Farmers will get some help from the Nova Scotia government to expand their operaitons. (Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture via Facebook)

The Nova Scotia government is devoting $5 million over the next three years to help new and existing farmers buy farmland to encourage more agriculture.

“Young farmers and growing family operations often struggle to find affordable farmland to expand their business. This program gives them a practical way to grow their farms and secure their future,” Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow said Thursday in announcing the program at the Nova Scotia Federation of Agriculture’s Farmers’ Forum in Truro.

The Program for Accessing Agricultural Land will be administered by the Nova Scotia Farm Loan Board, which is a Crown lending agency under the Department of Agriculture.

The three-year pilot program includes four streams:

• a low-cost land-leasing option for new farmers and for exisiting farmers to expand their farms
• a second land-leasing option that allows farmers to build equity for a future purchase
• deferred financing to help grow new farms
• startup loans for land, equipment and livestock to help new farmers

As of March, the Farm Loand Board had $314 million in loans issued to 380 clients located mainly in rural Nova Scotia, according to the Department of Agriculture. That supported 3,180 full-time-equivalent employees, $191.6 million in gross domestic product and $35.8 million in provincial tax revenue

More information on the program is available at: https://nsfarmloan.ca/program-for-accessing-agricultural-land. Guidelines and applications will be available on the site in mid-January.

Damien Barry was appointed to the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board on Feb. 8. (Louisbourg Seafoods photo)

Nova Scotia’s minister of fisheries and aquaculture has appointed a new member to the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board.

Damien Barry, a lawyer in Sydney and CAO and general counsel for Louisbourg Seafoods, was appointed Feb. 8, according to the government’s website listing members of agencies, boards and commissions.

Barry is originally from Ennis, Ireland. A former family and immigration lawyer with Sampson McPhee Lawyers in Sydney, he was hired by Louisbourg Seafoods in December 2018.

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.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to Thursday’s news update below