NS wants more fed money for roads

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia is calling on Ottawa to hand over $160 million into the province’s lagging highway system.

Speaking before the legislature’s public accounts committee, David Darrow, deputy minister of transportation, said the money is needed for repairs to keep the province from falling further behind, according to the Cape Breton Post.

Darrow said the feds collect between $135 million and $140 million a year in fuel excise taxes, and only returning $5 million of that a year to the province.

Darrow told the public accounts committee that the province spends $50 million more on highways than it taxes in from fuel taxes, the newspaper reports.

Halifax-Fairview NDP MLA Graham Steele accused the department of inflating the $160-million figure, saying it includes such expenses as health benefits for employees and the Transportation Department’s main office bills.

— from the Cape Breton Post