Region of Queens Coun. David Brown says he’s not seeking re-election in October partly because he’s frustrated by some of the abusive comments he’s received in the past four years. This photo was taken when he launched his first election campaign in 2020. (David Brown councillor Facebook page)

When David Brown ran for Region of Queens council for the first time in 2020, he wanted to try to make things better for the people in his district.

Brown represents District 6, the areas around Port Medway, Mill Village, Greenfield and Labelle.

He was ready to work hard and bring his constituents’ issues to the council table. What he wasn’t prepared for, though, were some of the abusive comments he would receive after he was elected. 

“It’s online, it’s in person, it’s all the way across the spectrum in dealings with people,” Brown told QCCR.

“It just seems like after Covid, everybody was angry and they found people that thought the same way as them online and it became an echo chamber, that they feel they can say whatever they want because you’re a public figure. And really, that’s not the way to treat your friends, your family, your neighbours, people in your community that have just put their name out and step up and try to do the best for people.”

Brown has had enough and has decided not to reoffer in October’s municipal election. Some other council members have said privately that they’re also frustrated by some of the online abuse.

“I think people have legitimate concerns and they should absolutely voice those concerns. But when people start voicing those concerns is that politicans are corrupt because they didn’t decide the way they wanted to or they’re lining their pockets or we’re criminals and we should be thrown in jail. That’s not voicing your opinion, that’s anger and those are attacks. If somebody disagrees, I’m wholeheartedly in favour of people voicing their disagreements. It’s the tone of the disagreements and the way they voice them now, I’m just not interested in putting up with for another four years.”

It’s a familiar story for politicians around the province and at all levels of government. Amanda McDougall-Merrill, the mayor of Cape Breton Regional Municipality, has said that she won’t seek re-election partly because of threats she received as mayor.

And RCMP announced this week charges against two Alberta men for posting threats on YouTube and X or Twitter about Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Finance Minister Chrystia Freeland and NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh.

Brown says he hasn’t been threatened. But he’s still frustrated by the tone of some of the disparaging feedback he’s received.

“Maybe others don’t find the same thing but I found that it seems the harder you try to work, it seems like you’re upsetting people. As councillors we have to try to do the most good for the most people. But that means that some people are going to be unhappy but those people are very vocal and will attack now just because they didn’t get their way. And that’s really just not the way it should be.”

Robert Huish, an associate professor at Dalhousie University in Halifax, has studied civic and political engagement.

He says abusive and threatening comments rose exponentially after Donald Trump was elected U.S. president in 2016. And because the U.S. has such an influence on political and popular culture, Huish says that flavour of political vitriol has bled to other countries.

But he says toxicity has been a fixture in political discourse dating back to the 19th century.

“It’s something that is like a crescendo that we’re seeing right now,” Huish says.

“It’s coming to this big climax of political culture that seems to be producing and reproducing hatred through discourse and engagement rather than try to find something about a rules-based order and listening and those compromises that are so important in governance.

“The more that we’ve normalized the ability to describe and caricature people through derogatory or offensive names and stereotypes and the more that becomes common, the more it’s ultimately reproduced.”

He said social media is a great tool for politicians to engage with voters. But it’s also made it easier for people to attack politicians personally.

“Any sort of politics, especially municipal, it’s about engagement. And engagement is fostered on the ability to listen, respond, debate, discuss. And if we’re seeing the only feedback that’s getting the attention of politicians at the municipal level is this really heated vitriol then it really puts any politician in a position to not respond effectively to the issue at hand but try to deflect from whatever character attack is coming in.

“And now it begins to unfold into what can be called a democracy deficit, because it’s as if those who are holding the seeds o governance are just going to be attacked for being there, rather being pressured for change or to hear community concerns.”

Huish said putting pressure on politicians is a good thing. But personal attacks actually work against making our politics better. And he says they may be losing their effectiveness as people get tired of the lashing out.

“You can’t make people do something, but you can certainly put certain behaviour out of fashion quickly. And this might be getting to be too tired because it’s ineffective to try to have political engagement along these terms.”

For now, though, it’s pushing people like David Brown out of politics.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Planting eel grass. Photo courtesy of Ecology Action Centre. Credit: Nicolas Winkler

A pilot project to protect eel grass along part of the coastline in Port Medway got underway this summer.

While the process is established in other parts of the world it is relatively new to Nova Scotia.

Eel grass conservation technician with the Ecology Action Centre Aaron Clausen says eel grass is vitally important as part of a healthy marine ecosystem.

“It’s kind of hard not to overstate the importance of eel grass… kind of hard not to overstate the importance and the benefits that eel grass meadows provide both to the environment and just humans. First and foremost, they provide a great deal of support to our fish populations and commercial fisheries. They create tons of structural habitat for a lot of these species and an area for kind of juveniles as a nursery ground, things like lobster, eel, salmon, and some shellfish,” said Clausen. “Additionally, they improve water quality, oxygenates the water column, remove toxins, excess nutrients and increases clarity and eel grass meadows also protect our Coastline it can dampen strong waves, buffers the shoreline from storm surges and this all helps to slow coastal erosion.”

Clausen says the small aquatic plant could also be part of a solution to a global problem.

“And the last thing that we still don’t really have a great concept of the extent that eel grass can help at least in Nova Scotia, but it captures and stores carbon from the atmosphere in these sediments so it’s potentially a nature based solution.”

The site was selected after a local property owner notified the Ecology Action Centre of dead eel grass washing up on their shore.

Teams from the Ecology Action Centre and Dalhousie University’s Future of Marine Ecosystems Lab partnered to determine which methods work best to restore eel grass in Nova Scotia.

Over 6,000 seed, 250 shoots and 25 sods were transplanted from a donation site to the Port Medway location.

Clausen says they’re hopeful the techniques used in Port Medway can be applied to restore eel grass at other locations in Nova Scotia and beyond.

“One of the main goals of this project is to find a, if there is a way that works and b, if it’s a scalable method,” said Clausen. “Obviously, you want to do as much of this as possible especially with all of the great benefits that eel grass provides. You want to upscale it quickly.”

The Ecology Action Centre has set up a site where citizen scientists can help track the location of eel grass across the province.

Input from everyday Nova Scotians will be added to a map of eel grass meadows that will help government, academic researchers and other non-profit and community groups monitor the location and conditions of the meadows.

Follow this link to participate in the eelgrass mapping project:

www.inaturalist.org/projects/eac-eelgrass-mapping-project

Clausen says the team will continue monitoring the eel grass transplant site late into the fall and will return in the spring.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson

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Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship students. Photo credit: NOW Lunenburg County

South Shore doctors are lining up to prepare the next generation of physicians.

The South Shore Longitudinal Integrated Clerkship program recently launched in Liverpool, Bridgewater and Lunenburg will see third year medical students from Dalhousie University spend the year in those communities.

The aim of the clerkship is to entice future doctors to spend time in rural settings by offering them more hands-on experience than they are likely to get in urban centers where they have to compete for clinical time with fourth year med students and residents.

Site director Greg Thibodeau says the program wouldn’t have happened without local doctors stepping forward to teach.

“We started with maybe 25 interested physicians two years ago and we’re well over 55 now, and that’s across disciplines,” said Thibodeau. “Even since the program launched three weeks ago, there’s still physicians who’ve said, I’d like to teach now.”

Those physicians, practicing different specialties across the three hospitals in the South Shore, have each committed to provide a set number of hours every week to instructing the students.

Thibodeau says that broad range of training will be beneficial to the students no matter where they focus their practice in the future.

“Physicians that are in the rural setting have a tendency of being very adept, flexible, they do more with less, and they’re versatile because they’re able to expand their skill sets over multiple settings and in multiple situations,” said Thidodeau.

He says it’s not just students who benefit from this arrangement. By adding teaching to their responsibilities physician instructors benefit as well.

“It makes us more pensive and reflective and deliberate as we engage in our practice because we want to teach the best of the best approaches to those that come after us,” said Thibodeau.

A total of five students were selected for the clerkship. Two are based in Liverpool, two in Bridgewater and one in Lunenburg. One of the requirements of the program is for the students to live in the communities.

“Because if they’re taking call or if they’re delivering a baby or if they’re working a night shift we want them to be accessible in the community,” said Thibodeau. “Part of the program is that they are indoctrinated, or at least part of the communities on other levels.”

Thibodeau welcomes LIC students for orientation. Photo credit: NOW Lunenburg County

The Health Services Foundation of the South Shore, South Shore Regional Hospital Auxiliary and Queens General Hospital Foundation helped to make the program possible by contributing $890,000 to create duty rooms, lounges, and learning space at South Shore Regional and Queens General Hospitals. Those new spaces will also support doctor recruitment and retention.

The South Shore is the second location in the province to offer the clerkship after Cape Breton piloted the program last year.

Dalhousie University’s goal is to have one third of its medical students take part in the clerkship program around the province over the next four years.

Reported by Ed Halverson 
E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com
Twitter: @edwardhalverson