A new agreement between Nova Scotia and the owner of Northern Pulp will see the company abandon plans to reopen its idled Pictou County mill. Instead, the company will pursue a study to see if it’s viable to build a new pulp plant in southwestern Nova Scotia, near the former Bowater mill. The Pictou County plant once employed about 300 people but has been closed since 2020 after it failed to meet the province’s environmental requirements. The Liberal government at the time said the mill could no longer be allowed to dump effluent into Boat Harbour near the Pictou Landing First Nation after the company had done so for decades.
Gasoline prices and diesel prices both increased slightly overnight in Nova Scotia. Gasoline prices increased by 0.8 (8/10ths) of a cent per litre overnight, leaving the minimum pump price for regular self-serve gasoline at 177.6 cents per litre in the local area. Diesel prices increased by 1.3 cents per litre, putting the minimum pump price for diesel at 176.5 cents per litre locally.
Nova Scotia’s unionized teachers have voted for a contract agreement reached last month with the province. In a ratification vote, 91 per cent of Nova Scotia Teachers Union members voted 80.5 per cent in support of the deal. The union says with compound interest the contract gives teachers a salary increase of 11.47 per cent over three years retroactive to August 1st of last year and also offers substitute teachers an additional 12 per cent pay bump. A tentative deal was reached during conciliation talks last month after the union received an overwhelming strike mandate from 98 per cent of its members who voted.
Forecasters are expecting an above-average Atlantic hurricane season this year. The U-S National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration says La Nina conditions and higher than usual ocean temperatures will likely bring more major hurricanes. The weather agency predicts up to 25 named storms could brew this summer and fall, with four to seven of them becoming major hurricanes. An average Atlantic hurricane season produces 14 named storms, including three major hurricanes.
