Summerville artist and retired diplomat Scot Slessor is in Arusha, Tanzania, working with a group of artisans to expand their markets. (Rick Conrad)

A Queens County artist is in Tanzania for the next two weeks, helping artisans there develop ways to get their products to more people.

Scott Slessor is a retired Canadian diplomat who lives in Summerville. He’s also the owner of SAS Glass, a stained glass studio in Liverpool. As a Canadian foreign affairs officer and consul general, he led strategic planning and training in places like India, Afghanistan and Thailand.

Since he retired, he’s done a couple of stints in places like Mongolia and Cambodia with Catalyste Plus, a Canadian NGO focused on economic development in Indigenous communities and emerging economies. This will be his first trip with Catalyste Plus working with artists in another country, as part of a project to improve economic and social well-being for women and girls.

“This one is very unlike the other stuff I’ve done,” he says.

“This is about arts and crafts. So this tacks onto a whole other part of my life. I’ve never been to Tanzania. I’ve never been to East Africa. This is all new, which is going to be really cool. … And so they wanted to, in this institute, look into, as part of their tourism program, working with craftspeople, with artisans, and sort of up their game a bit.”

He’ll be working with about 20 artists in Arusha, a city of more than 600,000, near Mount Kilimanjaro and the Serengeti. In an interview before he left for Tanzania, Slessor said he’ll be helping local artists develop ways to get their goods into the hands of more tourists and hikers.

“We’ll be talking about the market there. Who are they actually trying to sell to? Because I don’t think they’ve necessarily done a full assessment. And I have. The government of Tanzania has done some. So we have some starting points of the ages of people coming there, where they’re coming from, a lot from the U.S., Canada, Europe. … And these are people who are going to climb Kilimanjaro. These are guys who are going to have a carry-on (bag) with their hiking boots on. So how do you put something in their pocket? So we’re going to generate a whole whack of ideas. And then they’ll have to decide how they’re going to implement that.”

Slessor has been doing glass art for more than 25 years. And he’s lived in Queens County with his wife, also a retired diplomat, since 2022.

He’s one of the organizers of the Queens Coast Art Tour studio rally. He says he hopes to be able to connect some artists from his trip in Tanzania with Queens County artisans who have offered to be occasional mentors.

“You know, it’d be fun if a couple folks from here, even just an hour a month for three or four months, hook up with somebody in Tanzania just to talk about, ‘What are you making today?'”

Slessor says he hopes his two weeks with the artisans in Arusha can help set them up for success.

“If a couple of these people develop habits that help them design more appropriate stuff for the folks that are coming in, then I think that’s a real win. So I’m going to spend a bit of time with them on, who are these Westerners that are coming here with their money? And then how do you sort of represent your culture, the local techniques, and all of that in a way that satisfies you as an artisan, but also allows you to make a few bucks?”

Slessor says meeting new people and experiencing different cultures are part of why he enjoys taking on these projects.

“So for me, it’s a lot of fun. I mean, I’m going to get to meet 20 people, but then I get to see a new part of the world, which is really fun. Yeah, I think that’s a fair amount of win for me.”

Slessor says Catalyste Plus is always looking for people with experience in varied backgrounds, from marketing and finance to factory production and information technology. More information can be found on their website.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

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

• Conservative Rick Perkins
• Liberal Jessica Fancy-Landry
• Green Party’s Mark Embrett
• People’s Party of Canada’s Patrick Boyd

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.”

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of the story below

Scot Slessor at his stained glass studio SAS Glass, just off Main Street in Liverpool. Slessor is one of the organizers of the Queens Coast Art Tour on June 22 and 23. (Rick Conrad)

Liverpool stained glass artist Scot Slessor wants the Queens Coast Art Tour to be memorable.

But he also wants the map for the tour to be just as unforgettable, and useful. Last year, he recruited Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman to help him with a video explaining how to make a paper airplane out of the map.

Obviously making a paper airplane isn’t the map’s most important function. In fact, Slessor wants people to unfold it to reveal the many Queens County artisans listed there and pay them a visit during the Queens Coast Art Tour.

The map plots all participating artisans and businesses, with QR codes that link to their websites or social media accounts.

Slessor owns SAS Glass in downtown Liverpool. He and some other local artisans got together last year to form the Queens County Arts and Crafts Society, taking over from the Queens Arts Council. 

One of their first projects was to create an art map and studio tour. That happened last October, and it included almost 25 artisans from Liverpool to Western Head to Port Medway.

This year, it’s expanded to more than 40 artists, shops and popups all over Queens County. And there will be two chances to participate, in June and October.

The first one is coming up on June 22 and 23. The tour runs 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. each day.

Slessor says it’s all about promoting Queens County as an arts destination, and about artisans opening up their studios or demonstrating their craft to local residents and visitors.

“I’ve been on a ton of these studio tours,” Slessor said in a recent interview.

“What I’ve told everybody, you’re just not another sale. Just don’t put stuff on a table. If you’re painting, paint. I’m glass, I’ll be doing something with glass those days. People can come in, I can show them what I do, what the materials are, how I play with them. That has to be there, because people do find that interesting. … We need to be different. Everybody does craft sales up and down the shore. So what’s the difference? I think the difference should be come on down, we’re throwing some pottery, we’re making some jewelry, you can see what we’re doing.”

Slessor says last October’s art tour was a success for many of the artists, some of whom were surprised by how many people dropped by to see them in action.

“I had 30 people each day in here. All I did was gab all day to people. And then I talked to other people who never really opened their studio and they said, ‘I can’t believe all these people showed up to my studio.’ So, it was kind of cool.

“You might show one person your studio and have a cup of coffee, but when you have 20 people rolling through in a day, it is kind of neat.”

In addition to visiting artisans at their studios or work spaces, art lovers can also meet them at three popup locations: the Astor Theatre, White Point Beach Resort and Coastal Queens Place in Port Mouton.

“Some artists are very quiet and unassuming. And suddenly you find there’s a guy on the street here who’s a fantastic portrait painter. You didn’t even know he was there. And locally, I think it’s important. Last October, when we did this, a lot of folks who came around were local.

“One of the wider goals of something like this is you feel like you have a sense of community and that you’re not working totally in isolation. Doing art can be a very isolating thing. To let them know that they have a community to be part of.”

Aside from the obvious goal of giving artisans more chances to sell their work, another objective of the tour is to bring art lovers to the area from all over the province and beyond.

“In the perfect world, I’d love to see artisans selling stuff and making some money,” Slessor says.

“I think if we bring people to the county, whether they buy from one of us or just spend some time in a restaurant or going to the Astor or doing whatever, that’s all positive. So we (hope to) increase the number of people coming into the county.”

Slessor says the Queens County Arts and Crafts Society has also applied for provincial funding to help them work on their online marketing and promotion. 

And he says he’d like to see international artists come to Liverpool for four-week residencies.

The former diplomat has reached out to some of his contacts overseas.

“It would be great to have, I don’t know, a Taiwanese artist here for four or five weeks. They’d be at the Astor. We would introduce them to other artisans. It would be fun and informative and something totally different.” 

People can pick up a Queens Coast art tour map in Liverpool at the Visitor Information Centre, the Astor Theatre, Main and Mersey coffee bar, Shore Thing Studio and Emporium or at SAS Glass just across from the Astor.

You can also find the map online here: https://sasglass.ca/resources/map6.jpg or follow Queens Coast Art Tour on Facebook.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Stained glass fly. Photo contributed by Scot Slessor

After a career spent travelling around the world, Scot Slessor is bringing his passion for teaching glass art, home to Liverpool.

The former Canadian diplomat served in China, Cambodia, Brunei, India, Jordan, Afghanistan and Thailand and has opened a studio across from the Astor Theatre.

Slessor works in warm glass slumping, painting, kiln carving, casting among other methods but doesn’t blow glass.

He says moving his equipment to far flung locations throughout his career has sparked some interesting discussions.

“You can just imagine it was already weird enough when I was showing up to one of our embassies and I tell them I’m bringing a kiln,” said Slessor. “They would inevitably write back and say, sir, I think there’s a problem, there’s a typo in the list. It says you’re bringing a kiln and I would say that’s right, I am. But you should be thankful I’m not bringing a furnace. And they go, oh, yeah, you’re right, we’ll make this work.”

Just as he has done around the world, Slessor wants to share his knowledge of glass art with budding and aspiring artists in Queens.

He’s not in it for the money and has offered the opportunity to learn and create pieces at cost for many non-profit organizations.

All funds raised through SAS Glass are used to make more creations, support NGOs and train artists in locations where glass art is undeveloped or non-existent.

Slessor’s passion for glass art is contagious and he hopes to inspire more people to try their hand at it.

“Every kid likes to melt stuff, and this is like the next level of, ooh, let’s melt that and see what it looks like,” said Slessor.

Residents of Liverpool may see Slessor coming and going as he establishes his studio located in the space formally occupied by Primrose Computers.

The first real opportunity the public will have to view his work will be when he puts it on display during Christmas on the Mersey on December 3.

In the meantime, a quick trip to his website sasglass.ca will provide a look at his art as well as information about his process and how to sign up for lessons.

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

To listen to the broadcast of this story, press play below.