A former Nova Scotia Mountie says supervisors had to rapidly build a “beast” of an organization in short order to stop the mass shooter in 2020.
Andy O’Brien – who was a sergeant at the time – told a public inquiry yesterday the R-C-M-P’s way of handling high-risk incidents was akin to building a large business in a short time.
He says the organization has “a long history of figuring things out on the fly.” However, inquiry commissioner Leanne Fitch _ a former police chief _ has stated there was a “considerable breakdown of communication” during the police response.
Nova Scotia has created a new award for health care professionals named after the province’s pandemic-time chief medical officer of health Dr. Robert Strang.
The first Dr. Robert Strang Mayflower Award, which recognizes outstanding strength, perseverance and courage in delivering frontline healthcare, has been awarded to its namesake.
Strang, who became Nova Scotia’s first chief medical officer in 2007, became a well-known figure through the pandemic during hundreds of COVID-19 briefings alongside three different premiers.
Beginning next year, the award in Strang’s name will recognize up to five frontline health care workers.
A new Nova Scotia policy aimed at getting paramedics and ambulances back on the road more quickly after they drop patients off in hospital takes effect today.
Under the direct-to-triage policy, paramedics will take low-risk patients to the E-R waiting room to be assessed by health-care staff instead of waiting with patients until a doctor arrives.
Paramedics will continue to wait with high-risk patients, such as those with suspected stroke, chest pain or other potentially life-threatening injuries, and with children under 16.
The Nova Scotia government has identified 37 sites from the provincial land inventory that could be used to help address a housing shortage.
Housing Minister John Lohr says in a statement that work still needs to be done on the sites but that the inventory provides more options to increase supply for thousands of Nova Scotians.
The province says sites in Windsor, Springhill and Liverpool are ready for proposals from developers. Sites under review include four in County of Pictou.
Nova Scotia is increasing the project cap under its film incentive fund.
Effective immediately, the maximum amount of funding a project can receive is 10 million dollars _ that’s up from the current cap of four million dollars.
The province says it’s also adding an extra 16.4 million to the film fund above the annual budget of 25 million, bringing the fund’s total to 41.4 million dollars for 2022-23.
Under the film fund applicants can apply for a grant of between
25 to 32 per cent of their eligible Nova Scotia costs.
