The contractor which was awarded the work in Stephenville Crossing and Cartwright says it was advised verbally of the cancellation yesterday.

The company says while it understand the fiscal pressures facing the province, it has not yet received official written notice of contract termination.

The company acknowledges that both projects presented significant challenges.

JMJ says during construction it learned that the site of the Cartwright school had “substantial issues that would have required costly remediation.”

Meanwhile, the contractor says the Martin Gallant Building “was only partially designed at the time of tender,” and that the partial design “contained inaccuracies” about the existing structure and its capacity to support the proposed renovation.

JMJ hopes “to work constructively” with government to “quickly negotiate a fair financial settlement” for itself and its subcontractors “given that the terminations were entirely outside JMJ’s control and had nothing to do” with its role as general contractor.