PREMIER NAMES NEW CABINET, WITH SOME NEW FACES AND DUTIES

The new Premier and his wife Mary Chisholm
arrive for today’s swearing in.  (NS Gov’t Photo)

Premier Iain Rankin has unveiled a slate of 16 cabinet ministers.  Rankin captured his party’s top job earlier this month by billing himself as an agent of generational change and is vowing to be a collaborative leader.  The cabinet includes the new Department of Infrastructure and Housing along with an Office of Equity and Anti-Racism. There is also a new Office of Mental Health and Addictions under the umbrella of the Health Department.

Several departments are being r-enamed to reflect the premier’s focus on population growth, climate change and infrastructure.

Premier Rankin will also serve as president of the Executive Council and Minister of Intergovernmental Affairs.  He is also Minister of the Department of L’Nu Affairs, which used to be called Aboriginal Affairs, and responsible for youth and military relations.

Kelly Regan becomes Deputy Premier. The veteran minister retains her position as Minister of Community Services.
Labi Kousoulis is the province’s new Minister of Finance and Treasury Board and Minister of Inclusive Economic Growth, in the renamed Department of Business. Randy Delorey is Attorney General and Minister of Labour Relations.

With today’s swearing-in, there will be three new faces around the cabinet table. Keith Irving, MLA for Kings South, is appointed Minister of Environment and Climate Change. Irving will also serve as Chair of Treasury and Policy Board.

Ben Jessome, the MLA for Hammonds Plains-Lucasville, becomes Minister of the Public Service Commission, and Brendan Maguire, MLA for Halifax Atlantic, is the province’s new Minister of Municipal Affairs.

Zach Churchill, whose previous departments included Education and Municipal Affairs, becomes Minister of Health and Wellness. That means he’ll also oversee the new Office of Mental Health and Addictions.

NGRP CHARGE ELDERLY MAN WITH REPLICA HANDGUN THREATS

New Glasgow Regional Police have seized a replica handgun from a home on Frederick Street after two females knocked on the door and police say they were met by an 81-year-old man brandishing that gun.  Police say he pointed the gun at the head of one of his potential visitors on Saturday afternoon.

They located him Sunday afternoon and took him in.  The 81-year-old man is charged with 2 counts of uttering threats, careless use of a firearm and using an imitation gun to commit and offence.   Police say he’s free, based on strict conditions and will appear in Pictou Provincial Court on May 3^rd.   Police say the photo above shows how realistic the replica guns are made to look.

SCAMMERS PROMPT PUBLIC HEALTH WARNING ABOUT COVID TRACING E-MAILS

Public Health is warning of an e-mail phishing scam related to COVID-19 contact tracing.  The e-mail appears to be from Nova Scotia Health, and if one of those lands in your e-mail inbox, it asks you to complete an online contact tracing form.

Officials say contact tracing efforts are conducted by telephone in Nova Scotia, so if you get one of these emails, don’t click any links and delete it right away.

The latest provincial report shows one new case of COVID-19 being reported in the Central Health zone, and the infected person is a close contact of a previous case.  19 Nova Scotians are on the confirmed list of people infected with COVID this morning.

FREE TUITION MONEY FROM NOVA SCOTIA POWER – APRIL 19TH DEADLINE

Nova Scotia Power would like parents and others who know our local grade 12 and other students to let them know that the corporation has 28 bursaries to bestow on people who qualify this year.  Eligible students need to be enrolled in trades and degree programs. The categories include: Emerging Leaders; The Mi’kmaq Bursary; Women in Trades, Engineering and Technology; African Nova Scotian; and the Nova Scotia Power Family Award.   These Scholarships are awarded based on number of criteria, including academic achievement, community leadership and demonstrated financial need.

For over 20 years, Nova Scotia Power been offering scholarships, and the deadline for this year’s applications is April 19^th.   For more information, applications and deadlines, visit Scholarships from Nova Scotia Power | Nova Scotia Power (nspower.ca)

A group representing commercial fish harvesters is going after an intervener status in a lawsuit filed by a First Nation challenging Nova Scotia’s rules around buying and selling seafood products.  The Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance says members have been directly affected by the legal action of the Sipekne’katik First Nation.  The Mi’kmaq say provincial regulations limiting the purchase of fish products harvested outside the federally regulated fishing season infringe on their treaty rights. Commercial fishers say they want to take part in the legal proceedings to represent the perspective and interests of the commercial industry.

TORIES REACT TO BAY FERRIES RELEASE ON $$$

Reaction is coming in after Bay Ferries put out a release yesterday that it’s been paid more than one-million dollars a year to operate the high-speed ferry between Yarmouth and Maine, even in years when the ship did not get used.  The company released the information on its own yesterday, and it’s being made public just about a week after the province and the ferry operator lost a court battle to keep the fee secret.  That highly-publicized battle was started by Tim Houston and the provincial Tories.  Houston says it means taxpayers in this province have paid at least $3.5 million to Bay Ferries over the last three years for a ferry that has not carried a single passenger. And he adds it should never have taken his party four years to get its hands on the information.  Bay Ferries says the management fee equals about five per cent of all operating costs for the ferry in a normal travelling year.

U-S President Joe Biden is getting back to a long-honoured tradition abandoned by his predecessor.   Since he can’t visit face to face, he’s holding his first international virtual trip with Prime Minister Justin Trudeau today.   It’s slated to take place this afternoon, and word is, it’ll be a substantial discussion of everything from the two Michaels illegally jailed in China to Canada-U-S trade and business interests, along with bi-national environmental standards and the energy sector.  Former Canadian Ambassador to the U-S, Gary Doer is predicting the same buy-American policies as we had under Barack Obama, but he’s predicting Biden will agree with Trudeau that Canada should enjoy a special waiver from the policy because of the importance of our strong trading relationship with the States.  (with files from CBC News, Canadian Press)

GUN PROMOTERS CENSURED BY HOUSE OF COMMONS AS POLICE INVESTIGATE

The National Firearms Association has been censured by a House of Commons committee for inflammatory comments about the Trudeau government’s recent gun control legislation, and committee members say police are now being informed about those comments.

The national security and public safety committee unanimously passed a motion Monday condemning the association’s response to the gun bill, with the support of Liberal, Bloc Québécois and NDP members.

The four Conservative committee members abstained.

Liberal MP Pam Damoff proposed the motion, citing a video podcast about the bill last week in which the group’s president, Sheldon Clare, recounted a conversation with someone who suggested Canadians should “construct guillotines” in response to such so-called government “tyranny.”

Damoff points to last month’s riot at the U.S. Capitol,  showing what happens when “inflammatory words provoke insurrection and violence.”  She says “Words matter,” and these types of words can no longer be accepted as just vague threats.

HOUSE OF COMMONS VOTES TO RECOGNIZE CHINESE GENOCIDE

Law makers have voted to support a motion formally recognizing China’s treatment of its ethnic Muslim Uighur (WEE’ ger) population as a genocide in a parliamentary vote from Ottawa.

© Provided by Global News FILE – In this file photo taken Thursday, Oct. 1, 2020, a protester from the Uighur community living in Turkey, holds an anti-China placard during a protest in Istanbul, , against what they allege is oppression by the Chinese government to Muslim Uighurs in far-western Xinjiang province.  it’s a major hot-button human rights issue between China and the West.  (AP Photo/Emrah Gurel, File)

The Conservative motion passed overwhelmingly in the House of Commons with 266 votes to zero. The Liberal cabinet abstained from voting.An amendment to the motion, proposed by Bloc Quebecois MP Alexis Brunelle-Duceppe, calling on the International Olympic Committee to move the 2022 Olympic Games out of China if the genocide continues also passed 229 MP’s in favour of that, and just 29 votes against it.  (Global News)