Region of Queens councillors recently discussed the future of fireworks at municipal events. (Pexels via Pixabay)
The traditional Canada Day fireworks display on the Liverpool waterfront will go ahead this year, but it may look and sound different at future celebrations.
Many people in recent years have questioned whether municipalities should continue their fireworks displays.
People with post-traumatic stress disorder and others who are neurodivergent can be triggered by the lights and noise from fireworks.
Pets and other animals can also be traumatized.
Regional councillors discussed it at their meeting in early May, after some residents took their concerns to Mayor Scott Christian.
“And the nature of their reservations or advocacy against the use of fireworks,” Christian told councillors, “is related to the impact that it has on wildlife, impact that it has on pets, and impact that it has for members of our community who have post-traumatic stress from certain events and the impact that loud fireworks have with respect to that, as well as folks who are neurodivergent or can become overstimulated because of environmental stuff.”
District 1 Coun. Roberta Roy said most residents wouldn’t be happy if the region cancelled or changed the July 1 fireworks.
“I mean that park is full,” she said. “You have fireworks, you have a full park. People come in from all over the county and other counties. I just think people will say, you know, taking something else away from us.”
District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he opposes fireworks because they can be so upsetting to animals and humans alike.
“Just for the record, there are people on my end of town that have fireworks because it’s a Tuesday. … So it’s just like once the fireworks season starts and they can buy them, you never know when they’re going to be cracking off. And it does drive the dogs absolutely crazy. I think the community maybe makes the decision, not this council, but I am totally against fireworks.”
Councillors voted to continue with the traditional Canada Day fireworks this year, but asked staff to investigate other options for future celebrations, including looking at using silent or quiet fireworks.
And the region has decided to eliminate the largest shells during this year’s show. They are also warning people to prepare themselves and their pets to cope with increased noise until about 10 p.m..
Liverpool’s Canada Day celebrations are held in Privateer Park and begin at 2:30 with children’s entertainers Razzmatazz and magician The Amazing Mr. J. The evening’s main stage music begins at 5:30. The fireworks are scheduled to go off around 9:30.
The Liverpool International Theatre Festival has issued a call for submissions for its 2026 event. (LaRocque Photography via Liverpool International Theatre Festival Facebook page)
The Liverpool International Theatre Festival is now accepting applications from amateur theatre troupes around the world to participate in the 2026 festival from Oct. 14 to 18.
“LITF is one of the Top 10 amateur theatre festivals in the world, and we’re incredibly proud to invite
troupes to bring their stories and artistry to our community,” festival chairperson Jean Robinson said in a news release.
“Each festival is a vibrant celebration of culture, creativity and connection.”
LITF features five days of performances which are usually one-act plays, along with workshops and many social events, which give audiences an opportunity to connect with the artists. Local residents are also given a chance to host the actors, writers and directors in their own homes, enhancing the cultural exchange component of the unique festival.
Brian Muldoon of Protect Liverpool Bay says he hopes people will come out for the New Privateer Film Fest at the Astor Theatre. (Rick Conrad)
Hearings into fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay have been on hold for more than a year, but a group that fights ocean-based aquaculture says the issue isn’t going away.
To help keep awareness alive, Protect Liverpool Bay is holding a mini film festival on Thursday at the Astor Theatre.
Brian Muldoon, spokesman for the group, says they’re teaming up with Healthy Bays Network to put on the event.
“And we thought this would be a perfect time to bring people up to speed, show a couple of documentaries, and so the New Privateer Film Fest is this Thursday, June 26th at the Astor Theatre. (It’s) free to get in, and it’s from 6:30 to 9:15.”
Documentaries being screened are the CBC-produced The Salmon that Divides the Maritimes, a Greek documentary called The Sanctuary of Poseidon and Scale of Change from Hooke and the Atlantic Salmon Federation.
“It’s three excellent films,” Muldoon says. “I hope the community will come out and watch them, and then there’ll be an update on Protect Liverpool Bay and where the application stands with the Aquaculture Review Board.”
Last March, Nova Scotia’s ARB suspended planned hearings into an application by Cooke Aquaculture’s Kelly Cove Salmon to expand its operations near Coffin Island in Liverpool Bay and add two new fish farms off Brooklyn and Mersey Point.
Since then, there has been no movement on the hearing and no word from the aquaculture review board.
“It hasn’t gone away, and when I speak to different individuals in town, they go, ‘Oh, I thought it was a done deal,'” Muldoon says.
“I think it’s good to keep them updated and to keep top of mind, and here’s an opportunity leading up to our infamous Privateer Days weekend of celebration to give people an update. This will kind of bring them up to speed on what’s happening with fish farming on the East Coast.”
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told a business crowd in Liverpool in February 2024 that he was personally opposed to the expansion. But he has since talked about the need to expand resource development in the province.
“On the West Coast, they’re closing down fish farms, not renewing licences, trying to get them out of the waters and yet on the East Coast the message is ‘we’re open for business, come and let’s expand.’
“And we just don’t think that’s right.”
The New Privateer Film Fest begins Thursday at 6:30 at the Astor Theatre. It’s a free event, but Muldoon says donations to Protect Liverpool Bay are welcome.
Min Smale is the chair of the Privateer Days committee. (Rick Conrad)
It’s the celebration that kicks off summer in Liverpool with a bang.
And the organizers of this year’s Privateer Days festival hope it’s bigger and better than ever.
Min Smale is the chair of the Privateer Days committee. This is her fourth year with the event.
“We’ve tripled our sponsor dollars over last year and it’s enabled us to do a lot more than we did last year. We keep posting new things and we keep getting great feedback,” Smale said in a recent interview.
“I think everybody is going to be thoroughly excited and have a great time.”
Last year’s festival almost didn’t happen, as organizers struggled to recover sponsor dollars and volunteers after the pandemic. Smale says there’s no fear of that this year, as their budget hovers around $70,000.
They doubled their board members this year to 10. And they have about 30 additional volunteers to help run the packed event schedule over the three-day festival.
“I don’t think we’ve ever had this many eager volunteers come and help us. It’s overwhelming in a good way.”
Big sponsors like Atlantic Lottery Corp. and Coldstream Clear Distillery have come on board to help bring back the entertainment and beer tents.
Thirty artists are lined up to keep those tents hopping all weekend.
“I think the main thing I’ve heard in the last four years was, ‘When’s the beer tent coming back?’ And so we were very fortunate to be able to partner with a Nova Scotia brand like Coldstream Clear Distillery to help us get there.”
More than 60 craft, food and clothing vendors are expected to be set up in the park for the weekend.
Over a dozen events and booths are planned for kids and families, including bouncy castles from Yarmouth Big Bounce, a foam dance party and a superhero dance party.
And the popular Pirates of Halifax will return to this year’s event.
The weekend will also feature traditional historical re-enactments, like the encampment in Fort Point with the King’s Orange Rangers.
“My big things are family friendly, creating moments, support local and drive some business into the community as well as coming together as a community.”
A centrepiece of the weekend is the parade through downtown Liverpool on Saturday morning. And this year, the grand marshal will be well-known local musician and volunteer Dick Henneberry.
Smale says having a great team of volunteers has helped make preparations for this year’s festival go smoothly.
“Come out, enjoy yourself and we try to make everything as free or low cost as possible, just so we can all come together and have a great weekend.”
Privateer Days runs from June 27 to 29 at Privateer Park on the Liverpool waterfront. A full list of events is available on their Facebook page.
Andrew MacVicar is the executive director of Queens Manor Home for Special Care in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
As the new long-term care home in Liverpool takes shape, Queens Manor executive director Andrew MacVicar says the years of planning are paying off.
“Walking into the building and seeing it in 3D and seeing it unfolding, it’s pretty rewarding,” he told QCCR in a recent interview.
“It’s just really exciting to see it coming alive and it’s also really rewarding to see design elements that we spent a long time thinking about and now seeing that we were right.”
The new 112-bed facility will replace Queens County’s two existing homes – the privately run Queens Manor and the municipally owned Hillsview Acres in Greenfield. Located across from Queens Place Emera Centre, it will add 22 long-term care beds in Queens County.
“Anybody that’s driven by can see that we’re moving really quickly. It’s an 11-step process and I believe we’re at Step 9. The external envelope is up. You can clearly see bedrooms taking shape, dining rooms taking shape.”
Construction began on the $100-million complex in November 2023, after two years of intensive planning and design consultations with residents, families, staff and the community.
“I have to say the first couple of years were really labour intensive because you have one chance to design the right building,” MacVicar says.
“So we spent a lot of time asking a lot of questions about what we don’t like about our existing buildings, where we see the future of how we deliver care. We always ask the question, ‘Is this idea, this design idea, is it friendly to our staff?’”
Queens Manor shared this photo on its Facebook page of the progress of the new long-term care home in Liverpool. (Queens Manor Facebook page)
All bedrooms in the new manor will be single occupancy with private bathrooms. And each room will also have ceiling lifts that extend to the bathroom, which will make it easier for staff to help residents with mobility issues move anywhere in their room or bathroom.
“It enhances dignity for our residents, but it also enhances safety for our staff. So some lifts that may have been one- or two-person assist can be done by one person. And so it frees up staff, it prevents workplace injuries. It’s a real enhancement to our facility that you won’t see in others.”
MacVicar says that’s only one of many improvements over existing facilities.
From better multi-use spaces to help with infection control to something as seemingly simple as how the complex is oriented on the site, he said it was important to emphasize the dignity and safety of residents and staff alike in the design.
“There are two elements to providing care – the people and there’s the environment, your infrastructure,” he said.
“Our people provide excellent care, they demonstrate excellence every day, but our building hasn’t matched that. I think you’ll see a building that is friendly to its staff, which in turn means that it just enhances their ability to provide excellent care. Residents will have more privacy, more dignity. Spaces will be bright. It will be very difficult for you to find a space in that facility that doesn’t have a window. And it is a facility and institution that does not feel like a facility or an institution. It will feel like a home.”
He said staff and the design team spent a lot of time investigating what worked at newer facilities elsewhere in the province and talking to people at those facilities to see what they would improve if they could.
“So to address the future, we looked backwards a bit to some of the facilities that have already been built and we used these visits as an opportunity to test our ideas to see if what looks good on paper actually works in practice.”
MacVicar said it was also important to choose a new location that would make the manor visible to the whole community.
“So there was a shift towards a location that would take our residents and embed into the centre of the community rather than what I call warehousing seniors on a hill out of sight, out of mind. And when your community is forced to look at your long-term care facility every day it prevents them from being forgotten, which I think quite clearly this location will prevent that from happening.”
Construction is on track for residents to move in sometime in the fall of 2026.
Before that, though, the new facility needs a new name.
“We want to make sure our new home captures the legacy of both organizations but we also want to make sure we come together under a new brand, a new name.”
MacVicar said the community will have a chance during a naming campaign this fall to give their input on what the new long-term care home in Queens County will be called.
Joe Wood of Liverpool has been inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame. (Photo courtesy of Joe Wood)
Joe Wood serves up a little music history every week from a Tim Horton’s in Liverpool.
The veteran of the Canadian country music scene is now part of history himself. He is this year’s inductee in the Stan Klees builder category in the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame.
For the past 35 years, Wood’s RDR Music Group, which he co-founded with his ex-wife Trudy Wood, has been helping independent country artists and others in Canada and elsewhere get their music onto radio stations.
“At this point, we’ve sent over 10,000 songs and albums and videos to radio stations across Canada and the United States.”
Wood’s wife Lauren Tutty is also involved in the music business. Lauren Tutty Promotions tracks the music for artists once it gets to radio.
QCCR spoke to Wood recently on the phone from Toronto, where he was visiting family.
Originally a singer-songwriter in the late 1970s and ’80s, he started out in Toronto pressing vinyl, cassettes and CDs for other artists.
And when things got less physical, he pioneered digital delivery for independent artists. His was the first company in Canada to send music to radio stations over the internet. His office is anywhere he can get a connection.
“Sometimes I’ll go to MacDonald’s or Tim Horton’s or sometimes, I’ll tether my computer to my phone and I’ll go out and sit in Western Head or I’ll go out and sit in Milton and work in the car for an hour especially if it’s a beautiful day. And that’s the wonderful thing about this job. I can work anywhere that there’s internet.”
Wood says music lovers likely wouldn’t have heard of Yangaroo/DMDS, the service he uses to push music to radio, but they’d be familiar with the artists.
“They’ll hear Lennie Gallant, Jimmy Rankin, they’ll hear Valdy, they’ll hear Gord Bamford, they’ll hear Garth Brooks, Trisha Yearwood, all those clients have come through my hands and actually, the majority of those clients came through Liverpool.”
He was among the first to create a compilation CD of independent artists for radio, called Country Pak. And he launched one of the first toll-free services for artists to market their music.
About five years ago, from his home in Liverpool, Wood helped a Garth Brooks song debut at No. 1 on the Billboard country charts.
“So I was part of the team in Canada and there were three others in the United States. … We all got on the phone at the same time. Literally from Mersey Avenue, we counted down the time and it was like 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, click, we all pushed go at the same time, said goodbye to everybody, hung the phone up, and the next day, Garth Brooks debuted at No. 1 on Billboard.”
Wood’s involvement with the Canadian Country Music Association goes back to 1991. He served on its board of directors from 1992-96 and helped establish the CCMA Independent Awards in 1997.
As part of the induction, Wood’s name will be displayed on a wall at the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame at the National Music Centre in Calgary. And he says he’ll likely donate an original copy of that first compilation CD as his piece of memorabilia.
Wood isn’t the first Queens County resident to be named to the hall. He’ll join Brooklyn’s Hank Snow and Port Medway’s Carroll Baker.
He said being honoured by his peers with an award named for his friend, Canadian music pioneer Stan Klees, is pretty special.
“When you work in the sector of the industry I do, the independent sector which is massive now, it just means that they acknowledge it, they understand that that sector, that the people that are the up-and-coming artists have a voice. And for me to be recognized in that area means everything.”
After almost five decades in the music business, the 71-year-old says he’s still passionate about it.
“I love the music. It’s not work. It’s certainly not work. I get to sit down every day and there’s fresh stuff on my laptop that I get to hear. And you get to help people too. That’s the great fun. I help people go to radio. And I make sure people don’t make mistakes, the mistakes I made.”
Wood says someone asked him recently when he plans to retire.
“You know what, I’m getting the kids of the parents I put out many, many years ago, 20 years ago. And now I get to work with them. And they’ll tell me at the end, “Oh, you worked with my Dad or you worked with my Mom.’ And I’ll say, ‘Oh my you tell them I said hi.’
“It’s fun. I think I’m gonna hang in there till I get the grandkids, then I’ll retire.”
Wood will be formally inducted into the Canadian Country Music Hall of Fame with artist Lisa Brokop in a ceremony during Country Music Week from Sept. 10 to 13 in Kelowna, British Columbia.
Abigail Smith will be going to the World Judo Cadets Championships in Bulgaria in August. (Rick Conrad)
Abigail Smith is booking another international flight to wear the maple leaf.
The 17-year-old judo athlete from Queens County will be representing Canada at the World Judo Cadets Championships in Sofia, Bulgaria, Aug. 27 to 30.
There are three divisions in judo: cadet for athletes under 18, junior for those under 21, and senior.
“I’m so excited,” she told QCCR.
“It’s been my dream for so long. Years now, I’ve been wantitng to go to a world event, and cadet worlds, it’s what I’ve been working for. I moved to the city to be able to train for this goal, so to know that all my hard work paid off and I’m actually getting to go, it’s such a surreal feeling.”
Smith decided five months ago to move to Halifax and stay with a family there so she can train full time at Nova United Martial Arts.
“When I was living in Liverpool, I was only able to train three days a week on the mats because it’s such a long drive — two hours there, two hours back. I was getting home at 11, and not getting to bed until 12. This is my last year to make the cadet worlds, this is the last year I could qualify, so I said I really wanted to go for it and I talked to my coaches and my parents and everyone that’s been helping me, and they said, ‘Yep, let’s go for it’.”
Smith began judo lessons when she was four years old. She’s now ranked in the Top 10 in Canada.
She’s been racking up the frequent flyer points in the past few months, joining Team Canada for the European Judo Tour in March.
And she grabbed two bronze medals, in her usual U18 or cadet division and the U21 division, at the national judo championships in Calgary in May.
Like the fierce competitor she is, though, she was disappointed because she had her sights set on a gold in the U18 division.
“I was very upset with the results actually. To get selected for worlds, you have to win nationals. I didn’t win, but Judo Canada has the option to select another (athlete). They selected me to go also.
“I went there to win. My first fight was a good fight. And I went into my second fight, it went into golden score which is overtime and I was dominating the whole fight controlling it and a few seconds into overtime I made a mistake, I got caught and I lost that fight. Then I was very upset. Then my coach talked to me, my dad talked to me and they said you can still podium, so I fought back up to the repechage and I won the bronze medal after a few more fights.”
She’ll have a big cheering section in Bulgaria for the worlds. Her coaches Jason Scott and Jamie Slaunwhite plan to be there, along with her parents.
“It’s special, it means a lot to me, they’re my biggest supporters, my mom and dad, for them to come it’s going to be great for them to see me fight.”
Smith says she’s excited to show, again, what she can do on the world stage.
“I think i just want to go out there and fight and show my judo and leave everything on the mat. I don’t want to have any regrets after this. I just want to go out there and fight and give it my all.”
Picturesque fishing villages like Port Medway could be an attraction for film and TV crews considering productions in Queens County. (Rick Conrad)
Crews have been touring Queens County this spring scouting out possible locations to film a television series.
Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian said recently he’s been approached by “three or four” different crews considering production in the area.
“They want to do it here. I think that there’s one big project that they have the creative greenlight on and they’re just looking at crossing the Ts and dotting the Is and it seemed like it was pretty promising the conversations that they had,” he said in a recent interview.
“There was a lot of nodding heads and excited ideas that they were tossing around. I don’t know anything about that industry but it was pretty cool to be involved in.”
Christian didn’t say who he met with, but he said he showed some crews around Liverpool and other areas of Queens County.
The Nova Scotia government’s distant location incentive is one reason productions are looking farther outside the traditional Halifax and Chester-Mahone Bay-Lunenburg areas.
Introduced in 2024, it provides up to 10 per cent additional funding for film and TV shoots that film at least 150 kilometres away from downtown Halifax.
“It’s really cool. It’s a bit of a game changer for small to medium-size productions and so it’s sort of all eyes on Liverpool. We’re really, really well-positioned with respect to that because we’re just outside of that threshold, we’re 158 kilometres away from downtown Halifax.”
Laura Mackenzie, executive director of Screen Nova Scotia which helps bring productions to the province, told QCCR that Nova Scotia is a very attractive place for international and domestic productions.
It can stand in for any location on the northeastern seaboard such as Maine or Martha’s Vineyard, as well as places like San Francisco and other cities.
And she said with the new incentive, more places in rural parts of the province are being discovered.
“Untapped locations are really exciting for productions and there’s not a lot of them left in Canada so this distant filming bonus gives productions the opportunity to go look in areas that would never have really been taken advantage of.”
About 100 productions are filmed in Nova Scotia each year. But very few make it outside the metropolitan Halifax or Chester-Mahone Bay-Lunenburg areas.
Mackenzie says that’s because crews based in Halifax want to keep travel costs low.
“And now that we have the distant filming bonus, we can highlight areas of Nova Scotia that we know they will consider because it’s not cost prohibitive anymore, like Liverpool. So this is great news for all of us.”
She said “more than a handful” have already taken advantage of the incentive, with Cape Breton being an early choice for a couple of productions.
She didn’t know which specific companies may be looking at the Liverpool area.
“If they’ve travelled down to Liverpool to have a look at your area then there’s something there they want. They wouldn’t go there if there wasn’t something there they want. It’s definitely a good sign. It’s encouraging if you see production companies and their creatives travelling around and meeting with some of the decision-makers.”
Mackenzie cautions, though, that there are many factors that decide whether a crew will film in an area, including the ability to close roads, to use local community centres to feed their crews, and the support of the local business and artistic communities.
Melanie Perron, the co-owner of Hell Bay Brewing in Liverpool, says having film and TV crews in town would be a big boost for her business and others.
“It would be fun because I know they’ve done things like that in Mahone Bay before and it just sort of puts a place like that on the map. I think it would just be great for our area, just to show it off and let people know what we have to offer.”
Mackenzie says Screen Nova Scotia has been working with local economic development officers to give them tips on how to make their area attractive to a production.
She said locations like Lunenburg have streamlined the process, to eliminate as many obstacles as possible. Those municipalities also have one person available to help productions work through permits, deal with police, set up security and work with the community and local business.
“Ultimately the economic impact is pretty great,” Mackenzie says.
“Productions really want to make sure that they’re giving back so if they can use the local restaurants they’re going to use them, if they can hire the artists and the unique talents and skill sets that come from that community, then they will.“
Mackenzie said a couple of Hallmark Christmas movies wrapped up filming in Nova Scotia earlier this year. Perron at Hell Bay thinks Liverpool would be a great location for one of those.
Something like Love is Brewing at Christmas?
“That would be great. They can come to Hell Bay and I’ll make them a special brew.”
Easton Goodwin and Desmond Smyth tied for the People’s Choice Award at the Atlantic International Film Festival’s youth film competition. (Rick Conrad)
Listen to the audio version of this story here:
Two young filmmakers from Liverpool have won the People’s Choice Award at this year’s Atlantic International Film Festival youth film competition.
The short films by Easton Goodwin and Desmond Smyth tied for the award, which was decided by a round of online voting. Their films were among 16 finalists out of 40 submissions.
Desmond, 16, says he’s happy that he and Easton are sharing the award.
“I got an email that said I had been selected for the People’s Choice Award but there were two really great films that tied for the category. And I was like, man, if there is one person that should have gotten this award it was Easton. So I texted him to see if he got anything and it ended up he did.
“It’s a very cool experience and I’m glad that Easton got the award because he really does deserve it. He put a lot of time and effort and he put all of his heart into the film.”
Desmond’s film November Moon is an homage to David Lynch’s movies. It follows a teenager who has visions of creatures haunting him.
Easton’s film Past Echoes is a more personal look at a young boy dealing with depression, anxiety and bullying at school.
“I couldn’t believe it honestly,” Easton, 17, said Wednesday in an interview.
“Growing up, film was one of my biggest dreams and to get to share this award with one of your best friends, it really is a pleasure. I loved Desmond’s film so much and so much work was put into it, it was great and I loved it. I think it’s awesome that we get to share it.”
The two students at Liverpool Regional High School have collaborated before on a short that also got attention at the Atlantic film festival’s youth competition. Last year, they and some friends made The Absence, which was the runner-up in the people’s choice vote.
Desmond and Easton are members of the Astor Theatre’s filmmaking club, which began in September. More than a dozen youth meet every week to work on their own projects and collaborate on bigger ones.
The club is overseen by three adult mentors, Desmond’s parents Kyle and Lori, and Dan Williams.
“There’s a lot of really, really talented kids at the film club,” Desmond says. “They certainly helped me with my film. They’re very supportive of the whole thing, which I think is awesome.”
Easton says that being part of the film club has helped him hone his filmmaking.
“The film club we can’t thank them enough, they were really helpful. They all have talent and they really did help our (pictures).”
The club wraps up for the year when school’s out for the summer. But Easton says more kids should join when the club starts up again in September.
“If you have children who might be interested in film tell them to come out because we have a great group of people and they’re all so welcoming.”
In the meantime, Easton and Desmond say they’re going to keep working on their own projects and help spread the word about the film club and the Astor’s stop-motion animation club, which will also get going again in September.
“I guess keep making films and hope for the best,” Easton says. “The best advice I ever got is to just making films, keep writing, keep filming every day and eventually it will improve and then hopefully I’ll be in the industry at some point.”
To see all the finalist films in the Atlantic International Film Festival’s youth competition this year, go to the festival’s YouTube channel.
Hailey Flemming and her dog Nala outside her family’s home in Port Medway. Hailey will be representing Nova Scotia at the Canadian Kennel Club’s National Junior Handling Championship in August. (Rick Conrad)
A young dog handler from Queens County will be representing Nova Scotia at a national championship in Manitoba.
Hailey Flemming, 12, from Port Medway plans to fly to Winnipeg in August with her family to compete in the Canadian Kennel Club’s National Junior Handling Championship.
Her family owns Medway Kennels, where they breed collies and board other people’s dogs.
Hailey has been competing in conformation and obedience shows for about two years.
She will be up against 13 other junior dog handlers from across the country as old as 19.
She’s already accomplished a lot in a short time, racking up ribbons and taking home trophies at kennel club and 4-H events in Nova Scotia.
Hailey got her first taste for the dog show ring at four years old when she showed her cousin’s Corgi.
“It’s fun. It’s a hard sport but once you get the use of it then it’s easy. And with a collie, it’s an easy breed.
“Me and Nala together, we’ve won a lot of ribbons. And with the male Maverick we’ve won a couple of ribbons too.”
Hailey, who wants to be a professional handler someday, says she feels happy when she’s in the show ring.
“And I don’t get nervous at all. It’s just go in (the ring) and like there’s a bunch of people watching you. And it seems scary but it’s not. (Nala) doesn’t get nervous either. She doesn’t pay attention to other dogs unless they touch her. But other than that, she’s pretty good listening.”
Hailey’s mom Crystal says she’s proud of what her daughter has accomplished so far.
“Pretty honoured. I’ve been with dogs all my life but I didn’t have the confidence like Hailey does in the show ring. It wasn’t something that I enjoyed. I just did it because it had to be done if you breed dogs. Hailey has been totally opposite of that. She doesn’t get nervous, she loves it and it’s showing.
“She’s got ribbons and trophies galore. It just makes me smile every time I think of it.”
Usually at an event like the famous Westminster Kennel Club show, it’s the animals that are being judged. But at the national junior handling championship in East St. Paul, near Winnipeg, it will be the humans.
“In juniors, it’s judging the kid on how well the kid does,” Crystal says. “And of course, if the dog works better with the kid, then they have more of an advantage. But there’s lots to learn in juniors. They have to do many different patterns and they have to know the parts of the dogs. They have to know what the breeds were bred to do. They’re going to ask them all kinds of questions.
“Sometimes at a regular show around here, it would just be one judge, and that judge would get them to show their dog and she may ask a few questions. At this show, there’s going to be five judges. There’s going to be one in the main ring with them, getting them to do the patterns and show their dog, and there’s going to be four others sitting down and they’re probably going to ask them questions as they go around.”
Crystal says they weren’t banking on Hailey going to the nationals this year. So, they’ve been asking for donations from friends, family and the community to help cover the approximately $4,000 cost.
“We had no clue we’d be going to Winnipeg for nationals when we went to regionals that day and that wasn’t even in our mind. … People have been extremely supportive. A lot of clients from my kennel and dog show clubs, they’re giving money to help Hailey get to Winnipeg.”
The event in Manitoba will also feature regular dog shows and obedience trials. And there will be social outings for the junior handlers and their families.
Hailey says practice, and one other vital element, have been key to her and Nala’s success so far: “Treats.”
She says she’s learned a lot working with dogs in the past few years.
“I’ve learned how to train my dogs and make her/him pay attention to me more and how to eliminate treats in obedience because you’re not allowed treats in that. I’ve learned how to, for showing, you have to run a certain way and I’ve learned to run with a glass of water in my hand and not spill it.”
Hailey is looking forward to getting into the ring with Nala for the first time at a national competition.
“Really excited. The main reason that I’m actually excited to go is to get the experience. I don’t care about winning, just the experience of getting to go there and seeing other junior handlers show because they’re really good.”
The national junior dog handling championship will be held on Aug. 16 in East St. Paul, Manitoba. The winner of that event will represent Canada at the international junior handling championship at Crufts Kennel Club in Birmingham, England, next March.
If you’d like to donate to Hailey’s trip to Manitoba, you can contact Crystal Flemming through Medway Kennels at medwaykennels@yahoo.ca, or through their Facebook page.
Eric Goulden, chairman of the Astor Theatre Society, speaks to theatre supporters on Thursday. Karen Murphy, of the J&W Murphy Foundation, and Lynn Cochrane, vice-chair of the Astor board, look on. (Rick Conrad)
The board of the Astor Theatre on Thursday unveiled some details of a plan they hope will make the theatre the centre of arts and culture on the South Shore.
“We are definitely the envy of a lot of other theatres in Nova Scotia,” Astor Theatre Society chairman Eric Goulden said.
“And it is a very, very valuable treasure.”
The historic Liverpool theatre, which opened in 1902, recently received a $500,000 donation from the J&W Murphy Foundation. The five-year funding commitment will help with the Astor’s operational expenses, and help improve its marketing, promotion and fundraising efforts.
Board members invited the community on Thursday afternoon to learn more about the foundation’s support.
The contribution will help the Astor work on long-term projects to make the theatre sustainable. Three consultants will be hired to come up with fundraising and communications plans and oversee the process.
Heather White Brittain, the director of development with the Imperial Theatre in Saint John, will lead the Astor’s fundraising and sponsorship development efforts. That will include creating a fund development database that will help the Astor secure more sustainable donations from corporations and other foundations.
Cathy Neumiller, a communications and marketing professional based in Halifax, will help create a new marketing and communications plan for the theatre. That will include a newly designed website, a subtle rebranding and more community outreach.
“We don’t have the capacity in house to do this work,” said Lynn Cochrane, vice-chair of the Astor board.
“(The employees) do miracles every day with what they have to work with. But the fund development and marketing communications side are specialist areas and require specialists to do them.”
Cochrane said a lot of the work for the first year will be behind the scenes. But lovers of the Astor should start seeing some changes by the end of this year.
Neumiller says she hopes to harness the enthusiasm of the Astor’s sizable and dedicated group of volunteers.
“It’s really about relationships,” she said in an interview.
“The ultimate with communications is striking up a relationship with someone and finding out what they’re passionate about. The goal is to find the people that are the most passionate and get them on board to help achieve the things that need to be done because there’s a lot.”
Jean Robinson-Dexter, a former executive director of the Astor and longtime chair of the Liverpool International Theatre Festival, will act as a project manager.
The president of Horizons Community Development Associates also helped Cochrane create the funding proposal to the Murphy foundation.
“I guess I’ll be a bit of a trouble-shooter and a bit of a historian about the organization and the kinds of things that the theatre does,” Robinson-Dexter said in an interview.
“I’ll be doing regular check-ins with the two wonderful consultants and sharing that back to the board, making sure we’re on track in terms of deliverables and timelines. It’s a great opportunity to be back and contributing to the Astor again.”
The foundation was established in 2008 by the late Janet and Dr. William Murphy, longtime Liverpool residents. Dr. Murphy co-founded the thriving Mersey Seafoods in 1964.
It contributes to a wide variety of charitable causes, especially in Queens County.
The foundation’s Karen Murphy told QCCR on Thursday that they had many discussions with the Astor board about how to help.
“And our conclusion was that we could assist in some funding to take away some of the operational worries so the focus could be on future-proofing the facility,” she said.
“It’s often capital projects that get a lot of attention. But we found with especially small- and medium-sized organizations, operational funding is often forgotten. And sometimes that’s the key to all the other creativity-building that needs to happen.”
She said that she and her family have been longtime supporters of the Astor and were happy to help “take it to the next level”.
“When people find out I’m from Liverpool, they invariably mention the Astor. That tells you what a legacy is already in place. And it’s on all of us to keep adding to that and to keep building it up. This place has to be here for the next 100 years like it has been already.”
People participate in a walk audit near the Thomas H. Raddall Library off the White Point Road in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
People took to the streets this week to brave some cool and wet conditions, and traffic, to get an idea of how safe it is for walkers around the new Liverpool library location.
Hike Nova Scotia held a walk audit in the area. Program manager Catherine Droesbeck said the organization has done about 15 walk audits around the province through its NS Walks program. But this was the first one for Liverpool.
The Region of Queens asked the group to hold the event to help get community input on how to encourage people to use active transportation, like walking and cycling, to get to and from the library.
“We’ve been doing walking audits now for the past nine months or so all over the province in communities big and small, who are all interested in improving the experience for pedestrians in getting around their communities,” Droesbeck said in an interview.
“Then we’ve been going in and helping them do the audit, which gives us some good data in terms of people’s experience, but also it’s a great way to engage community with government officials and other organizations to bring people together to say, ‘This is what we love about our community, but this is how we we’d like to make it better.’”
About 15 people participated in the walk audit, which took participants on a two-kilometre route from the library, along Harley Umphrey Drive, up to White Point Road, along Payzant Street, across Parker to Union, over to Waterloo and back to the library.
Morgan MacDonald, the region’s new physical activity co-ordinator, said walking is one of the most popular and accessible forms of physical activity.
“And one of the barriers to walking for many people is safety,” he said.
“So having a walkability audit allows us to take a certain portion of the region, which is around our new library location in Liverpool, and looking at the accessibility and the barriers to active transportation around this location and tying it into the existing infrastructure of the town of Liverpool. So by trying to address some of the barriers to people walking and rolling, we’re hoping that they’ll feel comfortable and confident to make that part of their everyday life.”
When participatns got back to the library, they were asked to rate the route on various factors, such as traffic, sidewalks, crosswalks and safety, out of an overall score of 120. Most were in the 40 to 50 range, with one as high as 92.
They said that even though there are no sidewalks on roads around the library, the shoulders are wide enough in some areas for walkers. But they added that the unevenness of the unpaved shoulders would make it difficult for people in wheelchairs to navigate.
They also talked about the lack of clearly marked crosswalks on the route, and suggested installing crosswalk flags at certain intersections.
When regional council decided to move the library from downtown to the new location, residents were concerned about safety because the area has no sidewalks and limited lighting.
Sylvia Hurley of Liverpool was one of the walkers. She says she loves to walk, but it can sometimes be hazardous.
“And I have a lot of concerns about areas of walking, crosswalks, how walkers are treated locally, not stopping at crosswalks, not paying attention to us. I wanted to express my concerns big time,” she said on the route.
“I used to walk out on this street (White Point Road), but I haven’t walked here for a very long time. It’s dangerous, very dangerous. It’s narrow. But I’m fortunate because I can come up George Street from my house and be to the library which suits me. I don’t have to come out on to this road, but not everyone’s that fortunate.”
Hurley said she thinks the walking audit is a great idea.
“But if they’re going to do an audit, do the audit but honour what people say. Don’t just, ‘Oh yeah, they complained about this, they complained about that.’ Let’s do something about it.”
Hike Nova Scotia’s Droesbeck said responses from the walk audit will be compiled in a report to the municipality.
“I think we identified some, what we’ll call low-hanging fruit today, that the community can do that will go a long way to make people feel safer when they’re walking this particular route. So whether it’s marking the crosswalks better, looking at speed limit signs, more some benches and things that will make it look more like, OK, people want to walk here and walk safely. So I think there’s some possibilities there.”
The region’s MacDonald said this was only the first of a few community consultations about active transportation, including walking and cycling. More are planned this summer through Cycling Nova Scotia in Caledonia, Greenfield and again in Liverpool.
He said the results of this week’s walk audit are important to highlight for regional staff and council the community’s concerns about walking in the area.
“So it was looking at how all of these different systems interact and how we can make infrastructure and spaces that work for everybody and encourage healthy activity and safe activity in our community.”
Dan Roscoe is the CEO of Roswall Development, which owns Renewall Energy, the company behind Mersey River Wind. (Renewall Energy)
Work may start soon on the Mersey River Wind project in Milton.
Dan Roscoe is the CEO of Roswall Development, the company that plans to build a 33-wind turbine farm on 80 hectares of Crown land west of the Mersey River, under its Renewall Energy subsidiary.
He told QCCR this week that the company is still on track to erect its first batch of windmills by late 2026.
“We still hope to start in the next few months and take advantage of the summer season,” Roscoe said in an interview.
“Turbines are still scheduled to arrive likely next June, but generally the middle of next year. It’s still our plan to do 20 turbines in ’26 and 13 turbines in ‘27.”
Roscoe said most of the site-clearing work has been done. And he expects crews to begin working on the roads this spring and summer.
“We would’ve all loved to have a shovel in the ground by now, but we’re still on schedule for ’26.”
There’s a lot of excitement locally about the project, which promises to sell electricity directly to consumers, bypassing Nova Scotia Power. And Renewall says their rates will be lower and more stable than the privately owned utility.
When about 24 windmill blades showed up in Port Mersey Commercial Park in Brooklyn recently, people thought they were for the Mersey River project.
Roscoe says that equipment doesn’t belong to them. Those are for a wind farm in Benjamins Mill near Falmouth.
“Those are going to a project in Hants County. But that is the same route that we’re planning to use for all of our components, not just the blades.”
Roswall has about 30 commercial, industrial and institutional customers signed up for Mersey River Wind so far, including the Region of Queens and other municipal governments in Halifax, Shelburne and Bridgewater.
And he said hundreds of individuals have added their names to a list of early residential customers. Those who live near the wind farm, essentially anybody in Queens County, will get priority access.
“With many of our customers, there’s this push for stability, especially in the public sector where you’re trying to operate under a fixed budget. If your electricity cost goes up, your cost of water treatment goes up, but if you can stabilize your cost of energy well that major input into your water treatment cost is now is now stabilized and predictable. I suggest that climate and so forth, bring us together, but it’s really the commercial terms that they could save money and have predictability going forward which really is what gets people the most excited.”
Roscoe says the company’s community liaison committee will keep people updated as construction begins.
According to the reasons accompanying the order, Global Empire terminated 74 people on March 15, 2024, three weeks after it issued layoff notices on Feb. 26, and before the original termination date of April 19.
Debra Lalonde-MacDonald, who moved to the area a few years ago from Ontario, was one of those people who lost her job. She filed a complaint with the Nova Scotia Labour Standards Division shortly after the layoff. She provided QCCR with a copy of the decision.
Lalonde-MacDonald told QCCR this week that management assured employees that their jobs were secure, despite the February layoff notice.
“There was just an abundance of reassurance from our management that it was precautionary and that our jobs were very secure,” she said.
“For many, it was tragic, especially (those) who had moved from out of province to come here and work. For my personal situation, after three years of a local job search with valid skills and exhausting so many employers in the community, it was challenging. … Very disappointing news at that point in my life thinking of re-entering the job market that had closed its door repeatedly for three years.”
According to the decision by Labour Standards officer Kyle Barrie, the Liverpool call centre lost a contract with Lifeline Systems Company on March 1, 2024, which led to the job cuts.
Lifeline, which provides medical alert services, claimed that Global Empire wasn’t fulfilling its obligations under the contract it signed in November 2021.
Lifeline said the call centre failed in “providing guaranteed minimum number of agents per month, the minimum number of service hours, and meeting average speed of answer obligations.”
But according to Global Empire’s February layoff notice that was quoted in the Labour Standards ruling, it needed 130 employees to cover the Lifeline work and that it was never able to hire that many people.
“Unfortunately after many promises and failed attempts to provide our client the needed 130 employees, they no longer have faith in our hiring abilities and as such will be terminating their contract with us. We are a service provider for them, and we have not been able to provide them with the service.”
It also blamed minimum wage increases, a lack of affordable housing in Liverpool, and the provincial government for not following through on promised payroll rebates.
In the ruling, Labour Standards said Global Empire didn’t do enough to avoid the layoff.
”While (Global Empire) did take some steps to meet its obligations, such as posting ads online, going door to door, and hiring foreign workers already situated in Canada, I find it has not demonstrated on a balance of probabilities that it exercised sufficient due diligence to foresee and avoid the cause of the layoff,” Barrie wrote in his decision.
“(Global Empire) could have done more due diligence prior to entering into the service agreement of November 2021, to confirm whether it would be able to meet its staffing obligations.
“There was nothing sudden about the problems the (company) says prevented it from reaching the required staffing levels from the beginning of the service agreement with Lifeline Systems in 2021.
“In reviewing the evidence, I find the reason for the layoff was within the (company’s) control. Simply put, the (company) entered into an agreement it could not fulfill. Its failure to fulfill its responsibilities under the service agreement in 2024 cannot excuse its inability to fulfil its responsibilities from the end of 2021, through the beginning of 2022, and forward. I find the employees’ terminations were within the (company’s) control.”
For her part, Lalonde-MacDonald says she’s not celebrating yet. The company has 10 days to appeal the order to the province’s labour board. If it does, that would further delay a payout to laid-off employees.
“I’m hesitant to be elated about it,” she said.
“With the appeal process pending, only time will tell. Should they be able to collect that, it would be fantastic. That would be a relief for us all. It was hard news for us to receive for so many reasons. … I’d be happy to see that we have policy makers’ support to make sure that that money’s collected.”
Lalonde-MacDonald said it’s difficult to find a well-paying job in the area. And being properly compensated for the layoff would be a help.
“Fourteen months later, … it’s just good to know that there’s protection but questionable on whether or not they’re going to be able to collect it.
“All we can do is hope that that order to pay is strong enough, so that the 69 of us that have been deemed entitled to our five weeks of pay in lieu of notice that we actually receive it.”
She said she’s upset that municipal and provincial governments didn’t provide more support to the former employees of Global Empire in Liverpool.
The Region of Queens signed a long-term lease with the company in December 2021 to move into the municipally owned Business Development Centre building. At the time, it was the company’s only Canadian location.
Before the layoffs, about 120 people worked at the call centre.
In early February 2024, the company wanted to renegotiate its lease with the region, saying it was using half the space it originally needed.
The region signed a new lease with the company on Feb. 1. It was approved by council in a closed-door session on Feb. 13.
The lease has never been made public.
Mayor Scott Christian said he’s not familiar with the terms of the lease, since it was signed before he was elected.
He said it’s “problematic” when employers in the community are found to have violated labour rules, but he said it doesn’t mean the region should impose its own values on one of its tenants.
“I think it’s too bad that that operation hasn’t been successful and that there have been layoffs and that they never really were able to stand up the labour force to be able to make that a vibrant and successful operation. I think that that is regrettable.”
The Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration would not comment on the ruling or say whether the company has appealed or honoured the order to pay back wages.
Neither the company nor its lawyer responded to requests for comment.
Queens County Transit says the success of a recent fundraiser will help them keep their vans running. (Rick Conrad)
A recent fundraiser for Queens County Transit roared past all the group’s expectations.
The rural transit charity based in Liverpool held its first major fundraiser last Saturday. They teamed up with the Yuk Yuk’s standup comedy tour for a show at the Astor Theatre.
Gil Johnson, chairman of the Queens County Transit board, said it was a “huge success.”
“We had a good turnout and everybody seemed to enjoy the show and now the end result was is that we made a little over $13,000.”
Organizers were hoping to raise $10,000 from the show and a 50/50 draw. Johnson thanked the sponsors and community for their support. And he credited fellow board member Tara Smith with making it all happen.
“Tara Smith has been the driving force behind this fundraiser and if it wouldn’t have been for her, it wouldn’t have happened. She put a team together of volunteers and made this the success that it is, so the rest of us were just along for the ride.”
The service began seven years ago with one used accessible van and a team of volunteers. Its fleet has grown to eight vans, five of which are accessible. It also employs 11 people. Nine of those are drivers.
It’s one of 23 rural transit services in Nova Scotia.
Johnson says the success of the fundraiser shows people appreciate the services that Queens County Transit provides.
“It is now part of the infrastructure of Queens County. That service of moving people, keeping people connected one ride at a time. And people are starting to understand that we are there to serve.”
Johnson says the money raised will go toward their vehicle replacement fund.
“Right now, we have an immediate need to replace one of our older vehicles that’s costing us as much in the garage as it does to get it down the road.”
If you need a ride on Queens County Transit, they ask that you contact them at least 24 hours in advance by contacting them at 902-356-2670, by email at info@queenscountytransit.ca or message them on Facebook.
Members of the South Queens Middle School Grade 7/8 band perform at the Queens County Music Festival in late April. (Rick Conrad)
It looks like the band program at South Queens Middle School in Liverpool will live to play another day, though it’s unclear in what form.
Parents and others vented their frustrations online a couple of weeks ago when they heard the school planned to cut the program for next year.
It came on the eve of the 80th annual Queens County Music Festival at the Astor Theatre. The festival features young musicians and vocalists from school and private music programs being scored on their performances by trained adjudicators.
The middle school’s Grade 7 and 8 band competed at the festival.
Principal Stacy Thorburn told QCCR on Wednesday that she hopes to have good news for students and parents by the end of the week.
“It’s in the works. I’m in conversations to find out how it will look next year.”
The program includes about 40 students.
In a message to students and their families on Friday, the school said they’re looking at ways to continue offering it next year.
“School administration is having ongoing conversations with nearby schools to explore potential collaboration opportunities and are looking at creative staffing solutions, all with the intention to continue offering the band program,” the note read.
“Additionally, discussions regarding the band program are planned with the school advisory council.”
Thorburn didn’t want to comment on what led to the worries about the program’s survival.
“I would rather not because there are lots of things that go into play. And I’ve had conversations with our (school advisory council) and members of our community who have asked so I’d rather keep it at that for now, until we know for sure what’s happening.
Regional councillors are back to budget talks on Tuesday evening. (Rick Conrad)
The Region of Queens is about to announce who its new top staffer will be.
Councillors will publicly appoint the region’s new chief administrative officer at a special meeting on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
In a staff report, acting municipal clerk Heather Cook says more than 40 applications for the job were received from across Canada.
Shortlisted candidates went through two interviews with the region’s CAO selection committee. That committee included Mayor Scott Christian, and councillors Maddie Charlton, Stewart Jenkins and Courtney Wentzell.
Dan McDougall has filled in as interim CAO since Joudry was fired.
The region’s new CAO is set to start the job in mid-June.
Queens councillors are also back to budget discussions on Tuesday evening.
This will be the third public meeting about the 2025/26 budget.
Councillors began their budget deliberations on April 24 by looking at capital and infrastructure spending. Last week, they tackled the operating budget.
On Tuesday evening, they’ll address issues that came up in the first two meetings, as well as any other changes or requests from councillors.
Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR last week that the region has about a $1-million surplus from 2024/25. But he said the specific surplus won’t be known until finance staff go through the final numbers and release the audited figures later this year.
Residents or the media were not provided with draft budget documents as they were last year. So far, only the region’s staff and councillors have a complete picture of the actual numbers from 2024/25 and the forecasted totals for this year.
The special meeting will be held at council chambers on White Point Road and livestreamed on YouTube and Facebook.
Donna Croft and Gil Johnson of Queens County Transit in Liverpool are gearing up the group’s Yuk Yuk’s fundraiser at the Astor Theatre on Saturday. (Rick Conrad)
Queens County Transit got on the road seven years ago with one used wheelchair-accessible van catering mostly to seniors in Liverpool.
“When we started out, we had one old used wheelchair-accessible van that we got from over in Clare. And I think it was in the garage more than it was on the road,” says chairman Gil Johnson.
Now, the community organization based in Liverpool provides affordable transportation around Queens County and beyond.
It’s one of 23 rural transit services around Nova Scotia.
The Queens County Transit fleet has grown to eight vans, five of which are accessible. And it employs 11 people, nine of whom are drivers.
Ridership is up too, by almost 30 per cent over the past two years. In 2023/24, the service completed 8,218 trips. About three-quarters of those were for seniors. Ridership so far this year is up by more than 1,000, with only half of overall passengers seniors.
But with increased popularity come increased costs.
“Without community support we would be dead in the water, we wouldn’t be operating,” Johnson says.
“Seven years ago, Queens County was one of four counties in the province that did not have a transit system. Today, we’re one of the leaders and we’re proud of that and we want to be able to keep going but we can’t do it without funding partners, fundraisers. ”
That’s why Queens County Transit has organized its first major fundraiser at the Astor Theatre for this Saturday, May 3. They’ve teamed up with the Yuk Yuk’s standup comedy tour for a show at the historic theatre at 7:30.
Comedians Francois Weber, Andrew Evans and Ian Black are set to hit the Astor stage.
“That’s going to be a good event,” Johnson says. “It’s going to be something new. Yuk Yuk’s haven’t been to Liverpool in quite some time.”
They’re also planning a silent auction at the event.
Queens County Transit gets about 35 per cent of its operational funding from the province and some other funding from the Region of Queens.
That funding and community support are vital so that the service can continue to offer rides to residents at reasonable rates.
A round trip within Liverpool, Brooklyn or Milton costs $10. That goes up to about $15 for longer rides to other areas of the county.
But the service also offers much-needed subsidized rides for medical trips to Queens General Hospital in Liverpool or to Halifax.
Manager Donna Croft says that through funding from the Queens General Hospital Foundation, it can offer a round-trip to an appointment in Halifax for as little as $100. The full cost is usually $160.
“It’s not only the seniors we’re catering to,” Croft says. “We’re catering to all ages. Say a mom with an infant has to go to the city to the IWK and she has no means of getting there or she has to wait for an ambulance to take them through. We have the monies through (the hospital foundation) that we can do that drive for them to get her to the IWK.”
“That’s a huge piece of the mandate of community transit, is to be able to get people to those appointments in an affordable fashion because it goes back to our funding partners,” Johnson says. “They’re the ones who help us subsidize those rides. But if you wanted to rent Queens County Transit to go shopping just on your own or to go for a drive, that’s available as well. It wouldn’t be subsidized. It would be fully funded out of pocket.”
Tickets are still available for the Yuk Yuk’s comedy fundraiser through the Astor Theatre box office or Ticketpro.ca.
And if you need a ride on Queens County Transit, they ask that you contact them at least 24 hours in advance by contacting them at 902-356-2670, by email at info@queenscountytransit.ca or message them on Facebook.
Shelly Panczyk is the chairwoman of the Queens County Food Bank in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)
The Queens County Food Bank won’t have to worry about its rent for the next four years as Region of Queens councillors voted this week to give the group a rent subsidy.
As part of its budget talks, councillors agreed to the food bank’s request for an annual grant of $15,500 to cover the rent at its Main Street location in Liverpool.
Shelly Panczyk, chair of the Queens County Food Bank, told QCCR on Thursday that “it’s a wonderful thing.”
“That helps us out because it will give us more working capital to purchase food,” she said.
“We’ve been back and forth with the last council. This is probably our fourth time trying to get something and this council has done it. And I’ve got to give them a good clap around, because they’ve done a good thing. And I think people will step up and be aware that this council is a workable council.”
Before the food bank was forced out of a derelict municipal property in 2019 and began leasing space on Main Street, it paid no rent. Demand for their services has grown, as food costs have risen and donations have plummeted by about 50 per cent.
About 240 families a month use the Liverpool group’s services.
Food bank representatives appealed to councillors at their March 25 meeting for rent relief after the organization was hit with a $10,000 bill to fix its freezer. It’s also committed to begin food pantries for elementary and high school students throughout Queens County.
Mayor Scott Christian said councillors are trying to make more room in the region’s budget to help residents on low or fixed incomes. Council is also considering expanding the region’s low-income property tax exemption program.
“It’s really hard when you’re an organization like Queens County Food Bank when you don’t have certainty of available resources, like you’re constantly competing for available grants,” he said.
“ Their board members did a good job of articulating the financial need that that group has and those are the type of investments I think this council likes to make, so I’m pleased to see if we spend $20 to $25,000 on the low-income tax exemptions and another $15,500 on the food bank, again, it’s challenging, and we need to make sure that the province pays their fair share as it relates to community wellness, but from my perspective, that’s money well spent from the municipality.”
Council has another budget meeting scheduled for Tues., May 6 at 6 p.m.
Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian, right, wraps up the municipality’s second budget meeting on Monday night. Also pictured is interim CAO Dan McDougall. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)
Region of Queens councillors began their 2025/26 budget discussions with some money in the bank from 2024/25, as they look to make life a little easier for people on low or fixed incomes.
Mayor Scott Christian said the region has a surplus in the million-dollar range. But he said it’s difficult to know for sure until finance staff crunch the final numbers.
Last year, council began budget deliberations with a $650,000 surplus from 2023/24. Nova Scotia municipalities are not allowed to run an operating budget deficit.
Councillors are following a different process this year. While the meetings are public, residents don’t have access to draft budget documents as they did in last year’s discussions.
“I think in past years, there was a lot of emphasis on starting with a tax rate and then working down or whittling away at that or as you add things, the tax rate implications,” Christian told QCCR.
“I think that this year we wanted to focus on funding the right things, identifying what are going to be appropriate things to include in the capital investment plan, and then get that operating budget right. So I think it was a conscious decision but that was staff-driven that they thought that let’s try to get it right, try to set the appropriate budget given what the needs of the community are, and then look at it on balance with revenue and see what the implications are for the ratepayer.”
In their second public budget meeting earlier this week, councillors discussed boosting the low-income property tax exemption and helping the Queens County Food Bank with its rent.
They also found out that the region has about $325,000 left over from the renovations to the new Thomas H. Raddall Library space. Councillors had approved up to $1.26 million for that work.
And revenue at Queens Place Emera Centre is forecasted to be down this year because of less advertising and sponsorship and no major full-facility rentals planned to March 31, 2026.
Heading into 2025/26, the region expects to get $20.5 million in property tax revenue, an increase of $900,000, based on the current base tax rate of $1.04 per $100 of assessment.
That increase is mostly due to higher property assessments, which rose by $86.9 million.
Director of corporate services Joanne Veinotte took councillors through the region’s preliminary operating budget.
It was a chance for councillors to request changes, more information or additional funding.
Councillors like District 4 representative Vicki Amirault want the low-income property tax exemption increased to give more relief potentially to more people.
“I would like to up the income level,” she told councillors. “ I think we should up it $5,000 on each stage there, and up the rebate as well. I think it would be very helpful to our residents.”
Last year, the region increased the maximum income threshold to $35,000. Those in the lowest income range, up to $25,000, can get a $400 break on their taxes. Those in the top group can apply for up to $300 in relief.
Veinotte said she would report back to councillors on what relief the region could offer depending on how much more money councillors devote to the program.
District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he wants council to have a serious look at the Mount Pleasant water and wastewater extension. The region has budgeted $10.8 million toward the $21-million project. The Nova Scotia government is covering the rest.
The project would extend municipal water and sewer access to two new private housing developments in Liverpool. It would also improve existing infrastructure.
“The extension to Mount Pleasant boggles my mind when we have so much infrastructure need, including sidewalks … but not just that, with the upgrades needed in water on the west side of town, up till Union Street, I’m really having some reservations about the extension at all,” Wentzell said.
“And I’m speaking from the heart. I’m sorry if that upsets some people.”
Christian said after the meeting that councillors want to understand what exactly is involved in that project and potentially look for ways to lower the municipality’s share of the cost.
“This council’s not OK with incurring a huge amount of debt that could potentially be paid for by the general ratepayer and/or utilizing reserves that have been accumulated from the general ratepayer to pay for that service extension. And we currently don’t have any federal monies that are committed to that project. I think that that’s problematic. What is the plan with service extension? What impacts does that have on preparing us for future growth but also what impacts does it have, attending to known and foreseeable issues associated with the existing infrastructure for our utilities?”
Councillors will resume budget talks on Tues., May 6 at 6 p.m. at council chambers on White Point Road.
An undated aerial photo of the former Bowater Mersey plant in Brooklyn. (Queens County Historical Society Photo Collection, housed at the Queens County Museum)
Northern Pulp has asked for another extension in protection from its creditors as it continues to look for financing to build a new kraft pulp mill in Liverpool.
The company, owned by Domtar-controlled Paper Excellence, has been under creditor protection since June 2020 after it closed its pulp mill in Abercrombie Point, Pictou County.
On March 10, the company and the Nova Scotia government announced that Northern Pulp would get a five-week extension while it tried to make a profitable business case for a new kraft pulp mill in Liverpool.
That was after the company said that its nine-month feasibility study found that a new mill in Liverpool didn’t make business sense. It said it would spend the five-week extension looking for private and public financing.
The multinational corporation estimated a new mill would cost $2.5 billion in government and private funding to design and build. And it would require an annual rate of return of at least 14 per cent, as outlined in a settlement agreement signed with the Nova Scotia government and approved by a B.C. court in May 2024.
Bowater operated a pulp and paper mill in Brooklyn, near Liverpool, from 1929 to 2012, over the years employing thousands of people in Queens County.
In a news release Tuesday evening, Northern Pulp said it filed documents earlier in the day requesting the extension under the Companies’ Creditors Arrangement Act until July 18.
“The company will use this time to further advance preparations for a potential sale of its assets, should a new mill not be feasible,” the release said. “Additionally, Northern Pulp will continue discussions with various stakeholders and rights holders regarding the feasibility of establishing a new bioproducts hub in Liverpool, Nova Scotia.”
Premier Tim Houston sent a letter on March 20 to Prime Minister Mark Carney and Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre asking them both to support the company’s application for federal financing through the Canada Infrastructure Bank.
Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton told QCCR in March that the province has been working with the company to make a new mill work.
“We know we need a home for the low-grade wood fibre but at the end of the day, this is going to be a business decision from their part,” Rushton said.
“We’re willing to work with them to meet the environmental standards of a new-era mill that would find a home for ecologically produced forest products.”
Paper Excellence has said a new mill would also potentially produce biogas and biochemicals used in food, pharmaceuticals, cosmetics and adhesives.
Last May, Houston announced a deal with Paper Excellence to settle the company’s $450-million lawsuit against the province after Northern Pulp was forced to close its mill because of environmental concerns.
The hearing on the company’s latest request is set for Fri., May 2.
Newly elected South Shore-St. Margarets MP Jessica Fancy-Landry speaks to a voter in Liverpool earlier in the campaign. (Rick Conrad)
UPDATED TUESDAY at 5:20 P.M.
Voters in South Shore-St. Margarets went back to the Liberals on Monday night, electing first-time candidate Jessica Fancy-Landry in a decisive victory.
Fancy-Landry beat Conservative incumbent Rick Perkins by about 7,000 votes, grabbing 55 per cent support.
The Liberal got 27,871 votes to Perkins’s 20,854, according to preliminary results from Elections Canada.
“I think it was our positivity,” she told QCCR in an interview.
“We ran a very positive and clean and energetic campaign and I think that really resonated with a lot of people here.”
Turnout in the riding was just over 72 per cent, which was higher than the national rate of about 67 per cent.
Fancy-Landry is originally from Caledonia and now lives in Bridgewater. She’s a teacher at Forest Heights Community School in Chester Basin.
Perkins was first elected in 2021, ousting then-fisheries minister Bernadette Jordan.
Fancy-Landry said the big issue on the campaign trail was affordability and people’s concerns over the cost of living.
“Also, Trump and tariffs and then being a coastal riding, definitely fisheries,” she said.
“But I really think right now it’s time to unify all of our community and really build on this positivity and build trust back where the Liberal Party might have lost trust in a couple of different areas within the riding.”
She said she believes growing up in the area helped cement her win.
“I think that was my secret sauce. We need someone who has been here, has their feet on the street, has raised their kids here and really knows those intimate concerns and issues for the area and has the connections to bring people together.
“I really think it was that positivity in bringing people together that really spoke to a lot of people because politics right now is just so divisive. And we need to unify as a nation. And I really felt like … now that we have that mandate, we can start doing a lot of really good work.”
She said she’s already heard from municipal leaders from around the riding, as well as other Liberal MPs to help her in her new role.
Fancy-Landry said that in the next few weeks, she’ll be getting orientation as a first-time MP and meeting with the rest of the newly elected Liberal caucus.
She’ll also be wrapping up her career as a teacher.
But she’s looking forward to getting to work as the MP for South Shore-St. Margarets.
“That’s been my tagline for the last 37 days: ‘Let’s get to work,’” she said.
“And now we’re here and we’ve got to put our money where our mouth is and work really hard for our constituents, all constituents.”
The Green Party’s Mark Embrett finished third with 818 votes. Patrick Boyd of the People’s Party of Canada was the choice of 698 people and independent candidate Hayden Henderson got 460 votes.
Elections Canada said 50,701 of 70,205 eligible electors voted. That included just over 19,000 people who turned out for advance polls over the Easter weekend.
Katharina Cochrane, vice-president of the South Queens Chamber of Commerce, says voters seem to be ‘dialled in’ during this election. (Rick Conrad)
Nova Scotia’s South Shore is known for its ocean breezes and waterfront vistas, drawing thousands of tourists each year to relax on its many beaches.
But in the 2025 federal election campaign, there’s nothing laidback about the race to win the riding of South Shore-St. Margarets.
Incumbent Rick Perkins is trying to keep the seat for the Conservatives, while newcomer Jessica Fancy-Landry hopes to win it back for the Liberals. Mark Embrett is running for the Green Party and Patrick Boyd is representing the People’s Party of Canada. Hayden Henderson is running as an Independent.
In the 2021 election, Perkins beat Liberal incumbent Bernadette Jordan by about four per cent, or 1,800 votes. The NDP finished a strong third, capturing 19 per cent of the vote. Turnout was about 63 per cent.
This time, however, with no declared NDP candidate, it appears to be a two-way race between Conservative Perkins and Liberal Fancy-Landry in the April 28 vote.
2025 FEDERAL ELECTION: QCCR INTERVIEWS THE CANDIDATES
Perkins lives in St. Margarets Bay and says this is the most enthusiastic voters have been since he first ran in 2019.
“I’m getting a great response, a lot of people appreciating the job I’ve done for the last four years, and we’re almost running out of signs,” he told QCCR in early April.
Fancy-Landry is originally from Caledonia, Queens Co., and now lives in Bridgewater. The teacher, community volunteer and first-time candidate says it’s been an energetic campaign so far, with lots of great conversations with voters.
“Tariffs and Trump seem to be on the lips of everybody that we are talking to,” she says.
“Affordability. We’re hearing a lot about environmental (concerns), coastal impact, whether it’s fishing, whether it’s Christmas tree farming, whether it’s some of our forestry. People have really been reaching out to see what we can do to help bolster and support the different economies along our South Shore.”
The Greens’ Embrett is an implementation scientist with Nova Scotia Health. This is the Queensland resident’s first full campaign, though he’s had his name on the ballot in previous elections for the Greens.
“I decided to align myself with the Green Party because their values around equity and transparency and government and fairness and policies really echoed my own beliefs and my own values.”
The People’s Party’s Boyd is originally from Vancouver and moved to Sable River three years ago, after spending some time overseas in international banking. This the first campaign for the consultant and hobby farmer.
“We’re sicker than we’ve ever been. We’re poorer than we’ve ever been. We’re more censored than we’ve ever been. And at the same time, you can see the parties that are running, they can really be described as a globalist uniparty. So whether you’re on the Liberal side or the Conservative side, it’s really hard to differentiate or distinguish between policies.”
The riding covers a vast territory, stretching from Head of St. Margarets Bay outside Halifax to Clark’s Harbour at the southwestern tip of Nova Scotia.
In the 2021 election, it counted just under 80,000 voters. But it lost some of those electors when the boundaries were redrawn in 2023.
People seem motivated this time to get out and vote. About 19,000 people voted in advance polls over the Easter weekend, mirroring early turnout in the rest of Nova Scotia at about 25 per cent.
Katharina Cochrane is vice-president of the South Queens Chamber of Commerce.
“I think people are really dialed in on this election this time which in the past people (were) not really that interested, but even younger people, first-time voters, they’re very anxious about the whole situation with America. And in general, it’s not as easy to get yourself in a situation where you can afford a house or get a place, live a middle-class life.
“So I think people are very anxious to see some changes.”
Cochrane says some of the main concerns in the Liverpool area are housing, poverty and rural development.
“There’s a lot of low-income housing that needs to be built. We’re one of the poorest ridings, probably in Nova Scotia, so that needs to be addressed. And then the whole rural development for small businesses, like what can be done to help small businesses to get on their feet when they start up. Come up with maybe tax breaks that would be helpful for the community.”
She said the commercial fishery and the environmental impacts of open-pen fish farming are also among the issues at play.
At a recent candidates meet and greet in Liverpool, voters said the lucrative lobster fishery, the fear of Trump tariffs and the overall tenor of politics were on people’s minds.
Danielle Robertson of Port Joli said she wants to see the federal government enforce fisheries regulations to help protect an industry that generates close to $500 million for southwestern Nova Scotia.
Fishermen are upset with what they see as illegal fishing in the wake of the Marshall decisions that guaranteed Indigenous communities a moderate livelihood in the fishery.
“Where I live I can see evidence of abuse of the fishery and overfishing,” Robertson said.
“And I’ve talked to fisheries officers who feel like they’re not able to do their job. And I think our resources are really taking a hit. I think our fish are being overfished. And I’m really hoping that the federal government will step up and enforce their federal fishing policies.”
Conservative Perkins says he’s been a big advocate for fish harvesters since he was elected in 2021. And he says the Liberals haven’t done enough to crack down on poachers.
“We believe it begins with enforcing the law, and then sitting down once the law is enforced and people are abiding by the law and negotiating for more access for First Nations. As long as there’s no penalty and no enforcement, why would I come to the table to negotiate when the government lets me do whatever I want, whenever I want?”
Liberal Fancy-Landry says that she wants to bring all sides to the table, while acknowledging the Department of Fisheries and Oceans must be allowed to enforce the law.
“Another thing is how many of the fishermen have actually been brought to the table when policy and draft bills have been in place. So it’s that engagement piece,” she says.
“I think a lot of the time people feel disenfranchised or disempowered because they haven’t been asked to be at the table. … The line’s drawn in the sand right now with Conservative versus Liberal versus whatever party. It’s time for us to all come together and actually have some courageous conversations.”
Scot Slessor, a stained glass artist in Liverpool, says this election is an opportunity to tackle interprovincial trade barriers. But he says regardless of the issue, he wants more co-operation among the parties.
“I’m looking for people who are going to be willing to work together,” Slessor says.
“You know, we’ve seen that minority governments get a lot done for our country, but the way people are interacting has been extremely negative. And I’m really hopeful that we can bring that a little bit back to some civility.”
A Queens County man is the latest victim of intimate partner violence in Nova Scotia, RCMP say. (RCMP)
RCMP have charged a man with second-degree murder in a domestic assault in Queens County in late March.
On March 28 at 3:30 a.m., Queens District RCMP and paramedics responded to a weapons call at a home in Mill Village.
They found an 84-year-old man with life-threatening injuries after being stabbed. Another man fled earlier in a vehicle.
Officers arrested a suspect later that morning, at about 7:45 a.m. at a home in Voglers Cove.
Derek Dominix, 60, of Mill Village was charged then with attempted murder.
The 84-year-old man died on April 11 in hospital, where he had been since the attack.
The Nova Scotia medical examiner’s office ruled the death a homicide, according to an RCMP news release.
Police say it’s a case of intimate partner violence.
The Southwest Nova RCMP major crime unit took over the investigation and upgraded the attempted murder charge to second-degree murder on April 22.
Dominix remains in custody and will appear in Bridgewater provincial court on May 15, at 9:30 a.m.
This is the ninth person killed because of intimate partner violence in Nova Scotia since Oct. 18, 2024. Seven women have been killed in cases linked to their male partners. In one of those cases, a woman’s father was also killed.
An RCMP spokeswoman said they won’t be releasing the victim’s name.
Anyone experiencing, or at risk of, intimate partner violence can seek help anonymously by calling 211 or 1-855-225-0220.
