THE STEPHEN HARPER BIRD SANCTUARY IN ISRAEL IS OVER BUDGET & BEHIND SCHEDULE.
An Israeli bird sanctuary named after Stephen Harper is more than a year behind schedule after running into a series of escalating cost overruns.
“The delays are disappointing, but we have been told the new completion date is summer 2019,” wrote Conservative Senator Linda Frum in a message to the National Post.
Together with her husband, Howard Sokolowski, Frum helped to spearhead the gathering of Canadian donations for the project in 2013. Next week, she is travelling to Israel to personally inspect the state of construction.
“We feel a personal responsibility to see the project completed and well executed,” she said.
The project’s full name is the Stephen J. Harper Hula Valley Bird Sanctuary, Visitor and Education Centre.
Initially, the facility was supposed to be funded almost entirely by $5.7 million raised at a 2013 fundraiser for then prime minister Harper.
Organized by the Canadian branch of the Jewish National Fund, at the time it was cited as the most successful fundraising cam- paign in the group’s history.
Featuring a musical perf ormance by Harper at the keyboard, it was also claimed to be the largest dinner ever hosted for a sitting Canadian prime minister.
However, after the reins were handed to t he Israeli NGO Keren- Kayemet L’ Yisrael, cos t s quickly began to mount.
“The development of the building was slowed by the i ntroduction of new elements into the design which required detailed planning, engineering, permits and governmental approvals,” Lance Davis, CEO of JNF Canada, said in an email.
He added, “of course we would like the project to be finished as projected, but the construction delays are within reason for a project of this size.”
The tab for the project now exceeds $ 12 million. However, the extra expense is being covered solely by Keren-Kayemet L’Yisrael.
Said Davis, “The JNF Canada commitment has remained static.”
Originally intended to be completed in four years, the building remains visibly unfinished. An investigation by Canadian Jewish News found that the site has an “air of abandonment” with only the barest form of a structure taking shape.
Davis told the National Post “work at the site is regu- lar and ongoing.” Concrete pouring is expected to be finished by February, with steel structures being installed shortly thereafter.
The project’s namesake laid the facility’s cornerstone on a 2014 visit, and has visited once since leaving the office of prime minister.
“Mr. Harper was honoured to have this unique and important research facility named after him in Israel’s Hula Valley,” Harper’s spokeswoman, Anna Tomala, told the National Post. “He and Mrs. (Laureen) Harper are looking forward to the opening of the bird sanctuary in 2019.”
The visitors centre is set to be the focal point for visitors to Israel’s Hula Valley, one of the Middle East’s premiere bird watching spots.
Although Canada has been a vocal supporter of Israel ever since the 1948 establishment of the Jewish state, Canadian foreign policy was particularly proIsrael under Harper’s Conservative government.
For instance, Canada was the first Western country to cut aid to the Palestinian Authority following Hamas’ takeover of the Gaza Strip. Canada also severed diplomatic relations with Iran in part due to the Islamic Republic’s continued threats against Israel.
At the time of Harper’s visit to the Hula Valley, Israeli ambassador to Canada Rafi Barak said the area would carry the prime minister’s name as “our symbolic way to say thanks.”