The unmistakable A-frame building that once housed the Aulac Visitor Information Centre is no more. The provincial Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DTI) tore down the building this week, with no warning to the municipality of Tantramar, who had recently enquired about the possibility of acquiring the surplus property.
Images of the demolition were shared on Facebook and discussed briefly at Tantramar council’s committee of the whole meeting on Monday. Councillor Michael Tower asked new director of Community and Corporate Projects Jeff Taylor if he had any information on why the province “would come in the dead of night” to demolish the structure.
Taylor told council that DTI had recently been in touch with Tantramar’s tourism and business development manager Ron Kelly Spurles and that the municipality had been waiting to hear back from provincial staff about the possibility of acquiring the property.
“They had contacted Ron a while ago about letting us know that there might be some furniture there that we might be interested in,” Taylor told council. “We told them, well, we’d actually be interested in the property.”
Taylor says staff spoke with a DTI staffer Sean Fitzpatrick on May 22, and then reached out again on June 10.
“He responded two days later that he’d ask again, and he never did get a clear answer about the property, and he’ll advise as soon as he heard back,” said Taylor. “And next we know, we found that the building had been torn down.”
In an email to CHMA, DTI spokesperson Jacob MacDonald says that provincial staff reviewed the building and, “discovered property and drainage issues caused by the nearby highway onramp.”
“The department considered moving the building,” writes MacDonald, “but this was not feasible due to both the deteriorated condition and height of the structure.”
MacDonald also says the department will continue to retain ownership of the property indefinitely “for highway purposes”.
That’s a change in strategy from just over two years ago, when a former DTI spokesperson told CHMA that the property was surplus, and the department had “no plans for [the] building other than to divest.”
Municipal interest begins
The Visitor Information Centre had been vacant for just over four years when the amalgamation of Tantramar brought the Aulac property into the municipal fold. And shortly after the new council started to meet, there was some discussion about the future of the building and the site, with newly elected Ward 5 (Point de Bute) councillor Greg Martin expressing particular interest.
In June of last year, Councillor Josh Goguen put forward a motion asking Tantramar staff “to engage with the provincial government to discuss the old Visitor Information Centre in Aulac.” The motion passed unanimously.
Then in March of this year, Goguen asked for a status report on council’s June 2024 motion. At the time, CAO Jennifer Borne told him she was under the impression that council had decided to wait for the municipality’s strategic plan before approaching the province.
But it turns out the municipality did reach out, at least according to Ron Kelly Spurles, who told council Monday that he had contacted DTI manager Jeep McLaughlin about a year ago to ask about building.
“He told me at that time that there was no clear path forward for the building, that they hadn’t decided what to do with it, and that he would be in touch with me again if there was some decision made,” Kelly Spurles told council. “Then the next we heard was, I guess, about a month ago, when my local connection, contacted me and said there was furniture available if we were interested.”
CHMA asked DTI about its communications with the municipality of Tantramar, and why the municipality’s request was either not considered or rejected, but MacDonald’s emailed statement did not address either question.
‘A unique landmark’
Nancy Oulton managed the Aulac Visitor Information Centre from 2016 until it was closed by the province at the end of the 2018 season. In the following year or two, the province also closed all remaining centres throughout the province.
“So there’s no longer any provincial Visitor Information Centres in New Brunswick,” says Oulton. “We have beautiful municipal ones, but no longer any provincial ones whatsoever. And I think that’s a shame.”
Oulton recalls the uniqueness of the Aulac building, which at one point housed a stone fireplace and even sleeping quarters for workers from PEI, harkening back to a time when the facility was operated jointly with the neighbouring province.
Oulton says that although declining numbers were cited as the reason behind closing the province’s tourist centres, her experience was different. “We were busy from the time we opened our doors in the morning until we closed,” recalls Oulton. However, the Department of Tourism said all of the centres had declining numbers and people weren’t stopping in.”
“They had to make their case to close it,” says Oulton. “And maybe in their eyes, it wasn’t busy enough. But our numbers stayed steady for the three years that I was there, and it had been steady previous to my going there to work as well.”
Oulton says she was saddened to see pictures of the demolished building on social media, and even stopped by the site to see it in person. “It was just such a unique landmark,” says Oulton. “I know you can’t keep an empty building around forever, and if nobody’s really using it, then you know, it deteriorates… But it’s a shame that something wasn’t done beforehand.”
Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton opposed the complete closure of New Brunswick tourist information centres in 2019, and still believes the province would benefit from welcome centres, especially on its borders.
“The [Progressive] Conservatives closed the Visitor Information Centre in Aulac,” says Mitton. “And prior to that, the Liberals had closed the one in Cape Jourimain… So unfortunately, we aren’t really welcoming people into the province in that way.”
“The premier is traveling around the province right now talking about tourism,” noted Mitton, “but she can’t stop into Visitor Information Centres… And I think that’s a big problem.”
