Wakeham Calls on Auditor General to Investigate Airport Inn Contract

St. John’s, NL (July 31, 2025) – Today, Tony Wakeham, Leader of the Progressive Conservative Party and MHA for Stephenville – Port au Port, is calling on the Auditor General to investigate the Liberal government’s controversial lease at 106 Airport Road, calling it another example of Liberal waste, secrecy, and insider connections.

“The Liberals paid nearly double the property’s assessed value just to rent it for a year and then their friends flipped it to Ontario investors for an apparent profit,” said Wakeham. “This is the same government that laid off 72 casual nurses while bringing in travel nurses at an average cost of $400,000 each. They purchased air fryers and electric vehicles for travel nurses, and they voted to hand out secret cash bonuses to cabinet ministers behind closed doors. It’s a government that’s lost the plot and lost the trust of the people.”

The former hotel property was valued at just $3.7 million. Yet the Liberal government signed a sole-source, three-year lease worth $21 million without issuing a public call for proposals. The lease dramatically inflated the property’s value, which was then sold for a likely profit.

Wakeham points to the Auditor General’s scathing report on the use of travel nurses as proof of the value of independent oversight and says he's concerned about how much taxpayer money has gone toward administration at 106 Airport Road, rather than developing a clear plan to transition away from these short-term arrangements.

“The Auditor General has uncovered serious issues in the past, and this deal is no different,” said Wakeham. “It was a blank cheque to a Liberal-connected business, with no transparency, no consultation, and no concern for the Airport Heights community. Residents have been left dealing with illegal activity, vandalism, and fear in their own neighbourhood.”

Wakeham says the Airport Inn contract reflects a disturbing trend of behaviour by the Liberals over the past 10 years. “From sole-source contracts to secret bonus payouts, the Liberals have made it clear: if you’re a friend or insider, there’s always a deal waiting. But if you’re a taxpayer, you’re kept in the dark.”

“The Auditor General needs to come in and open up the books,” continued Wakeham. People deserve to know where their money is going and who’s really benefiting. After ten years of Liberal rule, people see what’s happening and they’ve had enough. It’s time for a new PC government that will clean up the mess, end the corruption, and deliver better healthcare and safer communities—for all of us, not just Liberal insiders.”