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Was $15 million of taxpayers money used to prop up the share value of Persona? May 7, 2007 Opposition Leader Gerry Reid is questioning whether the $15 million of taxpayers money invested in the untendered fibre-optic deal was nothing more than an attempt to prop up the share value of Persona and look after the interests of the premier?s friend, Dean Macdonald. On Friday afternoon, Persona Communications flipped their company to Bragg Communications of Nova Scotia for an undisclosed amount of money. Today in the House of Assembly, the Opposition posed several questions related to this most recent saga in the fibre-optic deal. "The sale of Persona is very reminiscent of the Group Telecom deal in which another company that received a government contract was immediately sold once that contract bolstered the value of that company," said Mr. Reid. "I believe the premier knows that deal quite well as he and Dean Macdonald were the authors of that sale. I have to question whether talks were ongoing with regards to the sale of Persona to Bragg prior to, or during government?s decision to commit $15 million to the fibre-optic deal. This deal wasn't put together overnight and I wonder whether the $15 million of taxpayers money was a requirement before Bragg would agree to the sale. "Eastlink, a company owned by Bragg Communications, happens to own a fibre-optic link from Cape Breton to Halifax. In internal government documents related to the fibre-optic deal, it states that $9.5 million will be spent running the new cables across Nova Scotia to Halifax. Now that this new company already has a fibre-optic cable in Nova Scotia, why would the province still contribute funding toward the construction of a second cable through Nova Scotia? "I also find it highly questionable that the people of the province, as confirmed in government documents, are the largest investor in this project with 29 per cent of total funds, yet we are only receiving 4 fibre lines out of 48, a measly 8 per cent. If this is such a good deal, why are the people of this province contributing the largest amount of money, yet receiving the least benefit? There are also no definitive answers on what safeguards have been established to protect our investment of $15 million, or the individual breakdown of the money being put into this deal by Persona/Bragg, MTS Allstream and Rogers. There are certainly more questions that need to be asked, and we will ask those questions in the coming days and weeks."
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