Nova Scotia Public Works Minister and Queens MLA Kim Masland announces cell service upgrades on Wednesday in Greenfield with Service Nova Scotia Minister Colton LeBlanc. (Rick Conrad)

It’s going to take a couple of years, but residents of Greenfield are finally getting cell service.

The Nova Scotia government is building 27 new telecommunication towers in unserved areas around the province at a cost of $18.6 million.

Public Works Minister and Queens MLA Kim Masland made the announcement on Wednesday at the Greenfield Fire Hall in north Queens.

She was joined by Colton LeBlanc, minister of Service Nova Scotia, municipal politicians and representatives from Build Nova Scotia and Rogers.

Masland said reliable cell service is a necessity and a matter of safety.

“We are adding to what is already the largest investment ever in cellular infrastructure by a provincial government. We are investing an additional $18.6 million to build 27 new provincially owned telecommunication towers.”

Last October, the province launched the $47.3-million Cellular for Nova Scotia Program. The province also announced $3.3 million last year to build four trunked mobile radio towers, which first responders use for emergency communication. The new funding brings the total investment to $69.2 million.

The province is also partnering with Rogers to upgrade infrastructure at 27 existing sites and connect them to the Rogers network.

“This will significantly improve connectivity for Nova Scotians over the next two years,” Masland said. “It’s what our province needs to keep pace with technology and population growth while improving safety in rural communities.”

The overall program is expected to connect more than 12,000 unserved civic addresses, which represents about 62 per cent of the more than 20,000 identified in a 2022 Cell Gap Study. It will also connect 562 kilometres of unserved primary roadways, or 56 per cent of the 1,010 kilometres of the unserved roadways.

The first four towers will be up by spring 2025, with the remaining new and upgraded sites ready between summer 2025 and spring 2027.

Some areas of the province, like Greenfield, are cellular dead zones. Residents and businesses have to rely on landlines or Wi-Fi calling.

The Greenfield work is expected to be completed by fall of 2026.

Fire Chief Moyal Conrad called it a “game changer” for rural fire departments.

“The public is going to be so much more protected with cell service in rural areas and with us being able to do our job easier and better,” he told reporters after the announcement.

Conrad said improvements to the mobile trunked radio network will also help departments like his serve their communities better.

“That trunk radio that’s what we do all our communications on. … All vital information goes across that. The Nova Scotia government is giving us (volunteer fire departments) all new radios this year, that’s another $100 million they’re sticking out there for us.

“This is very, very, very good news.”

Conrad said the lack of reliable cell service also affects recruitment efforts, at a time when it’s tough enough for rural departments to find volunteers.

“If you signed up today to be a fireman and you never got to a call, you’re not going to be very interested in coming. So the cell service, we’ll be able to put out more information. People will be able to know when there’s a call and they’re going to be able to respond.”

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman said the municipality had been putting money aside in a special reserve fund to build their own tower for Greenfield, or to try to partner with the neighbouring Municipality of the District of Lunenburg.

“This is absolutely amazing, not only for Queens but for all rural counties, all rural places that do not have cell coverage which is so very, very vital.”

Masland told reporters that it’s taken a while to address lack of cell service in some areas because of the difficulty in doing the work in many rural areas of the province. She likened it to climbing Mount Everest.

“This is just the beginning. We’re working concurrently, not waiting to make sure that we can keep climbing. This is going to take time. We are finally a government that has put its teeth into this problem and we’re going to solve it.

“We’ll get these 27 up and like I said, we’re not stopping, we’re going to continue to climb to the top and we’re going to make sure that Nova Scotians have the cellular service they deserve.”

The 27 new towers will be added to the more than 60 the province already owns. Under its agreement with Rogers, the government is pitching in 80 per cent of the cost, while Rogers will pick up the remaining 20 per cent or about $3.7 million.

The ultimate goal is to have 99 per cent coverage for basic voice call service and up to 85 per cent coverage for high-definition service for things like high-quality audio or video, internet browsing, email and streaming.

Masland said the province will also be applying to the federal government for help with some of the cost.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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

Region of Queens councillors have approved an extra $33,272 in work at Hillsview Acres to prepare for elevator upgrades at the facility. (Facebook)

UPDATED 3:55 p.m. Friday

It’s going to cost a little more to upgrade the elevator at a nursing home in north Queens.

Region of Queens councillors held a special meeting on Wednesday to approve an extra $33,272 for electrical and alarm panel work at Hillsview Acres in Greenfield.

The region owns and operates the 29-bed long-term care home.

Joanne Veinotte, the region’s director of corporate services, told councillors that in 2022, the contractor responsible for maintaining and inspecting the elevator told staff “that it was nearing its end of life. Should something happen to the elevator we would not be able to replace it in a timely manner.”

Council had already approved $86,250 in their 2023/24 capital budget for the work on the facility’s elevator.

But when the elevator contractor, TK Elevator, visited Hillsview in the spring, workers found that the existing alarm panel and supporting electrical components needed to be upgraded to accommodate the work on the electrical components of the elevator.

The extra costs break down as follows:

• Alarm panel upgrade – $21,913
• Basement changes to accommodate new access – $2,077
• Electrical work to install new panel $7,914.50

Veinotte told councillors that the elevator contractor is due to be at the facility in the second week of August to do the work.

“All of the panel work has to be done before they come which is why we had this sense of urgency to come and ask for council’s approval for this unbudgeted expense.”

Councillors voted unanimously to approve the extra cost and to fund it from the Hillsview Acres reserve fund, which sits at more than $800,000.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

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.

The session is open to everybody. You can call 902-830-1347, email api@sweb.energy or check out their website here for more information. 

(File photo via RCMP NS Facebook page)

Highway 210 between Labelle Road and Greenfield is closed after a transport truck “jackknifed” on the road just before noon Thursday.

Emergency crews are on scene. RCMP have asked motorists to avoid the area.

The road has since been reopened.