Debris from the fish farm near Coffin Island on Beach Meadows Beach in 2021. (Rick Conrad photo)
April hearings into a proposed fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay have been cancelled.
The Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board posted on its website last Wednesday that “all sessions of the hearing have been adjourned until further notice. Timeframes for submissions to the Board remain unchanged and are closed.”
It’s the latest surprising turn of events for the review board. In early February, Premier Tim Houston announced at a business luncheon in Liverpool that he personally opposes the expansion in Liverpool Bay. He added that he respects the independence of the review board.
Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied in 2019 to expand its existing operation off Coffin Island. It also wants to add two new site off Brooklyn and Mersey Point.
On Feb. 20, groups involved in the hearing got a “high priority” email telling them the hearings scheduled for March 4 to 8 were cancelled. They were also told that board chairwoman Jean McKenna was no longer with the board.
Lawyers were told that other dates that had been scheduled for early April were still a go.
A new chairman was appointed. Tim Cranston was appointed to the board in February 2023. He also ran for the Tories in the last provincial election in Halifax.
Houston told reporters that McKenna’s term had expired and that there was nothing inappropriate about Cranston’s appointment.
And then last week, the board posted on its site that the April dates were now cancelled.
The board has been mum about all the recent changes and hearing cancellations, saying only that when new information is available, it will be posted on its website.
There is no indication when or if they will be rescheduled.
Celeste Johnston from Hunts Point recently received her Order of Canada medal from Gov. Gen. Mary Simon at a ceremony in Ottawa. (Rick Conrad photo)
When the governor general’s office called Celeste Johnston to tell her she would be inducted into the Order of Canada, she almost didn’t pick up.
The medical researcher, professor and nurse had been getting a lot of spam calls from the Ottawa area code, so she hesitated. But she did answer and it was a representative from Gov. Gen. Mary Simon’s office telling her she would be named an officer of the Order of Canada.
“I said, ‘Is this real? Are you serious? Is this spam?’ And she laughed and said no, it’s real, and that I’m not the first person who had asked that question.”
That was back in December 2021. Johnston, a longtime professor at McGill University who retired to Hunts Point with her husband in 2010, received her medal at a ceremony at Rideau Hall in February.
“I was a little incredulous,” she said in an interview. “And still to this day, I’m still incredulous. I just don’t think of myself as someone who would get the Order or Canada. And I thought I really don’t think I should be getting this. Look at all these other people who have gotten it. But then I started thinking about people from the McGill community who had gotten it. And I thought, ‘OK if they can get it, then I can get it too.’”
Johnston was recognized for her 35 years of work researching pain in premature babies. An internationally renowned expert and advocate for recognizing and treating infant pain, she was also the first nurse and woman to lead the Canadian Pain Society.
Celeste Johnston with her children Rob, Andrew and Elise after receiving her medal for being named an Officer of the Order of Canada. (Celeste Johnston photo)
Johnston’s groundbreaking work began when she was working at the Montreal Children’s Hospital. Nurses in the neonatal unit approached her and asked if she could measure pain in babies. They said doctors didn’t believe the babies experienced pain in the same way. But the nurses said they saw otherwise.
“At the time I started doing that work, babies were having painful procedures done all the time in the neonatal intensive care unit. And nothing was being done for it. And they said, ‘It’s just a short procedure and it’s going to be OK.’ But it isn’t OK. Not only for ethical reasons, but there are long-term consequences … above and beyond whatever medical conditions they might have as part of being pre-term.”
She and her team of researchers began by developing a way to measure pain in pre-term infants, a standard that soon became accepted by the American Hospital Association and the Canadian Pediatric Society.
Next, they wanted to figure out how to treat the pain without drugs.
“Because you can’t give them heavy duty analgesics every time they’re having a painful procedure because that has long-term effects too and they won’t develop as well as they should,” she says.
She began by studying the effects of giving babies a small drop of diluted sugar water, known as sweet taste treatment. That was effective in managing the pain, but Johnston was concerned about the long-term developmental effects of that kind of treatment.
She teamed up with a neuro-developmental scientist who was studying pain response in the brain of young rats who were still with their mothers. They studied how rat pups who experienced pain but were groomed by their mothers afterward seemed to do better than the baby rats who experienced no pain and didn’t receive the extra attention from their mothers.
At the same time, Johnston says, she heard about mothers in South America who acted almost like incubators for their premature babies, because of a shortage of the devices.
“And the mothers carried the babies skin to skin on their chest as the incubator. And they did it 24 hours a day. And they found that those babies that might have otherwise died survived because they were kept warm and (with) demand feeding. So I thought why don’t we try kangaroo care for pain.”
She did seven studies on kangaroo care over 12 to 15 years, in which the baby is placed against the mother’s chest skin to skin and they’re both wrapped in a blanket.
“All this worked. It was profound, the effect.”
They tried the experiment with fathers and with other women like paternal grandmothers. But nothing was as effective as a mother’s love, Johnston says.
Eventually, Marsha Campbell-Yeo, one of Johnston’s PhD students and a professor at Dalhousie University, furthered the research and founded Mom-Linc Lab, which studies the effects of maternal presence.
“And so I think between the kangaroo care and the work she is doing now, mothers are able to spend more and more time in the neonatal intensive care unit and not have that separation. It’s stressful on the mothers and I think it’s stressful on the babies too.”
Johnston’s research days are behind her, but she hasn’t slowed down. She is heavily involved in various groups in Queens County, including the region’s pool committee and the community cafe at the Trinity Church parish hall. And she’s teaching a course called Pain Explained for the Seniors College Association of Nova Scotia.
Johnston said being in Ottawa for the Order of Canada ceremony was an amazing experience. And it was even more special because her three adult children, Elise, Rob and Andrew, were there with her.
“The people I was meeting around me were just amazing. They were from all walks of life. There were writers, there were musicians, businesspeople, basic scientists, a lot of health scientists. So it was very exciting to be there.”
But the visit to Rideau Hall was rivalled later in the weekend.
“I went from Ottawa to Montreal to visit with Andrew and his two young daughters, who are 3 and 5, and so I must say that competed with being the highlight of the weekend.”
Athletes Sarah Mitton, Michael Moreau, Rebecca Delaney, Abigail Smith and Jillian Young were honoured with a homecoming meet and greet at Queens Place Emera Centre on Thursday. Earl Mielke (right) is the head coach of the snowshoe team for Special Olympics Lunenburg/Queens. (Rick Conrad)
Queens County celebrated some of its most successful athletes on Thursday as national and international medallists were honoured at Queens Place Emera Centre.
Four athletes from Special Olympics Lunenburg/Queens were joined by judo athlete Abigail Smith and recent world indoor shot put champion Sarah Mitton.
More than 100 people showed up to cheer on the athletes at a homecoming meet and greet organized by the Region of Queens.
Jillian Young, Michael Moreau and Rebecca Delaney made up half of Nova Scotia’s medal-winning snowshoe team at the Special Olympics Canada Winter Games which wrapped up this past weekend in Calgary. And Ben Theriau of Hunts Point was on the silver-medal-winning curling team.
Young won silver in the 100 metres and bronze in the 4 x 100-metre relay; Moreau captured the silver in the 4 x 100 men’s relay; and Delaney won gold in the 100 metres and bronze in the 4 x 100 relay.
Only six athletes were selected from across the province for the snowshoe team. And three of them are from right here in Queens.
“These are three snowshoe athletes that made it by competing at provincial games to get to national games,” said Earl Mielke, assistant coach with Special Olympics Lunenburg/Queens.
“That tells you something about the program and the commitment and the coaching.
“A huge thanks to the Region of Queens and the wonderful community we have being so welcoming and inclusive. It’s really important and this community is behind these athletes. They know it, we know it and it’s wonderful to be a part of it.”
It was a sentiment shared by all the athletes on Thursday.
Sarah Mitton of Brooklyn won the gold last Friday in the shot put at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Scotland, breaking her own Canadian record twice in the final round on the way to the win.
She said having such solid hometown support has motivated her throughout her whole career.
“It means a lot,” she told the crowd. “So much of who I am is where I came from. And this community and where I grew up, I’ve learned so much. … Everybody that has been a part of my journey has shaped me into the human being I am and most of that comes from here.”
Mitton said financial support was also crucial when she was starting out. And she said that she hopes the community continues to be giving and supportive of athletes like the Special Olympians and fellow Brooklyn athlete Abigail Smith.
“There’s so much talent in this community on every level,” she said in an interview afteward. “And I think with Abigail, she’s up and coming and I think she’s going to be the next really big thing for Queens County. I just always want to make sure we’re continuing to support the next generation. Some day I’m going to retire and these athletes will be the ones carrying Queens County on their backs. And with the Special Olympians, their joy for the sport makes me remember that sport is supposed to be fun.”
Brooklyn judo athlete Abigail Smith is only 16, but she’s already made a mark on the national and international stage, placing on the podium at national competitions and at a recent meet in Denmark. She will be travelling to Germany this month representing Team Canada in an international tournament there.
She said that even though she and Mitton grew up near each other, Thursday was the first time they had actually met.
“It’s pretty cool and pretty crazy. Sarah came up to me and said, ‘Do you mind if I sit by you?’ And I was like, ‘Oh yeah, of course.'”
Smith said it was great to see all the support from the community for all the athletes.
“It’s really nice. Of course, I always know that my community’s been behind (me) supporting me, donations, constant messages and posts. But today was very real, it was very nice, everyone is here to help me and Sarah and our Special Olympics athletes. So it was really nice.”
Mike Ferguson of Milton was one of the people who turned out to show their support.
“They’re providing inspiration to other young people to get involved in their community, in athletics or in arts, or whatever it is that makes them happy,” he said.
“It’s about working together and doing something you love doing and having happy fun at it. That’s what I think is the most important message here. Yes, you can win. There are always winners. But it’s all the rest of it. The way they all talked was so wonderful and they showed that wonderful inspiration.”
If you couldn’t make it to the event in person, you can catch a replay of the livestream on the Queens Place Facebook page.
Local historian Kathy Stitt told the stories of three Queens County women on Wednesday at the Thomas H. Raddall Library in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
An internationally renowned hunting and fishing guide, a celebrated historian and educator, and an African missionary. They all travelled and made their mark on the world.
And they were all women from Queens County.
Local historian Kathy Stitt was at the Thomas H. Raddall in Liverpool on Wednesday to tell the stories of these three remarkable women. Stitt worked for 27 years at Perkins House Museum and the Queens County Museum before retiring last year.
She began the series in 2022 to highlight some of the local women who made their mark on history, and to celebrate International Women’s Day on March 8.
“A community, whether it’s made of people that have been here all their lives, or somebody that arrived yesterday, they can’t be part of a community if you don’t know where it comes from,” Stitt said in an interview afterward.
The three women Stitt talked about on Wednesday were internationally known outdoorswoman Laura Wamboldt, noted historian and author Janet Mullins, and educator and missionary Diadem Bell.
Wamboldt was born in 1915 in Molega Mines. She and her husband Laurie opened the Ponhook Lodge and Cabins in 1947, now known as Ponhook Lodge Campground. But before that, they made names for themselves at outdoor living shows in the U.S.
Laura Wamboldt was a passionate outdoorswoman, hunter and fisher.
“And she was an international star,” Stitt told the group at the library. “People used to go to these from different parts of the United States to see Laura Wamboldt. This amazing woman. She was like the Annie Oakley of the outdoor shows. She could do all these sports that the men were doing.”
Between the ages of 22 and 32, she won four consecutive shooting competitions at these annual shows, beating men every time.
She was also one of the first licensed women guides in Nova Scotia.
Her husband died in 1968 at age 57. But Laura continued to guide, hunt and fish into her 80s. She died in 2006 at 90 years old.
“And this woman had a passion for the outdoors, which she shared with her family, which she shared with her husband and fortunately in the ‘30s and ‘40s, she shared with the world.”
Janet Mullins, who was born in 1863, was a passionate educator and historian who was still teaching into her 70s.
She was a friend of Thomas Raddall and one of the people who began the Queens County Historical Society in 1929. She also wrote a history column for the Liverpool Advance from 1935 to 1941.
“At the age of 27, she goes to Dalhousie University and gets her full teaching certificate. It was the highest level of teaching you could get and she brings her knowledge back to Liverpool. She becomes a female vice-principal which was very unusual back then. Her great triumph happened in 1941 when she wrote her book called Some Liverpool Chronicles.”
The third woman Stitt talked about was Diadem Bell. But she was also the most difficult to get a complete picture of, Stitt said, until she found an old 16-page pamphlet titled Miss Diadem Bell: As We Knew Her in a thrift store in Lunenburg.
“And there was her story. This is a woman’s story and it’s a complete story.”
The 16-page pamphlet on the life of Diadem Bell.
Born in Milton in 1870, Bell was precocious but driven. She grew up to be a physically strong woman who became a much-loved teacher in Western Head.
“By 1902, she had explored everything she could do in Canada. And she joined the mission service” to Angola. In the early 1900s, travel was a trial. And getting to Africa was no easy feat. But she returned for almost 20 years, even during the First World War.
From 1902 to 1923, she worked at schools in the African country, where she also “made an intense effort” to learn the local language.
She would return to Canada for regular breaks from her work and to raise money for the missions. By 1923, she was travelling in Cobourg, Ont., where she died from appendicitis.
Stitt says she’s fascinated by Bell’s story and her thirst for adventure.
“Travel was really hard. We didn’t get a railway until 1897. You were born in this area, you stayed in this area, you worked in this area, you married somebody in this area, you died in this area. And even to get to Ontario was amazing. But Ontario, London, Portugal, and then to Africa, it’s wow, it’s absolutely amazing.”
Debbie Ripple of Liverpool was one of the people at the afternoon talk. She said she loved hearing the women’s stories.
“It’s just really great to hear where they started from and how long ago and what their lives were like and how different but how similar it can be to us today, these experiences that they have. There are strong women everywhere, … great stories.”
Kathy Stitt will be giving another local history session at the library on April 10, on the history of the cookbook, from cuneiform tablets to modern books like Company’s Coming.
Brooklyn’s Sarah Mitton throws during a qualification round at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. (Photo by Mark Blinch/COC)
If you want to congratulate some Queens County athletes on their recent success, you’ll get your chance on Thursday at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liveprool.
The Region of Queens is hosting a homecoming meet and greet for athletes with Special Olympics Lunenburg/Queens and Brooklyn’s Sarah Mitton.
The Special Olympics Winter Games just wrapped in Calgary and Team Nova Scotia won 30 medals, with many of those won by local athletes.
Mitton won the gold medal in the shot put on Friday at the World Indoor Athletics Championships in Glasgow.
The event begins at 1 p.m. Seating is limited, but it will also be livestreamed on the Queens Place Facebook page.
Abigail Smith with her coach Jason Scott at the Elite National Championships in Edmonton on Jan. 13 and 14. (Abigail Smith photo)
Another Queens County athlete is getting ready to represent Canada on the world stage.
Last Friday, Sarah Mitton of Brooklyn won her first international gold medal in the shot put when she beat the rest of the field at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
Now, 16-year-old judo athlete Abigail Smith of Brooklyn is training hard for the International Thuringia Cup in Germany on March 23.
Smith trains four days a week after school at Nova United Martial Arts, her judo club in Halifax. And she’s getting ready for a sold-out fundraiser this Saturday at Route 3 Cellar Bar and Grill. It’s an ‘80s-themed bowling tournament at 3 p.m.
Smith has had a busy year already nationally and internationally.
She finished third at the Danish Open in early February. She captured two bronze medals in her class at a national judo meet in Edmonton in January. And in November, she captured silver and bronze at the Pan American Cup in Montreal, her first international competition.
She is ranked in the Judo Canada Top 10 in the U-18 division. Sport Nova Scotia has chosen her to be one of 12 Nova Scotia True Sport Athlete Ambassadors for 2024.
And she is one of only two members of her club representing Canada at separate events in Germany.
Smith told QCCR in January that she’s lucky to have such great family, community and team support.
“People think judo is an individual sport and it is an individual sport, but it’s a huge team sport because you can’t get anywhere without your team, your training partners,” she says. “And having a good team you can rely on in sport and outside of sport is really important and that’s what’s helped me get so far in judo.”
The Apitamkiejit Wind Energy Project proposed for north Queens would include 10 turbines with a capacity of up to 68 megawatts. (SWEB Energy photo)
A company hoping to build a wind farm in north Queens is planning a community engagement session on Thurs., March 21 at the Greenfield Fire Hall from 4:30 to 7:30.
The Apitamkiejit Wind Energy Project would include 10 turbines with a capacity of 68 megawatts.
It would be built on private property near Wentworth Lake in north Queens. SWEB Development, an Austrian company with offices in Halifax, is planning to partner with one or more First Nations communities on the project, according to the company’s website.
Members of the Astor Theatre’s Seniors Connecting group produced a holiday play for QCCR in December. (QCCR photo)
Non-profit groups in Queens County can now apply for wellness funds through the Queens Community Health Board.
Past projects funded by the grants include a regular seniors art and craft get-together at the Astor Theatre, learning to curl sessions at the Liverpool Curling Club, and a podcast hosted by South Shore youth.
Groups can apply for up to $3,500 for new projects.
There are 35 community health boards across the province. People can apply to more than one board if their project occurs in more than one area.
Nova Scotia’s $5.2-million Community Solar Program will help community groups build solar gardens. (Sebastian Ganso via Pixabay)
The Nova Scotia government has created a $5.2-million fund to help community groups and businesses set up solar gardens and sell the electricity.
The Community Solar Program is open to non-profits, co-operatives, First Nations communities, municipalities, businesses, universities and colleges. New solar gardens are expected to be up and running by spring 2026.
Once people subscribe, they will get a solar energy credit of two cents per kilowatt hour on their power bill.
Groups can team up to build the solar gardens. Each one can generate up to 10 megawatts of power, according to the province. One megawatt of solar power can power up to 131 homes for a year.
The program is expected to introduce up to 500 megawatts of renewable energy by 2026, according to a news release from the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables.
“Not everyone has the ability to install their own solar panels,” Tory Rushton, minister of natural resources and renewables, said in the release.
“This program creates the opportunity to buy solar energy from a community provider instead.”
Centennial Park in Liverpool will be the site of the Light Up Queens Winter Night Festival on March 16. (Rick Conrad photo)
The Light Up Queens Winter Night Festival is back on.
It’s set for Sat., March 16 from 6 to 9 p.m. in Centennial Park on the Liverpool waterfront.
It was originally scheduled for Feb. 24, but the region postponed it because of Environment Canada warnings of flash freezing that afternoon and evening.
The event will feature more than 30 stations around the park, offering various artistic, cultural and winter-related activities.
The Visitor Information Centre will be open, with Galeforce Feasts hosting a pop-up restaurant, selling fresh seafood chowder.
The Royal Canadian Legion across the parking lot will also be selling hot dogs, chili and beef barley soup.
The legion will also host a makers’ market, featuring local artisans.
And Hell Bay will have hot beverages for adults on the menu, in addition to their usual lineup of craft beers.
In the park, one of the activities will be hosted by Special Olympics Lunenburg/Queens. They will be holding a bocce ball demonstration.
And people can also use the community coat rack, sponsored by Folk Law, United Way of Lunenburg County and Harbour House. It will feature warm winter clothes and accessories free for anybody to take home.
TideKite, which has hosted a few kite-flying demonstrations in the park, will be on site flying special kites that light up in the dark. And they’ll offer a kite-making workshop.
Bridgewater’s DJ Danimal will be providing the music.
Sarah Mitton of Brooklyn, Queens County, after winning the gold medal in the shot put at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow on Friday morning. (Sarah Mitton photo)
Brooklyn’s Sarah Mitton can now add world champion to her already long list of accomplishments.
The Olympic shot putter from Queens County captured the gold medal Friday morning at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow.
“Incredible. I’ve been waiting for this for a long time,” she said in an interview via Zoom from Glasgow shortly after her win.
“I’ve just been up in the top but never really on top at a world championship and now I’ve done three outdoor worlds and this is my second indoor worlds so it’s been a long time coming, so it’s just really sweet.”
Mitton beat her own Canadian record, twice: once with her fourth throw at 20.20 metres, which secured the gold medal. And then, she beat her own record again with her sixth and last throw of 20.22 metres. That was also a season’s best.
“The last one was really fun because when you’re in the lead you get to be the last thrower,” she said. “And so we know what third is, the only person that can overtake you is this girl in second. She doesn’t do it and then you’re standing there and you still have one attempt and you know you’ve just won a world indoor championships which is kind of surreal because you’re just flooded with emotion.
“And so I stood there and I had goosebumps all over my legs and I was like, ‘OK. But you still have one more attempt to make a mark and have a better throw and just increase your lead.’ I really love the sixth round. It’s the last throw of the (competition), particularly this one where it’s the very last throw of the comp and it’s just really free. Like it didn’t matter if I threw 10 metres, it didn’t matter if I threw 25, I was still gonna be the champion so I think it opens the door for a really relaxed fun throw.”
German athlete Yemeni Ogunleye captured silver with a personal best throw of 20.19 metres. American Chase Jackson won bronze with a throw of 19.67 metres.
Mitton said that making her first world indoor final in 2022 and throwing more than 19 metres for the first time at a championship really boosted her confidence. And that set her up for the success she’s had ever since.
She is ranked No. 2 in the world in the shot put. She won Canada’s first ever world medal in women’s shot put with her silver at the Budapest games in 2023. And she is a Commonwealth Games champion and Pan American Games champion.
She set a new Canadian indoor record just last week in the Czech Republic with a throw of 20.08 metres. Her personal best is 20.33 metres.
“I had usually underperformed from what I was usually capable of at these majors and I think it really just opened my eyes to be able to believe in myself that hey you’re now amongst these girls. You can break into their world. And from there, it just seems to have skyrocketed.”
And she’s been doing it all with bone chips in her right elbow.
“My right arm takes a big brunt of the throw every time. And a lot of the girls struggle with elbow issues and of course the older you get, the more speed and force that gets put through your elbow.
“Thankfully we’ve been able to manage that from a non-surgical perspective for now and everything’s been good. … Thankfully, that’s been much better than last season, so I think that’s why I might be seeing a little bit more success indoors than I did last year.”
While her family didn’t make the trip to Glasgow for the short weekend competition, they will all be in Paris for the Summer Olympics in August.
In Glasgow, she had her coach and his wife and the rest of the Canadian team cheering her on.
“She’s been a big part of my career. She’s very involved. She just brings a really good, fun energy. She’s always the loudest person in the stadium and I can hear her from a mile away. But it’s been really fun to have her here.”
She says that having this breakthrough in Glasgow sets her up nicely for the Olympics.
“I’ve had my eye on Paris for two years at least. And everything we’ve been doing in the last two years is a part of our preparation, the same thing with this championships. This was a big part and I think right now, everything’s working, everything’s coming together.”
Mitton has a few meets coming up in China and Morocco, before returning to Canada to begin high-performance training. Then there are the national championships at the end of June, before heading to Barcelona to train and prepare for the Olympics.
Before any of that, though, she’ll be taking a week off and coming home to Liverpool to visit friends and family. And she may even pop into the gym at Queens Place Emera Centre when she’s home.
“I’m excited to see everybody,” she says. “I think it’s always fun walking into Queens Place. It can be really overwhelming, because it’s a lot of people I grew up with. It’s a lot of friends and family, but it’s also just been really great. When you show up, you know everybody and it just feels like home.
“I just want to thank everyone so much for the support. I know the flood of that comes from Liverpool and Brooklyn, Nova Scotia, and all through the East Coast. But I’m working my best to get back to everyone, but I will see you all when I get home. And I just really appreciate all the messages and the support.”
Sarah Mitton, wearing the red Team Canada jersey, was among the inaugural inductees to the Olympic Wall at Queens Place Emera Centre. Photo Ed Halverson
UPDATED 8:55 a.m. FRIDAY
Brooklyn’s Sarah Mitton won gold Friday morning in the shot put at the World Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow with a season’s best throw of 20.22 metres.
She broke her own Canadian record with the throw.
German athlete Yemeni Ogunleye captured silver with a personal best throw of 20.19 metres. American Chase Jackson won bronze with a throw of 19.67 metres.
Mitton is ranked No. 2 in the world in the shot put. She won Canada’s first ever world medal in women’s shot put with her silver at the Budapest games in 2023. She is also a Commonwealth Games champion and Pan American Games champion.
Mitton is the co-captain of Team Canada at the world indoor championships.
She set a new Canadian indoor record last week in the Czech Republic with a throw of 20.08 metres. Her personal best is 20.33 metres.
Melissa Thiele-Smale, treasurer of the Brooklyn Recreation Committee, spoke to Queens regional council in January. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)
The Brooklyn Recreation Committee will be reimbursed $1,150 by the Region of Queens for the cost of a financial review.
In 2023, the committee was granted a community area rate of four cents per $100 of assessment to fund its operations. The rate provides $32,000 in revenue.
Certain community groups can apply to the region to levy an area rate on their behalf. The group sets a proposed rate, which is calculated at cents per $100 of assessment or a lump sum.
An area rate request is subject to public consultation and a non-binding vote by those in the communities served by the group.
Queens is one of the only municipalities in Nova Scotia to offer an area rate to community groups to cover expenses. Other municipalities levy rates for assets owned by the municipality.
“There are many who apply different rates to different areas for different purposes. These rates are used to cover costs that are more specific to an area such as: fire protection based on fire service area, sidewalks, local recreation facilities, etc.,” Joanne Veinotte, director of corporate services, said in her Jan. 9 report to council.
“Staff could identify very few municipal units that use this method to support community groups that operate independently from the municipal units.”
The region changed its community area rate policy on Jan. 23, and the financial reporting requirements for community groups.
Under the old policy, groups had to submit a financial review by a qualified chartered public accountant.
In the new policy, only those generating revenue over $50,000 have to submit a financial review. Those groups generating revenue from the area rate over $100,000 must submit audited financial statements.
The Brooklyn Recreation Committee had a financial review done by Belliveau Veinotte, which cost $1,150. District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault asked council at their Jan. 9 meeting to consider reimbursing that cost.
Councillors voted on the motion at this week’s meeting. It passed by a vote of 5 to 3.
Some councillors were concerned that the group knew it would have to pay for the financial review before the policy changed, and that taxpayers shouldn’t be on the hook.
A public hearing is scheduled for March 12 on a proposed wind farm in Milton. (Mersey River Wind)
A public hearing on a proposed wind farm development in Milton is scheduled for March 12 in council chambers at the Region of Queens offices in Liverpool.
The region plans to sign a development agreement with Roswall Development Inc., the owners of Mersey River Wind. The company would build 33 wind turbines on about 80 hectares of Crown land near the Mersey River.
The Halifax-based company is negotiating with the Nova Scotia government to lease the land. Under the municipality’s land use bylaw, large-scale wind farms are not automatically allowed on the land as it’s currently zoned.
Councillors voted Feb. 13 to move ahead with the agreement. As part of the process, though, a public hearing must be held before it moves further.
The hearing is set for Tues. March 12 at 9 a.m., which will be before council’s regular meeting. The staff report that council relied on at its Feb. 13 meeting is available here. More information about the hearing is available on the region’s website here.
Roswall promises to sell power from the wind farm directly to consumers, bypassing Nova Scotia Power. It says it will offer it to large customers on the South Shore first, and then to residential customers. The company says its power rates would be lower than Nova Scotia Power’s. The project is expected to employ 100 people temporarily.
Anybody can speak at the hearing. Written submissions must be sent to the region at least two business days before March 12 to mmacleod@regionofqueens.com.
Copies of the supporting documents are available at the region’s office at 249 White Point Road, Monday to Friday.
Louisbourg Seafoods is owned by Jim and Lori Kennedy, who started the business in 1984. It deals in snow crab, redfish, northern shrimp, lobster, sea cucumber and blue mussels.
Barry contributed $250 to Liberal candidate Marc Botte in the 2019 byelection in Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg, according to an Elections Nova Scotia candidate disclosure statement.
In an interview with QCCR last week, Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow, who was acting fisheries and aquaculture minister while Kent Smith was out of the country, did not know if another member would be appointed to the board to replace Jean McKenna, who left the board in mid-February.
The review board’s website has not been updated with Barry as a member.
A screengrab of the list of Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board members on the Nova Scotia government website.
McKenna was one of the first three members appointed to the review board in 2017 by the then-Liberal government. She had been its first and only chairwoman until her term expired earlier this month.
She was replaced as chair by Tim Cranston, a lawyer who ran unsuccessfully for the Tories in Halifax Atlantic in the last provincial election.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said last week that there was nothing inappropriate in Cranston’s appointment as chairman. He said McKenna’s term had expired and the board needed a new chair.
The review board was scheduled to begin hearings March 4 into an application from Kelly Cove Salmon, owned by Cooke Aquaculture, to expand its fish farms in Liverpool Bay. Kelly Cove wants to expand its current operation near Coffin Island off Beach Meadows Beach to 20 pens from 14, and add trout to the salmon already farmed there. And it wants to add 40 new pens at two sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. It would mean more than 1.8 million salmon and trout being produced, compared
Groups involved in the hearing were surprised when they were sent a “high priority” email from review board clerk Stacy Bruce on Feb. 20, telling them McKenna was no longer with the board and that the March hearing dates would be cancelled.
Along with Kelly Cove Salmon, five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.
Jamie Simpson of Juniper Law, who is representing the lobster fishermen group, said it’s unusual that “a decision maker who has been significantly part of the process” would leave on the eve of the hearings.
“It’s no small feat to get several days in a row scheduled among the diverse parties here, so it’s a challenge,” Simpson said in an interview last week. “When they had the March dates nailed down it was an accomplishment and to see them cancelled now it’s a shock.”
Houston and Queens MLA and Public Works Minister Kim Masland have both spoken against the planned expansion. At a business luncheon in Liverpool on Feb. 7, the premier said that while supports aquaculture in Nova Scotia, he was personally opposed to more fish farming in Liverpool Bay.
In an email Monday, board clerk Sayeed Maswod told QCCR to “visit the regularly updated NSARB website for all information related to hearings.”
The review board has been mum on when the hearings will begin, but Simpson told QCCR that dates set for April 2 to 5 at the Best Western Plus in Liverpool are still a go.
Region of Queens CAO Cody Joudry and Mayor Darlene Norman before Tuesday’s council meeting. (Rick Conrad photo)
Library users in Liverpool will be checking out books in a new location by the end of the year.
Region of Queens councillors voted Tuesday night to move the Thomas H. Raddall library to the Liverpool Business Development Centre until a permanent site can be found and built.
The Global Empire call centre and Belliveau Veinotte accountants are the current tenants at the building, just off the White Point Road. The municipality owns the building.
The call centre currently uses about 18,000 square feet of the space, while Belliveau Veinotte leases 4,800. That leaves about 9,200 square feet for the library’s temporary location.
First, though, regional staff have to renovate to add washrooms and program rooms and to accommodate the library’s collection. The plan is to move the library there before the end of the current lease in December. It’s currently in the Rossignol Centre in downtown Liverpool, which is for sale.
Susan DeChamp, who was one of three members of the region’s library steering committee, was at the council meeting Tuesday evening. She said it’s probably the best option for now.
“So for what we have to work with, it’s not a bad blank slate,” she said in an interview after the meeting. “There is still the issue of some of our walking people getting to it. … There is some concern that library usage could suffer a bit for that. We need a library and this is our best option at this point.”
Finding a new home for the library has been fraught with delays and controversy since 2022, when the region allocated $3 million from an unexpected budget surplus to its construction. CAO Cody Joudry says a new library would likely cost much more than that.
The library steering committee twice recommended a site near Queens Place Emera Centre. Council rejected it the first time but decided to accept the recommendation a second time.
But councillors nixed that plan once more when they learned that connecting the site to existing road and infrastructure would cost close to a million dollars.
And then at a December meeting, after hearing from residents, councillors rejected a staff recommendation to move the library to the call centre building permanently.
District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault, who chaired the library committee but voted against its recommendations, said Tuesday it’s a good solution to ensure library services continue.
“This has been a long process to say the least,” Amirault said. “It’s been quite a process but I just think we need to overhaul a little bit and move on.”
The vote on the temporary location was not unanimous. Mayor Darlene Norman voted against it. She said the region could have bought the building where the library is now, and keep it there until a developer could be found to put housing in that location.
“However, it was not a wish of council to do that,” she said.
“One would hope that during that refit that the CEO of the library and the library staff are consulted very closely and that we’re simply not creating office space, because it’s my feeling that once the library is there, the library will stay there. It would be very difficult for a future council to justify a million plus on renovation and then flip around to build a new library.”
CAO Cody Joudry estimates the work on the call centre will cost from $1.05 to $1.26 million. He says that he’ll work with the library’s CEO to ensure users and the rest of the community are consulted on the design and renovation of the space.
He said that with this council’s term ending in October, it would be difficult to complete consultation, site selection, design and tendering before then. Joudry suggests letting a newly elected council develop a long-term plan for the library.
But some councillors want the process to begin before a new council is elected in October.
District 6 Coun. David Brown said he wants public consultation to “start sooner rather than later” so that the incoming council will have something to work with.
Brian and Cathie Mourre live in Eagle Head. (Rick Conrad photo)
Nova Scotia’s coastline now has even less protection after the province announced Monday that the Coastal Protection Act is dead, some Queens County residents say.
Tim Halman, Nova Scotia’s minister of environment and climate change, announced the government would not proclaim the long-delayed act, effectively killing it.
The legislation was passed with all-party support in 2019. Instead, Halman introduced plans, tools and other legislation that would have property owners, municipalities and the province share responsibility for protecting coastal property.
He said the government wants to empower coastal property owners to make informed decisions. As part of that, the government introduced a new online coastal hazard map that shows projected sea levels, storm surges and flooding potential to the year 2100.
Residents who have been waiting for stronger coastal protections were disappointed, but not surprised. Len Michalik lives in Eagle Head.
“I was somewhere between disappointed and vindicated in my thoughts that wow this is really where they’re going with this,” Michalik said.
“They’ve kicked this can so far down the road that it’s in the ditch and unrecoverable. They promised they were in full support of this when in opposition. … And ever since they’ve come into power, they’ve done seemingly everything they can to make themselves look good while pushing it to the side.”
Michalik is part of the group Protecting Eagle Head Beach.
It was formed in June 2022 when former Halifax mayor Peter Kelly bought a property on Eagle Head Beach and immediately blocked the road through the property which people used as one way onto the beach. The community was also upset that he was damaging the beach and wetlands on the property.
Despite many appeals to and meetings with Environment and Natural Resources officials, as well as with Queens MLA and Public Works Minister Kim Masland and her staff, the development was allowed to go ahead.
Cathie Mourre lives in Eagle Head. She is also a member of Protecting Eagle Head Beach. She said the Tories could have committed to enforcing current environment protections and making them stronger with the new act.
“But instead they took the easy way out and put it in our hands. We’re not experts, we don’t know how to protect the coastline.”
Mourre said she’s worried that more of that job will now fall to smaller municipalities like Queens, who have limited resources.
“And the thing is Nova Scotia is a coastal province. So what happens in the municipality of Queens isn’t necessarily the same that’s going to happen in the municipality of Lunenburg. So we have two coastlines butting up against one another and we’ve got two different sets of rules, well that’s crazy.
“The municipality had bylaws set out and we know they didn’t follow them. The Environment (department) has tons of rules. They didn’t follow their own rules.”
Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman joined 11 other municipalities last year calling on the government to enact the new legislation.
She said that while she is disappointed, the region’s municipal planning strategy and land use bylaw, passed in 2022, has some of the strongest protections in the province.
She said she’s more concerned with neighbouring municipalities like Shelburne or the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg having minimal or weaker protections. The Coastal Protection Act would have levelled the playing field across the province.
Mourre says she believes property owners should be able to build on their own land. But they should be forced to follow the rules.
In the meantime, she says she wants a moratorium on coastal development.
“And permitting on a beach is totally different than permitting in a subdivision,” she says.
“So when this permitting along the coastline happens, (staff) should be getting out from behind their desks and they should be going and looking at the piece of land that people want ot develop. It’s as simple as that.”
Michalik says he’d like to see the municipality resurrect and integrate the Coastal Protection Act into its own bylaws.
“However, I have my doubts that that will happen. We don’t have the resources or the manpower to actually do the investigation, do the research and do all the enforcement on it. I hope for the best but I fear the worst.”
Both Michalik and Mourre said, however, that maybe this will spur more people to pressure governments to do more to protect Nova Scotia’s coastline.
“We’re also in danger of having our licence plate motto which is known across the country and around the world, Canada’s Ocean Playground, is going to become the playground for those who can afford it.
“The rest of us are going to have to stay in our designated areas and keep quiet.”
Queens regional councillors will vote Tuesday on whether the Liverpool library will move to the Liverpool Business Development Centre until a new one can be built. (Rick Conrad photo)
The library in Liverpool may be moving temporarily to the Liverpool Business Development Centre on White Point Road.
Region of Queens councillors are set to vote on a recommendation Tuesday from CAO Cody Joudry to move the library to the same building that houses the Global Empire call centre and Belliveau Veinotte accountants. It would be there until a new site can be chosen, designed, financed and built.
The council meeting is set for 6 p.m. in council chambers on White Point Road.
The Thomas H. Raddall Library is currently in the Rossignol Centre on Old Bridge Street close to downtown Liverpool. The lease expires this December. Last year, the region spent $51,680 on rent.
The building owner Sherman Hines has been trying to sell it since at least November 2022. Joudry claims in his staff report that “staff are of the opinion the property is likely to be sold before the lease expires”.
Joudry is recommending that staff immediately begin renovations of the vacant space at the call centre building so that the library can move in by December. He estimates the renovations would cost from $1.05 to $1.26 million.
He is also suggesting that staff work with the library board to create a public consultation plan on a new library.
Councillors decided at a December meeting not to move the library to the call centre building permanently. Residents flooded them with emails and public comments about that plan. Most were against it.
Finding a new home for the library has been fraught with delays and controversy since the spring of 2022, when the region allocated $3 million from an unexpected budget surplus to its construction. Joudry says a new library would likely cost much more than that.
“Consulting the public about (the) library matter, selecting a site (and acquiring land if needed), creating design options, costing the project out, acquiring funding, tendering then constructing and moving the library will, realistically, take several years,” he says in his report.
“If council takes the recommendation to move the library as recommended, input and feedback would be beneficial to inform decisions on designs, renovations, and furnishing of the new space. As such the CAO and library CEO would work collaboratively to ensure the community and users are consulted on these matters.”
The library steering committee twice recommended an area by Queens Place Emera Centre for the relocation. Council declined the first time but decided to accept the committee’s recommendation a second time.
But council scuttled the plan once more when it learned that connecting the site to existing road and infrastructure would cost close to a million dollars.
At the December council meeting, many residents spoke against the plan to move the library to White Point Road permanently. Some also were worried that if the library moved there temporarily, council would stop looking for a new location.
Susan DeChamp was one of three community members appointed to the region’s library steering committee in April 2022. She spoke at the council meeting in December when staff were recommending the call centre building as the permanent site for the library.
“The main issue everyone had was the location itself,” she told councillors. “The first time we recommended the sledding hill location (near Queens Place), we had councillors object that you can’t move it that far from where it currently is and it would be unreasonable to expect library users to walk across the bridge. Now you’re asking library users to walk to the fringes of town where the street lamps are fairly far apart, it’s not brightly lit and there are no sidewalks.”
Jessica Joudrey and Tom Raddall resigned before the December meeting. Raddall told councillors that they were “frustrated and disillusioned”.
In response to public comments at the December meeting, District 6 Coun. David Brown summed up the general mood on council when he said that using the call centre only as a temporary space would give the region time to do more thorough public consultation.
“So I think we have to do a better job of getting more engagement from the public so that we can build what the public wants and needs,” he said.
“If we can make this a temporary, it gives us a chance to take a deep breath, look at it, analyze it and do that job right in the long run. And I think the public will be much better served if we get it done right rather than if we get it done quick.”
Joudry’s other recommendations include: a high-level public engagement process begin on what people want from a new library and a new advisory committee be formed with clear direction and support from council.
Queens County voters may get an electronic voting option in October. (Elections Nova Scotia Facebook)
Queens County voters are getting closer to having the option to vote online or by phone in this October’s municipal election.
Councillors asked CAO Cody Joudry in January to prepare a report on the feasibility and costs of introducing electronic voting to Queens, while keeping the traditional paper ballot.
Twenty of 49 Nova Scotia municipalities offered an electronic voting option in 2020. Elections Nova Scotia used electronic ballots in the July byelection in Preston. And it plans to allow e-voting in the 2025 provincial election.
Joudry says in a report to council this week that more than 40 municipalities are expected to offer electronic voting as an option this year.
Joudry recommends that councillors vote to keep the traditional paper ballot, while also introducing online and telephone voting. Joudry estimates that adding an e-ballot option would cost an extra $20,000, for a total of $70,000.
Joudry also recommended that Ian Kent be appointed the new returning officer for the municipal election. Kent was recently hired by Elections Nova Scotia to replace Ted Bulley as the provincial returning officer for Queens, after Bulley’s retirement. The province’s returning officer has traditionally performed the same role in municipal elections.
Nova Scotia Power crews at work on Waterloo Street on Monday. (Rick Conrad photo)
A power outage in parts of Liverpool has closed two schools and some downtown businesses for the day.
Wickwire Academy and South Queens Middle School are closed because of the power outage just before 5 a.m. Monday.
Nova Scotia Power says it’s because of a “transmission interruption”. It affects 728 customers. The company originally said Monday morning it expected power to be restored by 3 p.m. But its outage map now says power should be restored by 8 p.m.
The outage has hit parts of downtown Liverpool and extends to Old Port Mouton and White Point roads.
The cast of Follies on opening night Thursday at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)
The curtain went up on a big, bold, breathtaking musical at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool on Thursday night.
Stephen Sondheim’s Follies began its eight-show run at the historic theatre. It features more than two dozen cast members from Queens and Lunenburg counties ranging in age from 14 to 77.
One of the many elaborate costumes in the musical Follies, playing until March 3 at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)
A co-production of the Winds of Change and the Astor Theatre, it’s the first big musical mounted at the Astor since 2018. It runs until March 3. Tickets are available in person at the Astor Theatre box office, by calling 902-354-5250 or through Ticketpro Atlantic.
QCCR was at opening night and got reaction from some members of the audience after the show. Listen below.
Premier Tim Houston spoke to reporters after a cabinet meeting on Thursday. (Nova Scotia Government)
By Rick Conrad
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says having a former Progressive Conservative candidate as the new chairman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board won’t affect the board’s independence as it hears an application to expand fish farming in Liverpool Bay.
Houston spoke to reporters after a cabinet meeting Thursday. He was asked about the change this week in the board’s leadership.
Chairwoman Jean McKenna is no longer on the board. Her replacement as chairman is Tim Cranston, a board member who also ran for the Tories in the last provincial election.
“Mr. Cranston has been on that board for quite some time,” Houston said. “He’s a free thinker. As a member of that board, he’ll listen to the evidence and hear the hearings. The chairperson’s term had expired and it was time for a new chair and there’s a new chair and that’s a good thing. But the work will be done by that board.”
Greg Morrow, acting minister of fisheries and aquaculture, said Thursday in an interview that McKenna’s term expired on Feb. 15. Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Kent Smith is out of the country on a trade mission and was not available for comment.
“As I understand it, her term was already extended and that extension has expired. So a new chair has been appointed. Legislation enables these types of transitions. It’s all part of that process and we have faith in it.”
McKenna was one of the board’s first three members when she was appointed chairwoman in 2017 by the then-Liberal government. Morrow did not know if a new member would be appointed to the board.
Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied to the board in 2019 for an expansion of their fish farm operation in Liverpool Bay.
Kelly Cove wants to increase its farm near Coffin Island to 20 pens from 14 and to set up 40 pens at two new sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point.
Five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.
Groups involved in the hearing were surprised this week when the board told them that McKenna was no longer chairwoman, and that hearings planned for March 4 to 8 in Liverpool were cancelled.
Jamie Simpson of Juniper Law represents a group of 22 lobster fishermen who oppose the expansion.
“It seems a bit bizarre when you have a decision-maker who has been significantly part of the process and then to all of a sudden not have that decision maker there it is certainly unusual from my experience,” Simpson said in an interview Wednesday.
Morrow wouldn’t comment on that, and said that the board’s schedule is up to the new chairman.
He said there was nothing inappropriate about how the new chairman was appointed.
“I’m not concerned. It’s an independent board. They’ll make their decision on all applications that are brought forward to them. Anyone that’s interested in being considered for appointments can apply through the government-wide ABC appointment process. Mr. Cranston was already a board member, … and he met the criteria for the position. Rules governing the independent board are established, fair and they’re known to everyone so, no, I have no concerns about the independence of the board.”
Unless the board decides otherwise, hearings into Kelly Cove’s application will begin April 2 at the Best Western Plus in Liverpool.
Tim Cranston is the new chairman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board. (Facebook)
By Rick Conrad
The chairwoman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board is out and a new chairman is in.
Groups getting ready for hearings into a proposed fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay got a surprise this week when they were told chairwoman Jean McKenna is no longer on the board, and that hearings set for March 4 to 8 in Liverpool are cancelled.
Her replacement is Tim Cranston, who was appointed to the board on Feb. 16, 2023, and who ran for the Progressive Conservatives in the last provincial election.
Cranston is a lawyer with 20-plus years’ experience for two marine biotech companies, according to his biography on the review board’s website. He also owned and operated two rockweed leases during that time. And he was the co-founder of Natural Ocean Products.
As a candidate for the Tories in Halifax Atlantic, he lost to Liberal MLA Brendan Maguire.
(Nova Scotia PC Party Facebook page)
Cranston was appointed to the review board for a three-year term by then Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Steve Craig.
Former chairwoman McKenna had been reappointed member and chairwoman at the same time as Cranston. But according to the list of recent appointments to agencies, boards and commissions as of Feb. 16, 2023, her term expired on Feb. 15, 2024. McKenna is still listed as the chairwoman of the Nova Scotia Police Review Board.
Jamie Simpson with Juniper Law represents one of the intervenors, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay. Simpson said he received a “high priority” email on Tuesday from the board’s clerk telling him that the March hearing dates were cancelled and that McKenna was no longer on the board.
“Certainly, it came out of the blue and at a fairly late stage of planning for this hearing. From my experience, I’ve certainly never seen or heard of a decision maker being switched right where we’re in mid-stride here just getting ready to go into the first scheduled portion of the hearing coming up in early March just a couple of weeks away here. So it was quite surprising, that’s for sure.”
Simpson said the board gave no reason. The board had also set aside April 2 to 5 for the hearing at the Best Western Plus in Liverpool. Simpson said those dates still stand.
“It’s no small feat to get several days in a row scheduled among all the diverse parties here, so it’s a challenge. So when they had the March dates nailed down it was an accomplishment and to see them cancelled, it’s a shock. But I can only guess that that has to do with the new chair needing time to get up to speed.”
Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied to the board in 2019 for an expansion of their fish farm operation in Liverpool Bay.
Kelly Cove wants to increase its farm near Coffin Island to 20 pens from 14 and to include trout as well as salmon. It also wants to set up 40 pens at two new sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. It could mean up to 1.8 million farmed salmon in the bay, compared to about 400,000 now.
More than 150 residents, businesses and community groups filed written submissions with the board. Five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.
Joel Richardson, spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture, said Wednesday he was waiting for more information from the board.
“I’m really not offering any additional comment on it. We’ll have our communication with them and we’ll go from there.”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston came out against the project at an event organized by the South Queens Chamber of Commerce in Liverpool on Feb. 7.
“I think some areas are great for aquaculture and I think that some others are maybe not the best place for it.
“On this specific question on Liverpool Bay, … I personally don’t think Liverpool Bay is a suitable place for it. That’s my personal opinion. I respect the process, the independent review board will do their process and will have hearings. They’ll do their thing. But my personal opinion is I don’t think Liverpool Bay is a suitable place for it.”
Queens MLA Kim Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s public works minister, has spoken against the expansion since she was an Opposition MLA. She also repeated her stand against it at the same event.
Masland submitted a letter to the review board, but it was rejected because it said that it had to be free of the “appearance of any possible influence” by elected officials.
QCCR asked the review board for comment on the delay and on McKenna’s status.
In an email, board clerk Stacy Bruce referred questions about board appointments to the minister of fisheries and aquaculture.
“Information about the upcoming public hearing in Liverpool on applications by Kelly Cove Salmon Ltd. Is posted on the Board’s website,” he wrote.
Bruce said new hearing dates would be posted on the board’s website when they’re available.
A spokesperson for Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Kent Smith could not be reached Wednesday.
Lawyer Jamie Simpson says that despite the “bizarre” turn of events, he and his clients continue to prepare for the hearings.
“Looking forward to representing the interests of the lobster fishermen with respect to the potential impact of this massive aquaculture site on their livelihoods and also the ability it would have to navigate safely through Liverpool Bay.”
Betsy Hartt and Bob Iuliucci, owners of Bear Cove Resources, will make an oral presentation at the upcoming Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board hearing in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)
By Rick Conrad
UPDATE 9:25 p.m. Tuesday
The Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board hearing into a proposed fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay has been delayed until further notice, the board posted on its website Tuesday night.
“The hearing scheduled for March 4-8, 2024, in Liverpool, has been adjourned until further notice,” the notice reads. “New dates will be announced here once these have been determined by the board.”
No reason was given. Elsewhere on the board’s site, chairwoman Jean McKenna’s name has been removed. The new chairman is Tim Cranston, a member of the board and a lawyer “with 20 years+ experience as in-house counsel for two award-winning marine bio-tech companies.”
QCCR has contacted the board with questions about McKenna’s status and the hearing delay.
Meanwhile, more than 150 individuals, businesses and other groups had their comments on the proposed fish farm expansion accepted by the board.
Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, has applied to expand its operations near Coffin Island and to add two new sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point.
If successful, Kelly Cove’s operation would grow to 60 pens from its current 14. It would mean about 1.8 million salmon would be farmed in the bay, compared to the current estimated 400,000. Farmed trout would also be added at Coffin Island.
In addition to the written submissions and oral presentations from the public, five groups have been granted intervenor status: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, a group of 23 lobster fishermen, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.
People had until Feb. 12 to submit their comments or ask to make an oral presentation at the hearings.
Seven people or groups are giving oral presentations, including Bear Cove Resources Storm-cast Seaweed in East Berlin, owned by Bob Iuliucci and Betsy Hartt.
They say they’re worried about the effects of a four-fold increase in salmon and trout farming in the area.
“There’s absolutely no way (the farms are) going to withstand an easterly wind that can bring waves of 10 metres,” Iuliucci said Tuesday in an interview.
“We’ve had storm events (here), in one storm event the shoreline went back about five metres. … A net full of fish, it’s hopeless, it would be really unfortunate for everybody.”
Iuliucci says he’s also worried about what would happen if the new farm sites get caught up in tidal surges, especially given the current problems with flooding at Centennial Park on the Liverpool waterfront.
“We have the park inundated on a regular basis. So now we’re gonna have hundreds of thousands of fish stranded as well and on people’s properties.”
Hartt says their customers ask about whether their compost is affected by the current operation.
“The more their gear gets tossed around, the more their gear gets included in the seaweed we collect. And we get customers asking us questions already. ‘Does the fish farm affect the seaweed? Does that mean that I’m going to get microplastics in the seaweed compost I’m buying from you?’ I let them know at this stage, no. But when you consider the magnification of that project, that is going to be a concern.”
Most of the public feedback the review board received was in written submissions. It accepted 146 letters, which are published on its website.
Most of those written submissions oppose Kelly Cove’s application. Twelve support it. Among the supporters are the mayor of Shelburne and businesses who have done business with Cooke.
But several other submissions were rejected by the independent board.
That included two of the area’s politicians. According to a post on the Social Politics Facebook page, Queens MLA Kim Masland had her letter rejected because the board said it must be free of “appearance of any possible influence” by elected officials.
Masland has spoken out against the project. In her letter, posted on her Facebook page, she said the expansion would harm the environment, tourism, the lobster fishery and residents’ general enjoyment of Beach Meadows Beach.
Masland could not be reached for comment Tuesday. Premier Tim Houston also came out against the project last week, during a luncheon in Liverpool organized by the South Queens Chamber of Commerce.
The board also rejected submissions from people who were listed as a member of one of the intervenor groups. It ruled that their interests were already being represented.
Region of Queens District 4 Coun. Vicki Amirault’s area includes Brooklyn and Beach Meadows. She was one of those whose letter was rejected, and she was also told she could not make a presentation at the hearings, because she is already represented by the Region of Queens as an intervenor.
“I’m not very happy about it. I’m the one that’s out and about in the community and I’m the one that’s hearing from my constituents and I believe I should be able to speak on their behalf.
“I have not heard from anybody yet that is in favour of this expansion.”
