On Tuesday, officials with Nova Scotia Emergency Management, the Municipality of Pictou County, and police were advising of localized flooding. The RCMP advised that Hwy. 104 had to be closed westbound between exits 18 and 19 in Salt Springs due to flooding. The Municipality of Pictou County was also reporting flooding issues and washouts in some areas.
Staff at 40 Nova Scotia long-term care homes are poised to strike if they don’t get a deal with the province next week.
New Glasgow’s Glen Haven Manor is the latest home where staff have voted in favour of striking.
The government and the union haven’t met since last month and the last day of conciliation is set for next Tuesday.
Wages are the big stumbling block, with the union saying Nova Scotia long-term care workers are the lowest-paid in Atlantic Canada.
The Pictou-Antigonish Regional Library has decided to close the Antigonish Library and the New Glasgow Library on Sundays, beginning in April. It says that while the Provincial Government did not cut the core library grant, it’s at the same level for a 7th year in a row — and a request for emergency funding received for the last 3 years to help fund minimum wage increases and inflation, was not successful. That, it says, left the Board with a reduction of $143-thousand in provincial income from last fiscal year — and little choice but to make the decision to close on Sundays, which is the slowest day.
Out-of-province vehicles will soon need to pay a toll to use the Trans-Canada Highway in New Brunswick.
As part of the provincial budget, the government says it will install tolls at Aulac, near the Nova Scotia border, by 2028.
The province expects the tolls to raise an extra 10-million dollars a year.
Tuesday’s budget included a 1.4-billion dollar deficit, the largest in New Brunswick history.
The Bank of Canada is widely expected today to keep its key interest rate unchanged in the face of the escalating conflict in the Middle East and ongoing trade tensions. Economists expect the key overnight interest rate will be held at 2.25 per cent. There was a surprisingly weak February jobs report released on Friday with the national unemployment rate rising to 6.7 per cent and the economy shedding more than 80,000 positions. This week, Statistics Canada revealed that the annual rate of inflation fell to 1.8 per cent last month.
In sports,
The Truro Bearcats have taken a commanding 3-0 lead in their first round playoff series against the Crushers with a 5-1 win in Game 3 last night. The Crushers look to keep their season alive with a win at home in Game 4 on Thursday night.
