Latest news with #JulmacContracting
CBC
08-04-2025
- Business
- CBC
Judge denies Ontario contractor's bid to return to work on 3 bridges
Social Sharing Julmac Contracting, the Ontario company kicked off three major bridge projects in New Brunswick, will not be allowed to return to work while its lawsuit against the province over contract breaches drags on. In a decision issued March 28, Justice Richard Petrie said he would not grant Julmac the injunction it had sought. Julmac had asked for an interlocutory injunction, a provisional measure that would have allowed company employees to return to work on the Anderson and Centennial bridges in Miramichi, as well as the Mactaquac Dam bridge near Fredericton. The injunction application had also asked the province not to hire third-party contractors to complete the work. In his decision, Petrie wrote that the court did not have jurisdiction to grant the injunction under the 1973 Proceedings Against the Crown Act. WATCH | Judge denies injunction request while lawsuit continues: Judge says no to Julmac Contracting injunction 13 minutes ago Duration 1:01 He said the court has jurisdiction to maintain the status quo while the lawsuit continues. Petrie disagreed with Julmac's argument that restoring the contractor to working on the contracts would be the status quo. The company's definition of the status quo "would not simply preserve the status quo but in fact redefine the parties' contractual rights and likely represent a final remedy," Petrie wrote said. David Outerbridge, one of the lawyers representing Julmac, declined to comment when reached Tuesday, noting that Julmac is appealing the decision. The province's lawyer, Mark Heighton, did not respond to a request for comment. In the facts of the case, Petrie cited an affidavit from Renee Morency-Cormier, the construction director with the Transportation and Infrastructure Department, who said Julmac had made little progress on the bridge projects, "and contractual completing dates were not achieved." As well, the company "took an adversarial approach" to working with the department, Morency-Cormier said. Petrie also cited an affidavit from Julmac owner Derek Martin, who said the province's concerns "were not valid." Contractor sees 'irreparable financial harm' Martin claimed that removing Julmac from the contracts brought the company "irreparable financial harm." Work on the largest of the stalled Julmac contracts, the Centennial bridge, was pushed back from this summer, the province announced in February. The provincial government's public tenders website currently says that new contracts for the Anderson and Mactaquac bridges are "pending." None are listed for the Centennial bridge.
CBC
28-02-2025
- Business
- CBC
Miramichi's Centennial Bridge closure delayed again, this time to 2026
Social Sharing A long-anticipated full closure of a vital traffic link for northern New Brunswick has been pushed back yet again. A press release from the province announced that work shutting down the Centennial Bridge in Miramichi will be pushed to 2026 instead of the scheduled work that was supposed to happen this summer. The province fired the contractor for the bridge, Ontario-based Julmac Contracting, earlier this month and refused to say at the time if it would affect the project's schedule. "First, I want to say that I understand the frustration of the people in Miramichi about the progress on the Centennial Bridge project in the last number of years," said Transportation and Infrastructure Minister Chuck Chiasson in the press release. "By making this change to the project schedule, we feel as though we may be able reduce the number of full closures required to complete this project." The government press release did not explain why full closures may be reduced by the schedule change. Miramichi Mayor Adam Lordon said in an interview that while clarity is appreciated, "We'll have to wait to understand what the actual plan is to complete the project." He added that the city will continue to push for building a northern bypass route, which advocates have said would lessen traffic, especially during a full bridge shutdown. A leaked provincial report said it was impossible to be completed before the bridge closure was set to begin in 2025. "That need is going to be there before, during and after a bridge closure," Lordon said. The upgrade was first announced by Brian Gallant's Liberal government in 2015, with a nine-year timeline, including a full closure in 2020 to upgrade the surface. The original cost was estimated at $83 million but has now more than doubled to $195 million. The Gallant government cancelled one of the contracts for the work in 2018 without explanation, the first of many setbacks and delays. The Progressive Conservative government of Blaine Higgs scrapped another of the contracts in 2020 because of spiralling costs. And now the Susan Holt government is the latest to cancel the work, which has been scheduled to see a full shutdown of the bridge for the 2025, 2026 and 2027 summers. Julmac was also removed from working on the nearby Anderson Bridge replacement as well as an approach bridge at the Mactaquac Dam outside of Fredericton. The contractor alleges that it was treated unfairly compared to local contractors, but the province alleges that Julmac breached its contracts. The case is now before the courts. A recent CBC investigation revealed at times heated communication between Julmac and provincial engineers during the company's work on the Marysville Bridge in Fredericton, not long before Julmac was fired from the Centennial Bridge. Lordon declined to comment on Julmac's firing, but again reiterated the need for a long-term plan. "I think the community is looking forward to having a clear plan from now till completion."
