Cartwright will get tanker after all, says Paul Davis

Premier Paul Davis continued his second day of announcements in Happy Valley-Goose Bay Tuesday and, in a surprising turn of events, announced that yet another Labrador town will receive a new vehicle for fire and emergency services.

In an interview with CBC Radio's Labrador Morning Show Tuesday morning, the premier declined to comment about fire services in Cartwright when asked, but he took a very different stance just three hours later when addressing a crowd.

"I don't know what their circumstances are so it would just be wrong for me to try and make a comment on where they are or what their circumstances are today," he said in the interview.

Cartwright has been without a proper vehicle since June, after a mechanical failure destroyed the town's only fire truck.

In its place, members of the fire department rigged up a temporary fix by attaching pumping equipment to the town's only dump trunk.

• Cartwright's only pump truck lost while battling house fire

Following that interview, Davis said he spoke with Fire and Emergency Services Minister Darin King about Cartwright's compelling case for a new tanker, and was told that the town's request had been approved.

"It's a $250,000 truck, it'll be cost-shared on a 90/10 basis and that tanker will be ordered and delivered to the town of Cartwright as we have done with other fire fighting equipment," Davis announced to a crowd at the College of the North Atlantic Tuesday.

"I said to the minister this morning, I said 'Well, we're here, I'm in Labrador. It's a good time to announce it.'"

Moreto come

On Monday, Davis announced that the town of Happy Valley-Goose Bay will receive a new pumper truck.

• Paul Davis says Labrador spending announcements not linked to election

Davis alsomade commitments to three different organizations, Memorial University's Labrador Institute, the Labrador Hunting and Fishing Association and the Goose Bay Airport Corporation, for a total of $850,000.