The Minister of Infrastructure believes there will be no pushback after he axed plans to build a new mid-sized theatre in St. John’s for $90-million.

The Furey government announced the plans in May 2023, saying it would build a 400-seat theatre as part of it’s Year of the Arts.

No plans were made, beyond $5-million allocated for planning and land acquisition in this years budget.

Since then, both the Majestic Theatre and the JAG Soundhouse opened their doors.

Barry Petten says that while in opposition, he received little pushback then and expects even less now.

“There was no kickback from the arts community, there was no uptake from the arts community when this first came to be,” he told reporters.

“I think there was more kickback of having that by other people in the community that were building, investing their own money into theatres.”

Government spent nearly $200,000 on the project in consultations, something it called a “rounding error”.