Queens MLA Kim Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s public works minister, with Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman on Friday at Queens Place Emera Centre after Masland announced more than $2.7 million in funding for Queens County. (Rick Conrad)

A new outdoor pool and a state-of-the-art track and soccer field for Queens County got a lot closer to reality on Friday as Queens MLA Kim Masland announced more than $2.7 million in funding for the region.

Masland, who is also the province’s public works minister, told a crowd at Queens Place Emera Centre that the province will give $2.2 million toward the $7.2-million community pool to be located next to Queens Place.

She also pledged an extra $500,000 for a new all-weather artificial turf soccer field and rubberized track at Liverpool Regional High School. Masland announced $700,000 last fall for the facility. That was before the design was changed to make it an all-weather facility, which would be the first of its kind on the South Shore. That brings the provincial contribution for that project to $1.2 million.

Masland made the funding announcements on behalf of Allan MacMaster, minister of communities, culture, tourism and heritage.

“These announcements are all about physical activity, making sure that we have opportunities for people living here and for people who are interested in moving to be part of what we have going on here in Queens. Great investment to keep our youth engaged,” she told reporters afterward.

“People that are moving to our communities, we have new doctors moving here, they have young families. They want to have facilities where their children and where they themselves … can be active. Health care is what we were elected on, and every decision that we make, health care plays a role in.”

Masland also announced the Liverpool Curling Club will get $47,030 for upgrades to its kitchen facilities.

The pool will be a six-lane, 25-metre, zero-entry structure, with a therapy hot tub.

The Region of Queens is contributing $2 million toward the pool, while an anonymous private donor has committed about $3 million.

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman said that tenders for work on the pool will be issued soon. And the hope is that construction will begin in spring of 2025, with an anticipated opening in 2026.

“The next call will be the issuing of tenders. All the pre-designs are completed.”

Deborah Herman-Spartinelli is a member of the region’s pool committee and the Queens Community Aquatic Society. She said the provincial funding was “wonderful” news.

“We still need to fundraise for certain aspects. There’s all these things like starter blocks, equipment and the therapy pool and other things that are needed.”

Kristopher Snarby is president of the Queens County Track Society. He said that with Friday’s provincial funding, in addition to $1.8 million from the federal government and $250,000 from the municipality, his group has about $100,000 in fundraising left to do.

“We’re still hopeful that we might be able to get it done by late fall,” Snarby said in an interview.

“From a soccer perspective, it’s great. It allows us to have a longer season. You can play into the winter if you want to, as long as there’s no snow. From a track perspective, the rubberized surface will be fully accessible, a level walking area for seniors, for people with disabilities, and that also can be used year-round as well.”

This is the Houston government’s second significant funding announcement for Queens County in the past two weeks. On April 15, Masland announced $10.7 million for upgraded water and sewer infrastructure that would also be extended to the Mount Pleasant area of Liverpool.

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Nova Scotia Public Works Minister and Queens MLA Kim Masland with Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman at a funding announcement at the region’s offices on April 15. (Rick Conrad)

Queens MLA Kim Masland will be at Queens Place Emera Centre on Friday at 1 p.m. to announce money for community recreation infrastructure.

Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s public works minister, is making the announcement on behalf of Allan MacMaster, the minister of communities, culture, tourism and heritage.

No other details were provided in a news release on Thursday afternoon. Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman will also be at the event.

This will be the second significant funding announcement for Queens County in the past two weeks.

Last Monday, Masland announced $10.7 million in funding for water and sewer upgrades for the region. The municipality is pitching in $10.8 million. The $21.5-million project will extend water and wastewater services to the Mount Pleasant area of Liverpool. That money will also help improve existing water and sewer services to more than 1,200 homes and businesses in the area, and help enhance the amount of water available for firefighting efforts.

That project paved the way for two new private housing developments on more than 60 acres of land. About 325 new housing units will be built for up to 1,200 people.

QCCR will be at the announcement on Friday.

The Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage has developed an online tool to help non-profits, businesses and others find more information about grants. (Tourism Nova Scotia / Acorn Art & Photography)

The Nova Scotia government is launching a new online grant finder tool to help make it easier for non-profits, businesses and others to find government funding.

The new tool will help Nova Scotians apply for provincial grants supporting arts, culture, tourism, sport, recreation, cultural identity and languages through the Department of Communities, Culture, Tourism and Heritage.

“Nova Scotians have told us that navigating the large number of grant programs can be challenging, particularly for organizations with volunteers working in their spare time,” Allan MacMaster, minister of communities, culture, tourism and heritage, said in a news release. 

“This one-stop entry will help people quickly match their needs with the programs that we have available.”

Applicants can search for funding programs here: https://beta.novascotia.ca/find-grants-offered-through-department-communities-culture-tourism-and-heritage

The province gave about 2,600 grants to hundreds of communities, groups and organizations for arts, culture and recreation initiatives in the past year.

COVID-19 has spurred home sales in Queens. Photo: Ed Halverson

New taxes targeting non-resident homeowners won’t address the affordable housing issue according to a local realtor.

Measures announced in last week’s provincial budget will impose a five percent deed transfer tax on the sale price of a home and a provincial tax of $2 per $100 of a home’s assessed value for anyone from outside the province purchasing a house in Nova Scotia.

Kristopher Snarby, managing associate broker with Exit Interlake Realty says everyone knows a lack of available housing has caused prices in the purchase and rental markets to soar but taxing buyers from outside the province won’t solve the issue.

“These new rules are only applying to people who don’t live here full time,” said Snarby. “For example, for me in the past year, I’ve dealt with a lot of Ontario buyers and Western Canadian buyers but they’re all moving here full time so nothing’s going to change on that front.”

Kristopher Snarby, managing associate broker EXIT Interlake
Realty in Liverpool/Bridgewater. Photo submitted by Kristopher Snarby

Another issue Snarby sees is the homes that would be subject to the tax aren’t generally in the price range for first-time homebuyers.

“It’s not the bread and butter. It’s not the $100,000 homes or the $200,000 homes. Probably a lot of them are oceanfront, lakefront, really high-end homes that are in the half million to a million-dollar range, and in Halifax even more, maybe. So, that’s the other part of the puzzle is that it’s not really the houses that the general public can afford.”

Snarby says many of the non-resident homeowners have come to the area year after year, supporting local businesses and services and have become part of the fabric of the community.

“My fear is we’re upsetting a lot of people who have contributed a lot to the province over the years and kind of slamming the door in their face saying, hey, you’re not welcome here anymore,” said Snarby.

Province says measuring effect of taxes will take years

Finance Minister Allan MacMaster says taxing non-residents will make more housing available in Nova Scotia because it attacks the problem on a couple of fronts.

First, the tax will raise money that government can put into affordable housing and second, it should cool demand for houses from buyers outside the province.

“It’s an inexact science. I will not come on and make claims that this will solve everything, these taxes will solve everything. But we do believe that they will have some impact and over the next two years we’ll be building a database,” said MacMaster. “We’ll know just how much we’ll be raising in terms of revenue, and we’ll know just how much of an impact these taxes will have on the housing market and whether or not they do, in fact, increase supply for Nova Scotians.”

Despite announcing the taxes to tackle the housing crisis, MacMaster says money collected won’t be set aside, instead, it will go into the provincial government’s general revenue.

“We haven’t collected a cent of these taxes to date, but we’ve already spent money last fall. We ear-marked $35 million for affordable housing, we added another $15 million in the budget that was introduced a week or so ago,” said MacMaster. “We’re taking in money and there’s money going out the door all the time and practically speaking, sometimes it’s difficult to just say, okay, we’re going to use these funds for a certain purpose.”

MacMaster says government will continue to look for ways to help Nova Scotians into homes but is definite on one thing.

“We need more housing. Whether it’s government purchased and managed housing, whether it’s co-operative housing or whether it’s private sector.”

MacMaster acknowledges building up the housing stock will take time and in the interim, government will make more rent supplements available to get people into rental units that may be outside their budget.

The new tax measures went into effect April 1.

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Finance Minister Allan MacMaster stands to present the 2022-23 budget in the Nova Scotia Legislature March 29, 2022. Photo Communications Nova Scotia

An additional $413 million in health care spending will help push the provincial deficit to $506 million this year.

The first full budget released by the PCs since winning government last August focused on delivering on some of the promises made during that campaign.

The top priority identified in Tuesday’s budget is addressing the province’s ailing healthcare system.

Nova Scotia will spend $5.7 billion on health care this year, which accounts for 43 percent of the total $13.2 billion budget

Some of that money will make virtual care available to people waiting for a family doctor, extend operating room times to help clear a backlog of surgeries, create 200 new nursing seats at NSCC, and help recruits new medical professionals to the province.

Nova Scotia is also spending to improve long-term care.

Government has allocated $66 million for continuing care assistants to ensure they are the highest paid in Atlantic Canada.

Money is also being spent to recruit train and keep CCAs and keep seniors in their own homes longer.

A lack of housing has been identified as a major issue in Nova Scotia.

Government is attempting to keep housing stock in the hands of Nova Scotians with the addition of a five percent deed transfer tax for non-residents and a property tax of $2 per $100 of assessed value on buildings with three or less units owned by non-residents.

Finance Minister Allan MacMaster says the new measures accomplish a couple of goals.

“It will be a significant revenue generator and it’s going to take us as a couple of years to build a proper database to determine who actually is non-resident. We certainly have sources of information, but a database will be built over a couple of years,” said MacMaster. “For some it may result in properties becoming available to Nova Scotians who are struggling to find them right now.”

MacMaster says government is investing in Nova Scotia now but don’t expect to see a pattern of unchecked spending.

“This first budget, our focus is on fixing healthcare and our focus is investment in a province that’s growing,” said MacMaster. “In the future, I think what I would say to people who might be concerned about the degree of spending in this budget is that we are showing a track back towards reduced deficits going forward.”

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