NS TORIES RIP INTO PROVINCIAL LIBERALS ON BIODIVERSITY ACT, BUT DISTANCE THEMSELVES FROM THEIR FEDERAL COUSINS
Premier Iain Rankin’s announced plan to change The Biodiversity Act has the opposition P-C’s in an uproar. Tory Leader Tim Houston says if the changes to the Biodiversity Act mean it would apply only to Crown land going forward, it looks like nothing more than a Liberal effort to blunt criticism from rural property owners. Some of those landowners have been forming an alliance against one-million-dollar fines for contravening the ACT, which have now been removed. Houston says if the legislation is now only aimed at Crown property, the changes could be done through regulation – and Premier Rankin should make them public before the new Act reaches the Law Amendments Committee.
Houston is also wading into federal politics on the environmental front, saying he wants voters to know he believes climate change is real — and he’s wants voters to be clear in knowing he’s not leading the Conservative Party of Canada. Delegates at a federal party meeting last weekend rejected a resolution that would have stated that “Climate change is real.” Houston says that is not a helpful move. And as he spoke to reporters yesterday, Houston distanced himself from his federal colleagues on that vote. He says – quote – “I’m the leader of the Nova Scotia PC Party, it’s a separate party, different leaders, different members and, in some cases, obviously different values.” (With files from CBC News, Canadian Press Photo)
NORTHERN PULP RESPONDS TO PROVINCIAL ANNOUNCEMENT
Northern Pulp has issued a response to yesterday’s announcement from the province about cleaning up the aeration basin sludge in Boat Harbour. The company says they did send in their draft decommissioning plan to Nova Scotia Lands in late-February. And follow-up has shown the Abercrombie Mill’s owners that the most effective way to clean up Boat Harbour is to have a single unified approach, instead of two independent projects. With Nova Scotia Lands now managing and overseeing the remediation of all of Boat Harbour, Northern Pulp says it expects the process to now be more efficient. (Stingray News Photo)
ROADMAP FOR PROVINCIAL VACCINATIONS TAKING SHAPE
The provincial government has released its estimates of when each age group will get a COVID-19 vaccine. It means that if vaccine deliveries arrive as scheduled, quadrupling between April and June, the province says it is on track to offer first doses to Nova Scotians who are 16 and older by early to mid-June. A Health Department graph shows that as of March 29th, which is when needles start for people aged 75 to 79, vaccine eligibility will be opened to each five-year age bracket in descending order, roughly one week apart. Nova Scotians under age 40 should get their COVID protection shots by mid-May, with the pace ramping up at that point in time to 86-thousand vaccinations per week. And the pace is expected to ramp up exponentially between then and the final week of June, with two-thirds of Nova Scotians being vaccinated inside pharmacies across the province.
One new case of COVID-19 is being reported in the latest provincial update. The case is in Eastern Zone and is related to travel outside Atlantic Canada. Nova Scotia now has 21 active infections.
LONG LIST OF ROAD SPENDNG PROJECTS IN PICTOU COUNTY PART OF PROVINCIAL PRICE TAG HITTING $1.7 BILLION, FULL PROVINCIAL BUDGET COMING THURSDAY
The provincial government has released this year’s $1.7 billion spending plan for roads, schools and hospitals. Some of the projects include the design and construction of 15 new schools, with more than 217 million dollars spent on that aspect of the budget. The Rankin Liberals will also spend $24 million to buy the final four P-3 schools remaining on the books from the 1990’s. The plan also includes $467 million for road, highway and bridge improvements, which were previously announced, including a re-surfacing of the Trenton Connector here in Pictou County. Nothing is guaranteed until tenders are awarded, but the plan is for this work to be completed this year and next, which is laid out in the 5-year plan. The full provincial budget comes on Thursday of this week.
Other Transportation projects for Pictou County in 2021-22 include:
Highway Twinning in Sutherland’s River
Highway 104:East bound lane from Exit 20 to Exit 21 – 4.8 km repaving
Truck 6: from Battist Road to Three Brooks Road – 5.6 km repaving
Glengarry Road: from Dryden Lake Road to Lorne Station Road – 4.6 km repaving
Meadowville Station Road: from River John to Trunk 6 – 6.2 km repaving
Trenton Connector: from Highway 106 to Granton-Abercrombie Road – 4.3 km repaving
East River West Side Road: from 2 km east of St. Paul’s Road easterly to Route 348 – 4.4 km maintenance paving
Route 347: from 2.8 km south of French River Road northerly – 4 km maintenance paving
Loch Brook Look: from 5 km north of Maple Street northerly to Alma Road – 4.6 km double chip resurfacing
Brookland Road: from Trunk 4 easterly – 8.8 km Gravel Road Program
MacKean Road: from end of maintained to O MacLean Road – 2.6 km Gravel Road Program
Toney River Road: from 1.2 km north of River John Road to Trunk 6 – 7.1 km Gravel Road Program.
FEDERAL BUDGET COMING ON APRIL 19TH
The federal government will release its highly anticipated budget in about four weeks, giving taxpayers a detailed accounting of pandemic spending and how the Liberals plan to spend billions more, as the country hopefully emerges from COVID-19. It’ll be the first national spending plan in two years, and Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland says Ottawa’s stable fiscal situation going into the pandemic has allowed the country to spend to lessen its effect.
NS MAKES ITS MOVE TO SPEED UP LAND CLAIMS
The Rankin government has introduced a new law aimed at speeding up land claims and ownership disputes in five African Nova Scotian communities, with the vast majority of those disputes in Halifax County. The Land Titles Initiative was launched in 2017 to help people get clear title to land in East Preston, North Preston, Cherry Brook, Lake Loon, Lincolnville and Sunnyville.
NEW TITLE FOR LOCAL MP SEAN FRASER
Central Nova MP Sean Fraser has a new job title to add to his resume. He says the Prime Minister has asked him to serve as Parliamentary Secretary to the Deputy Prime Minister, and it’s a position he has accepted. On top of that new title, Fraser will be continuing in his current roles as Parliamentary Secretary to both the Finance Minister and the Federal Minister of Middle Class Prosperity. (File Photo)
