tony Ince issued a statement saying the 43% markups only apply to materials subject to “change order requests,” which he says represent less than one per cent of the project’s total cost.

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