The Main and Market intersection in downtown Liverpool will be the subject of a traffic study by CBCL. (Rick Conrad file photo)

The Region of Queens will spend about $24,000 to do a traffic study of a downtown Liverpool intersection that has seen its share of collisions and close calls.

Last January, a 79-year-old woman was taken to hospital after being struck in the crosswalk at the intersection of Main and Market streets.

That reignited concern in the community about safety at the three-way stop.

Adam Grant, the region’s director of infrastructure, told council this week the intersection regularly has peak traffic volumes of 200 to 250 vehicles.

“Going back over the last year, we had lots of conversations regarding this intersection. Council’s concerns over the safety of it to pedestrian and motorists alike. We’ve been back and forth a few different times with reports, different analysis, different investigation.”

The previous council asked on Oct. 8 to issue a call for proposals for a traffic study of the area.

Grant said engineering firm CBCL could begin that work as early as Feb. 17. It will include looking at this intersection and others nearby, and installing cameras to monitor traffic and pedestrian movement. The firm will also interview pedestrians and motorists and use modelling software, and itt will look at projected traffic loads in the area.

He said it will be a broader study than one the region commissioned in 2015 from Insight Traffic Engineering.

Coun. Maddie Charlton said that many of the incidents seem to occur in one particular crosswalk, which runs from the post office to Five Girls Baking. 

“There have been numerous pedestrians struck on one crosswalk in particular in this area with the most recent being the worst. Luckily, the woman who was struck survive. But it is an ongoing issue, and … although there haven’t been an insane amount of pedestrians hit, I think one is too many. And so we need to address that.

“I’m uncertain about this study in one sense, because I don’t know if it’s going to solve the problem that we want it to solve. … I’m curious why we couldn’t just remove that crosswalk in that specific area, given that there are other substantial crosswalks in that area.”

Grant said he’s not a traffic expert and he’s unsure whether that would be the best solution. 

“I’m by far a traffic expert and I think that this study is a good investment to assure that we have a path forward to provide the paramount safety at that intersection. 

“Every leg of an intersection is considered a crosswalk. Where you have increased pedestrian movement, you delineate that by putting a sign up or painting it. I’m not aware of anywhere that would have a prohibited crosswalk from occurring. So I think to do something like that, we need to to go beyond who we have in this room to make that decision (and) provide some advice and do it cautiously to make sure that we’re getting the right solution, trying to solve the problem we understand.”

In his report, Grant detailed 36 reported incidents in the area from 2009 to 2024, according to information provided by the Nova Scotia government.

Five of those involved pedestrians being hit by cars in the crosswalk. Other pedestrians have reported or witnessed near-collisions at that intersection.

Grant said the main focus of the study will be how to improve pedestrian safety in that intersection.

Mayor Scott Christian said he understands Charlton’s desire to address the issue as quickly as possible.

“Certainly we want to be well informed with respect to making the decisions, certainly don’t want to drag our feet on it. I know that this was something that was batted about a bit in the past, and it is a priority concern to be addressed for public safety.”

The study will be funded from the region’s accumulated surplus of $6 million. Grant said the company could report back to council as early as May.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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Tony Flint, a resident of Bristol Avenue in Liverpool, speaks to Region of Queens councillors on Tuesday about a proposed 24-unit apartment building on his street. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)

Residents of Bristol Avenue in Liverpool say they’ve lost faith in Region of Queens councillors after a bungled vote on a controversial proposed development.

A 24-unit apartment building is planned for the area, which is the main thoroughfare into and out of downtown Liverpool.

Residents say the development is too big for the neighbourhood. They say the population could triple in an area with only a two-lane street, one sidewalk, and already hectic traffic.

When the development was approved by staff last July, residents submitted a petition and filed an appeal.

Councillors heard the appeal on Tuesday during their regular council meeting. As part of that process, the appellant and the developer can make their cases to council.

Developer Larry Cochrane was at the meeting, but left before the appeal was heard.

Resident Tony Flint told councillors that congestion and noise will only get worse if the apartments are built. He and other residents are also concerned about pedestrian safety and the ability for emergency vehicles to get to the new building.

“So all of a sudden you have a massive influx of people in an already very busy street,” he said. “I think that looking at the drawing, the developer probably tries to do as much as he can with the available space, but it’s really, really cramped.”

Mike MacLeod, the region’s director of land use, said no traffic studies were completed or required as part of the process. He said Cochrane met the requirements of the Land Use Bylaw.

Councillors debated a motion to deny the appeal and allow the development to go ahead.

At first, a majority of councillors voted 4-3 not to reject the residents’ appeal. But then, council took a break. After discussion among the mayor, councillors and the interim CAO, they returned.

Mayor Scott Christian said that a councillor was confused by the motion.

“At least one member of the council didn’t understand the way that they were voting with respect to that motion,” Christian told the meeting as Bristol Avenue residents watched.

“I’ll ask for your forgiveness. I’ll just try to be transparent here. We have four of the seven of us are new. I myself am a new chair here. I want to circle back on that motion to make sure that it’s 100 per cent clear for the council with respect to what they’re voting for or against.”

So they voted again. Three councillors — Jack Fancy, Wanda Carver and Stewart Jenkins — changed their vote to deny the appeal after all.

Coun. Courtney Wentzell was the only vote against rejecting the appeal.

After the meeting, Bristol Avenue resident Janet Perry was visibly upset.

“I’m disappointed and I don’t understand the two separate (votes). We had the motion, it was defeated. They go out and change their minds. I think it’s totally unfair.

“I’ve lost faith in council and the process that we went through.”

Resident Roger Wilcox said the process to approve new developments is flawed.

“The town has a problem because of this development procedure that’s inadequate. (They’re) scared of being sued. … That’s why they changed their vote.”

Flint said he’s worried about someone being injured or killed because of the increased traffic. And he worries that council doesn’t care.

“It means that regardless of the possible dangers to the public, they’re just pushing it ahead anyway. Certain people are friends with certain people and that’s the way it works.”

Developer Cochrane is the treasurer of the South Queens Chamber of Commerce. His wife is the vice-president. The chamber’s president is Ashley Christian, who is married to Mayor Scott Christian.

The mayor told QCCR after the meeting that he wasn’t in a conflict.

“From my perspective, I don’t feel there’s a conflict of interest. Certainly if residents feel that there is, I’d be happy to speak to that or think about it. To be honest, … my wife’s involvement with the chamber of commerce or Larry’s involvement with the chamber of commerce would have no bearing on my decision-making process or procedural approach to handling that situation.”

During the appeal, some councillors appeared to sympathize with residents’ concerns, especially about traffic and safety. But Christian said they were handcuffed by provisions in the municipality’s land use bylaw.

“The challenge is that legally we really are bound to the municipal planning strategy and land use bylaws.”

Barring another council reversal, the way is now clear for the four-story apartment building to go ahead.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

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David White, president of the Queens County ATV Association, made another appeal to regional councillors on Tuesday to create road trails in Queens County. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)

ATV users in Queens County are motoring along with their plans to connect off-road trails with public roads and streets in the municipality.

And Region of Queens councillors are interested in hitching a ride.

David White, president of the Queens County ATV Association, was at regional council on Tuesday evening to repeat the group’s request from last March for the region to help make a connected network a reality.

“The idea behind them is to provide trail-to-trail connections and trail-to-access services. 
That’s supported by the 2022 Off-Highway Vehicle Spending Report that showed in the province of Nova Scotia in that year $464 million was spent by off-highway vehicle users. It’s time that impact was felt here in our county. It’s well past time. ”

This is the third time off-highway vehicle groups have appealed to councillors for a road trail that would allow users to go from Lunenburg to Queens to Shelburne counties.

They first presented to council in July 2023, shortly after the Nova Scotia government passed the Road Trails Act, which would allow off-highway vehicles on provincial and municipal roads, with certain conditions. Both levels of government must grant access. And in Queens, that would require a new bylaw.

Queens County ATV groups say having that connected trail locally would boost tourism and help local businesses by creating a destination riding area.

“You need look no further than this weekend gone by where 551 off-highway vehicle users registered and went on a run in Western Shore, and they raised over $13,000 for a volunteer group and their club and saw somewhere in the neighbourhood of 800 people participate. Sixty-one rooms were sold over two nights for a total of over 120 room nights in that community because of off-highway vehicle use.

“Our goal is to have a connected route across Queens County to complete the western loop of the Great Trail, part of the TransCanada Trail to be able to leave Lunenburg County and go right through to Shelburne with the bigger idea of leaving Halifax or Tantallon, travelling to Yarmouth, around to Middleton, and back to Bridgewater via New Germany.”

White told councillors his group has signed agreements with 10 private landowners in Queens County, which would give ATV riders permission to use people’s property to get from one trail to another.

He said the ATV association and the Queens Rails to Trails Association have also spent about $300,000 maintaining and improving trails around Queens County. 

White told councillors that Queens ATV Association spent $49,150 in 2024 clearing and improving trails for off-highway vehicles. 

The Queens Rails to Trails Association has spent almost $245,000 maintaining and improving other trails around Queens County.

White asked councillors for letters of support to explore developing the road trail network in Queens. And he said he’d like a commitment from the region to explore any funding for the groups. He also wanted the region to commit to a process that would begin consultations with ATV groups and others.

Mayor Scott Christian thanked White for his groups’ work on trails around the region.

“And I think it’s appropriate also to apologize for the lack of engagement or action on behalf of the Region of Queens Municipality in actioning previous requests, that the two organizations have made and attempts at engaging our municipality on these files.”

At Christian’s urging, councillors agreed to the letters of support and to explore funding for the groups. They also asked staff to prepare a report for their Feb. 25 meeting on connecting a trail near the region’s offices to the popular multi-use Trestle Trail.

Christian said he wants the region to continue consulting with the community about how to make the connected road trail a reality.

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The Region of Queens has reached a deal with Renewall Energy to supply electricity from the Mersey River Wind farm. (Renewall Energy Inc.)

The Region of Queens will be using wind energy produced in their own backyard to keep the lights on in municipal properties.

The municipality will be one of the first customers of the Mersey River Wind Project, set to begin operating in 2026.

Halifax-based Roswall Development Inc. are the owners of Mersey River Wind. It plans to build 33 wind turbines on about 80 hectares of Crown land west of the Mersey River in Milton.

Roswall will sell power directly to customers, bypassing Nova Scotia Power, under the name Renewall Energy. Roswall is the first in the province to be awarded a licence to sell power directly to consumers under the Renewable to Retail program introduced in 2015.

It will deliver electricity using Nova Scotia Power’s grid, but customers will be billed directly by Renewall. They want to sign up commercial users first and then open it up to residential customers.

Region of Queens councillors voted last March to allow the project to go ahead.

Sometime after that, the region signed a deal with the company to get its electricity from the wind farm. It will be among 30 government, commercial and industrial customers who have signed up so far.

It appears councillors approved the deal in a closed-door session at some point before the end of 2024, under the old municipal council. The agreement was never discussed in an open council meeting. 

And even the region’s recently elected Mayor Scott Christian couldn’t give QCCR the details.

But he said he’s happy about the agreement with Roswall.

“I know that it was council directed the municipality to enter an agreement with Roswall with respect to being a customer,” Christian said Thursday in an interview, “but I don’t know the number of megawatts or the duration of the deal or when that actually would have been advanced by the administration. I don’t know those details right now.

“I think we should be proud and I don’t see any reason why any of that can’t come to light.”

Queens isn’t the only municipality to sign up. The Halifax region, the Town of Bridgewater and the Municipality of Shelburne have also signed deals with Renewall.

According to a staff report last October for the Municipality of Shelburne, the deal with Renewall could see that municipality saving up to $500,000 over 20 years in electricity costs.

Renewall’s presentation to Shelburne’s municipal council said they offer rates two to five per cent lower than Nova Scotia Power’s rates in the first year of an agreement, with a fixed increase of one per cent each year over a 20-year contract.

Roswall CEO Dan Roscoe told QCCR that the wind farm could be supplying electricity to customers by the end of 2026. The company is scheduled to begin construction of the basic infrastructure this spring, with turbines set to arrive in the spring of 2026.

“The key feature of our rates is that they’re fixed over time,” Roscoe said. “The energy portion would be essentially predictable over the term of the contract, so that creates a certainty from a power price perspective that isn’t available with the public utility.”

Roscoe said that in addition to the municipalities signed up so far, they’ve also signed up some private-sector customers too, some of which are on the South Shore.

He said that many of their early customers want a greener option, either because their customers or governments are demanding it. Another reason is purely practical.

“Large energy users, and I think this applies to the public sector entities as well, that have perhaps fixed budgets, having predictability is actually very valuable, especially if electricity is a big percentage of your expenses.

“So the larger energy users, if they can get a hedge on their power price, that’s very advantageous for them.”

An added bonus for the Region of Queens is the expected annual tax revenue boost of up to $800,000 from the wind farm. Christian said switching to renewable energy is a no-brainer.

“In terms of realizing savings for the ratepayer, savings for the municipality as it relates to our energy consumption, we’re big energy consumers, we spend a lot of money on electricity, and so where we can realize savings while also achieving meaningful progress toward greening our facilities and reducing carbon emissions associated with energy for our facilities, it feels win-win-win to me.”

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The Region of Queens has appointed Dan McDougall as interim CAO. (Rick Conrad)

The Region of Queens has hired an interim chief administrative officer while it looks for a permanent replacement for Cody Joudry.

Dan McDougall will take over CAO duties from acting CAO Pam Lovelace, who will return to her job as municipal clerk. Lovelace, a one-term Halifax councillor and unsuccessful mayoral candidate, was hired in December.

McDougall has done the top job before at Queens. He was the interim CAO in 2023 after Chris McNeill resigned.

McDougall will fill in as CAO until the region finds a replacement for Cody Joudry, whom the newly elected council fired on Dec. 16, saying he wasn’t the right “fit”.

McDougall is a former CAO of the Municipality of Chester and for the Municipality of Colchester County. He has also worked for the province, as CEO of Housing Nova Scotia, and deputy minister of the Department of Municipal Affairs.

“Dan is a very accomplished executive manager with a proven track record supporting municipalities,” Mayor Scott Christian said in a news release.

“Council felt that it was very important to install an interim CAO who comes with a wealth of experience as a CAO, a strong reputation in the local government sector, and who does not want the permanent job, assuring that they can objectively support the organization through a robust recruitment process to identify the best candidate for the role.”

Council had hired Joudry in September 2023. The region had been without a full-time CAO since that May, when McNeill resigned.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

The Region of Queens has reached a deal with its striking public works employees. (Rick Conrad)

UPDATED 2:55 p.m. Thursday

The Region of Queens and its striking 38 public works employees have reached a deal.

Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers voted 32-5 around 6 p.m. Wednesday to accept the region’s latest offer.

Jim Sponagle, the local’s business manager, told QCCR Wednesday night that it was hard to turn down.

“They came back with a financial offer that certainly we couldn’t overlook, couldn’t turn away. I felt it was a significant move from where we were,” he said.

“I think overwhelmingly (union members) were pretty happy with the deal.”

The main issues in negotiations were better wages, overtime protections and keeping temporary employees in the bargaining unit. The last contract expired March 31. The new contract runs from April 1, 2024 to March 31, 2027.

The union said their members were some of the lowest paid municipal workers in Atlantic Canada.

They had been on strike since last Thursday, saying that the region’s latest offer wasn’t any better than the one members resoundingly rejected in mid-December.

Sponagle said the region improved its offer this week and it addressed much of the union’s concerns about wages. But he said the region said it needed the flexibility to call some employees in to work on weekends without paying overtime.

Sponagle said some members weren’t happy with that, but the majority supported the deal.

“At the end of the day, you can’t win every battle. … You can only do your best. I believe I left it all on the table and we couldn’t make any traction with that part of the agreement.”

About 20 supporters of the strikers showed up at Tuesday’s regional council meeting to urge councillors to tell the region’s negotiators to get back to the bargaining table and get a deal. That evening, the municipality gave the union a new offer.

Some family members of the workers told councillors they were ashamed of how the region’s negotiators had treated the employees.

“I think it had a significant impact,” Sponagle said. “The public put pressure on the mayor and council to do their job.”

It’s a three-year deal retroactive to March 31, with the first year giving raises to all members of $4 an hour or more, with 2.5 per cent increases in the second and third years of the deal.

Council ratified the deal in a closed-door session on Thursday morning. Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR that he was grateful the deal was reached.

“These folks have historically been underpaid and our council is pleased to be able to sign a deal with wages that reflect the value that these folks have for our organization and the importance of them to be able to receive a living wage and support their families and themselves.”

Christian read a statement at a short council meeting after the deal was ratified. He said that while he was happy with the deal, he was also upset by some of the comments people made about the region’s managers online.

“I’m unsettled by a number of public allegations and unsubstantiated claims and personal attacks towards some of the region’s employees,” he said.

“
Everyone in our community deserves to be respected, everyone in this organization deserves to be respected, and as your mayor, I need to ensure that all employees, including non-unionized staff and management of this organization, receive that respect, specifically, our (acting) CAO Pam Lovelace and our director of engineering and public works Adam Grant received an incredible amount of personal attacks throughout the later stages of this process as it became contentious.

“I won’t stand in silence as any employee of this organization, including my fellow councillors, are harassed, attacked or bullied.”

Christian said some comments were “pretty intense personal attacks”, with some people calling for Lovelace and Grant to be fired.

As talks broke down, tensions increased, with union members’ supporters pressuring councillors to step in and direct their negotiators to get a deal done.

Some supporters at Tuesday’s meeting were upset by comments made by Lovelace about the union refusing to return to the bargaining table. They were also upset that she tried to downplay the number of employees on strike.

“But there are going to be tough times, there are going to be unpopular decisions, there are going to be mistakes made,” Christian told QCCR, “and we all need to do better and the organization needs to do better to make sure that those appropriate channels are in place so that if there are frustrations and complaints and grievances within our community that there are good established channels to address those things.”

The region is still claiming that temporary employees are not members of the bargaining unit. The union’s unfair labour practices complaints about that are still outstanding. Dates have not been set yet for that hearing.

Christian said he believes most employees will be back on the job by Monday. And he said the region plans to hire experts to help address those tensions, calm things down and ensure that all employees return to a supportive workplace.

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Striking public works employees with the Region of Queens were back on the picket line Tuesday in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad photo)

Supporters of striking Region of Queens workers blasted elected councillors on Tuesday, demanding that they show some leadership in the dispute.

They want the mayor and councillors to tell the region’s negotiators to return to the bargaining table and settle the strike.

Thirty-eight members of Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers have been on the picket line since Thursday. The union says they are some of the lowest-paid municipal workers in Atlantic Canada.

The region does not dispute that, but says it’s been trying to address those inequities in contract negotiations that have been going on for about a year.

RELATED: Region of Queens workers strike for better wages, overtime protection

Some positions pay less than $18 an hour, with some people on Tuesday saying that they can’t afford to support their families.

Family and friends of the striking public works employees told councillors at their regular meeting on Tuesday that they were ashamed of how the region has treated the workers. Elected officials do not get involved directly with labour negotiations, but can set the tone for the region’s negotiators.

Wages, overtime protections and even who’s in or out of the bargaining unit are the main sticking points in the dispute.

Meghan MacAdams was one of the people who spoke to council during the public presentation portion of the meeting. As striking workers picketed outside, she read out the names of the 36 employees.

Her partner has worked with the region for six years. In a recent CBC story, the region’s acting CAO Pam Lovelace claimed that only 20 employees were affected.

“Here is the individual handpicked by you all, acting as a representative of your side of the line, sharing inaccurate information,” MacAdams told councillors.

“
Was this an attempt to create a calmer narrative in which this issue was smaller than it really is, or is this simply a demonstration of how uninterested and uninvested the region has become in its workforce? What that one tiny detail told me, intentionally stated or not, is that those who run our county either can’t be trusted to provide us with truthful and accurate information, or they have become so disconnected with their employees they aren’t even aware of how many livelihoods they are toying with.

“Neither of these options sit well with me. 
Unfortunately, I see this as a clear indication of just how undervalued these men have become, which is one of the key issues in my opinion that has brought us to the divide we are at today. But I remain hopeful the region, the powers that be, will step up and make a fair and honest attempt at resolution. Our men deserve better.”

Debbie Wamboldt, a longtime community advocate and volunteer who spearheaded the successful fundraising drive for the popular inclusive play park in Liverpool, also expressed her frustration with the stalled talks. 

“Most of you know me from the play park project,” she said.

“That took six years of my life to bring to this county because I was proud of where I come from. … But I have to say that I’m standing here before you as somebody who is no longer proud of where I come from. 
I’m not proud of where we’re standing.

“My husband has worked for the region for 20 years. We give our time to this community, and our community is standing behind us. And it’s your job now  to stand behind us. 
We need to get back to the table, and our workers, my family, my friends, my husband’s colleagues, deserve better.

“This is shameful. This is really shameful.”

Before the strike, the region and the union had been negotiating to adjust job classifications and wage grids to bring Queens workers’ salaries more in line with other municipalities.

The region had commissioned a compensation review of unionized and non-unionized positions more than a year ago. That review has never been made public. 

But in response, the previous council had agreed to boost salaries for some non-unionized positions.

Mayor Scott Christian says the wage parity study was the foundation for the region’s offer in the latest contract talks.

The region says adjusting salaries for some jobs would result in raises from 2.5 to 26 per cent. But talks stalled in mid-December after the region’s so-called final offer. About 97 per cent of employees voted for strike action.

Both sides met again last Tuesday with a provincially appointed conciliator. But union representative Jim Sponagle said the region’s offer hadn’t improved much from the one members had rejected. He said their wage offer amounted to about two per cent a year on top of adjusting for wage inequities.

Christian released a video on Facebook on Sunday, saying that he understands how challenging negotiations have been for employees and their families. He appealed for patience.

After Tuesday’s meeting, Christian and the rest of council were due to get an update on negotiations in a closed-door session. Before that, he said in an interview that councillors want a fair deal for workers, but one that doesn’t burden taxpayers.

He also said not all councillors have seen the wage review study, which he wants to be made public. 

“I think it should be. It was something that I was very frustrated with before I ended up in this position as a resident that that wasn’t made publicly available. And so, I’m going to be asking our our staff here. and directing our staff here as to what elements or if that can be released, in in its entirety. We’ve seen we’ve seen portions of it. … There’s going to be more of that information provided to council today.

“To be honest, I’m not that comfortable with some of the tactics that have been employed by both sides of the negotiation. I feel like it has escalated and has become more contentious than it ought to have. … We’re going to be looking for direction from council as to (how) to de-escalate this, to get back to meaningful, productive conversations.

“We need both sides to come back to the table and with some humility, I think, and a willingness to concede and find a productive way forward. I agree the tone, the nature, the spirit of the thing has become really contentious and I’m not comfortable with it. I am going to meet with council and we’re going to … determine what we think is the appropriate next step with respect to directing the negotiating team moving forward.”

The striking workers are responsible for maintaining the region’s streets, sidewalks, parks and other properties. They also work in waste and recycling facilities as well as water and sewage treatment plants.

Their last contract expired March 31. 

The region has said that services won’t be interrupted by the strike, with managers, supervisors and third-party contractors doing the work.

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Kim Thorbourne-Whalen is the vice-chair of the Liverpool Championship Host Society. (Rick Conrad)

As fans rallied behind their favourite curlers in Liverpool last week, local businesses were also cheering for the post-holiday bump in sales.

Restaurants, bars and other food-based businesses in downtown Liverpool stayed open to try to capitalize on the influx of fans and curlers in town for the Canadian mixed doubles curling trials at Queens Place Emera Centre.

Some businesses traditionally close during the week between Christmas and New Year’s to give owners and staff a break after a busy holiday season.

FULL COVERAGE: More from the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Curling Trials

At Main and Mersey Dining Room and Coffee Bar, co-owner Shani Beadle said the event helped perk up a slower time of year.

“I think when Christmas is winding down, it really helped bring more people into town and and lengthen the Christmas season, which is always helpful,” she said. “We had a lot of people from the curling here to lunch, for coffee, staying in our accommodation. So, everything’s helpful.”

Melanie Perron, co-owner of Hell Bay Brewing Company, said they saw more customers as soon as the curling event began on Monday.

“The week’s been great,” she said.

“We’ve definitely seen some new faces that we haven’t seen before come through the brewery and it’s just nice to see us in the bar as well at the Emera Centre, because it’s been a while since we’ve had our product for sale there directly through us. So the region has been definitely pushing local this time, which is great.

“It’s wonderful, especially this time of year because so many people are going into ‘Dry January’, so any beer sales that I can get any way is definitely a bonus for us.”

At Five Girls Baking, co-owner Leanne Arnott said they had planned to close from Dec. 25 until Jan. 2, but decided to reopen on Dec. 30. 

“We were going to be closed and and get a few more days of rest and when we found out about the curling event, we thought, oh no, we better open. And we’re really glad we did.”

They baked special cookies decorated like the red and blue curling rings to celebrate. And Canadian curling legend Colleen Jones even dropped in to sample them. She had also visited the bakery in 2019 when Liverpool hosted the World Junior Curling Championships.

“I was hoping she would show up. She showed up (Friday) and I was tickled pink.” 

Other businesses also stayed open or extended their hours, like Memories Cafe and Eatery and Route 3 Cellar Taproom and Grill.

Kim Thorbourne-Whalen of the local organizing committee said she believes the curling event helped inject $1.5 to $2 million in spinoff business for hotels, restaurants and bars in the Liverpool area. It’s also been a boon for the local Kiwanis Club, which provided canteen services at Queens Place for the whole week.

“The restaurants have been full, like the Cellar, Memories, they’ve had curling teams in there and curling families in there all week,” Thorbourne-Whalen said. “So it’s been felt throughout the community, not just with the hotels, it’s been all over.” 

Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian said he’d like to see more big events like the curling trials come to Liverpool.

“I think everybody’s blown away by how many people have been out for it. Main Street’s been busy. … I think that it should generate some good momentum to try to attract events like this in the future. 

“I know this council has got big plans for Queens Place, doing some revitalization work and to make sure that we make best use of these facilities here. We’re looking at how can we make sure that we make use of this beautiful facility because you can see we can host top-notch events here.”

Main and Mersey’s Shani Beadle and other business owners say that bringing more events to town in the slower winter months would be a boost for businesses.

“I think that would be brilliant, because the summer is already quite busy, so having events like the Lobster Crawl, like curling, hockey, et cetera, is always really helpful.”

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Cody Joudry and Mayor Scott Christian at a recent Region of Queens council meeting. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)

Region of Queens councillors have fired Chief Administrative Officer Cody Joudry, saying that he wasn’t “the right fit” with the new council.

Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR on Monday that no specific incident led to the dismissal of the municipality’s top staffer.

“I think it just came down to a fit. It’s not uncommon when you get a new slate of publicly elected officials and they have their own vision and priorities for the community and direction they want to take the organization, and I think at the end of the day, the fit just wasn’t there. 

“We’re intent on achieving some big things. We have a lot of work to do. And at the end of the day, today’s decision reflected the fact that it was our judgment that in order to best potition ourselves to achieve that work and in the best interest of the community, we’re looking at finding a different person to function in the role of the CAO.”

Councillors called a special meeting late Friday afternoon for Monday morning to discuss a personnel matter in a closed-door session. Christian said the decision to let Joudry go was unanimous.

“I wish Cody all the best in his future endeacours. I think personally we connected and professionally we were able to work well together but at the end of the day, it’s just a matter of the priorities that council has, the vision we have for the future. We weren’t getting traction in advancing some of these priorities.”

Christian said he didn’t want to comment on specifically why Joudry wasn’t the right fit for the new council.

Joudry was hired as the region’s top staffer in September 2023. The region had been without a full-time CAO since that May, when Chris McNeill resigned.

Joudry’s family has roots in Caledonia and he is a member of the L’sitkuk First Nation in Bear River.

Senior staff members filled in as CAO after McNeill left and until the region hired an interim CAO before ultimately recruiting Joudry.

Recently hired municipal clerk Pam Lovelace will take over as acting CAO until council finds an interim replacement for Joudry, while they conduct a longer search for a permanent CAO. Lovelace is a former Halifax councillor and deputy mayor. 

Christian said he expects council to hire an interim CAO sometime in January.

“And then we’re really going to take our time and we’re going to be very deliberate about who we think is the appropriate candidate. Everybody knows this organization has a lot of challenges right now,” Christian said.

“There’s a lot of discontent amongst the public in terms of the services that are delivered by the municiapility. There’s a lot of work to do and we need to make sure that we find the best suited person to function in that role and to support the will of council to implement our decision making in a way that is going to advance things in a constructive way.

“There’s a new group of people who are representing the will of the residents of Queens and we are committed to working together, pursuing a new direction and we made the determination that we are going to best be served by undergoing our own process to find our right-fit CAO to work with us because we have a lot of work to do.”

He said councillors ultimately came to their decision during their closed-door session on Monday.

Christian said council decided to appoint Lovelace as acting CAO because they didn’t want to add more work to their senior managers. He said they already have some good candidates to fill the interim CAO position, until they can find a permanent replacement.

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Region of Queens councillors want to try to find a way to resurrect the Coastal Protection Act. (File photo by Talla Corkum)

Region of Queens councillors want to work with other neighbouring municipalities to pressure the province to resurrect the Coastal Protection Act and possibly to come up with their own version.

The Nova Scotia government under Tim Houston killed the long-dormant Coastal Protection Act in February. Supporters of that legislation said it would beef up safeguards for coastal areas around Nova Scotia.

Instead, the province said it would pass that responsibility onto municipalities to come up with their own bylaws to protect the coast from development, climate change and other threats. It offered to create sample bylaws that municipalities could adapt.

But many municipalities say they don’t have the resources to enforce such wide-ranging rules.

District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he heard from a lot of residents during the municipal election campaign who were concerned about coastal protection. And he said it was clear from the recent provincial election that the province has no interest in taking it on.

He said he wants the Region of Queens to discuss banding together with other regions like the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg to come up with a common set of rules.

“Some of you might have witnessed the leadership debates where the government is not backing down on coastal protection, they’re leaving it to municipalities,” Wentzell said.

“The answers that I heard was that there is going to be assistance in the form of money or manpower to help municipalities create their own (bylaws). I think that’s the reality we’re dealing with. And I do think coastal protection is a big, big item with us. We all heard it on the campaign trail.”

The issue came up at a recent meeting of the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities.

NSFM President Pam Mood, who is also the mayor of Yarmouth, called on the re-elected Houston government to institute provincewide rules and enforcement.

Mayor Scott Christian said working with the federation to pressure the province is a good first step.

“The NSFM is an augmented voice, so it’s a lot stronger. If we join forces with the NSFM and say we need resources and support to enact an effective approach to the Coastal Protection Act. It’s an avenue we can explore to be supported throughout it. It’s not the entirety of the picture, but it’s an important first step.”

Queens councillors decided to write a letter of support to the federation, and to meet with other municipal politicians to come up with ways to enhance coastal protections.

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The Region of Queens will remove the fee from the indoor track at Queens Place Emera Centre from January to April. (Queens Place Emera Centre)

It might be a little easier to keep those New Year’s resolutions in 2025.

People won’t have to pay to use the indoor track at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool in the new year.

Region of Queens councillors voted this week to remove the $2 per use fee from January to April 2025 on the Eleanor Seeley multipurpose indoor track.

The 220-metre track is open year-round to runners and walkers on the upper level of the arena at Queens Place.

Councillors voted to remove the fee, ask staff to promote that it’s free and to collect data from historic use as well as use during the pilot project.

They also want staff to get user feedback and report on the operational and financial effects of the four-month pilot.

Queens Place has offered the track free of charge before, usually in the summer months.

Mayor Scott Christian said the idea came up during a recent event that he and District 7 Coun. Wanda Carver attended with the Queens Community Health Board. 

The health board was looking for ways to remove barriers to healthy active lifestyles.

“It’s removing the barriers, understanding the way that it impacts access and use of that service of that facility to our community members throughout the winter months here,” Christian said. “Doing a little bit of a pilot project and studying it so we can make a decision on how we want to handle the walking track moving forward.”

In the last fiscal year, the region collected $10,000 in user fees from the indoor track.

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Road work in Liverpool in June 2020. File photo by Ed Halverson

Contract talks between the Region of Queens and its unionized public works employees are at a stalemate as either side could declare a work stoppage at midnight.

Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers represents about 40 full-time and temporary employees in the region’s engineering and public works department.

They are responsible for maintaining the region’s streets, sidewalks, parks and other properties. They also work in waste and recycling facilities as well as water and sewage treatment plants.

The two sides met with a conciliator on Monday, with the union submitting a new proposal. The region responded about five hours later, with very little movement from their last position, according to a union representative.

Union members resoundingly rejected the region’s settlement offer last Monday, with a 97 per cent vote in favour of strike action if needed.

“It equated to very little to nothing,” James Sponagle, business manager for Local 1928, said of the municipality’s revised offer.

“We’re at an impasse right now and unless they change their position, the union’s not going to concede. We’ve already voted on what they presented. They haven’t come back with anything substantive, so our position hasn’t changed.”

As of midnight Tuesday, either side could declare a strike or lockout with 48 hours’ notice.

Regional councillors got an update on negotiations on Tuesday in a closed-door session that lasted almost 90 minutes.

Mayor Scott Christian told QCCR afterward that the region doesn’t want to lock out its employees. 

“At this time, we have no intent to lock out the workers,” Christian said.

“We remain hopeful and we recognize that it’s really challenging for people particularly with the holidays approaching to have this uncertainty. Also recognizing it’s really challenging also for the folks on the other side of the bargaining table, our managers, who are attempting to negotiate on behalf of Region of Queens Municipality. 

“We hold out hope that there will be a resolution before too long. Our council remains committed to a good and fair deal for everybody.”

Sponagle said the region has handcuffed the union’s ability to back up its proposals with strike action. He says they’ve threatened to fire the 14 temporary employees if they don’t cross a picket line.

The union has filed two unfair labour practice complaints over that threat. Sponagle says hearing dates should be set next week and he hopes for a hearing early in the new year.

He said CAO Cody Joudry assured employees in a meeting last Friday they would not be fired. But Sponagle says he hasn’t yet put that in writing.

Sponagle said it would be “reckless” for him to call a strike as long as those temporary employees could be fired.

Public works employees with the Region of Queens are some of the lowest-paid municipal workers in Nova Scotia, at a time when the municipality has complained that it can’t fill job vacancies.

Some unionized jobs at the region pay less than $18 an hour. And Sponagle said that some Red Seal-certified technicians with the region make no more than $27 an hour. 

Non-unionized technicians elsewhere with the same certification make as much as $40 an hour, while their unionized peers at Nova Scotia Power get paid about $50 an hour.

“There’s not much incentive to work as a Red Seal technician at the Region of Queens,” Sponagle said.

Christian and Sponagle said both sides are trying to agree to wage grid adjustments to account for those discrepancies. But Sponagle said the region has offered increases of only 1.5 per cent a year after that.

No new talks are scheduled. But Sponagle says the union is always willing to return to the bargaining table as long as the region improves their last offer.

“If they want to reach out to the union if they have an epiphany or if they have a change in their position, my phone’s always on.”

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The library in Liverpool will be reopening in the new year in the Liverpool Business Development Centre off White Point Road. (Rick Conrad photo)

As the Liverpool library gets ready to move to its new location by the end of the year, the Region of Queens is beginning work to restart a library committee.

It will be chaired by Mayor Scott Christian and include District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell.

Establishing council’s various committees will be overseen by the region’s new municipal clerk. Pam Lovelace was hired a week ago to do that job.

Christian said she will be coming up with terms of reference for various committees, including the library committee.

“I think the initial work of that will be determining what the current need and purpose and mandate of a public committee associated with the library would look like and then constructing a terms of reference and populating a committee from there.”

Once that happens, the region would likely ask for members of the public to sit on the committee.

Regional councillors voted in February to move the Thomas H. Raddall Library to the Liverpool Business Development Centre off the White Point Road. Commonly known as the call centre building, it wasn’t the first choice for a new library site.

The previous council voted twice against the library steering committee’s recommendation to build a new library near Queens Place Emera Centre.

Many residents told councillors at a meeting last December that they did not want the library at the call centre site, which is outside of town in an area with no sidewalks and very little lighting.

The library’s lease at its current location downtown is up at the end of this year. So with time running out, councillors decided to move the library to the call centre building.

It’s supposed to be a short-term home while the newly elected council works on a longer-term solution. 

The region is spending up to $1.26 million on renovations for the new library space. They had set aside $3 million in 2022 for a new library.

Library staff will close the current location on Dec. 15, and begin packing up their collections for the move.

No date has been set yet for the library’s reopening. But it’s on track to be early in the new year.

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Unionized employees at the Region of Queens have voted to strike, if necessary. (Rick Conrad)

Engineering and public works employees with the Region of Queens have voted 97 per cent in favour of strike action.

The workers are responsible for maintaining the region’s streets, sidewalks, parks and other properties. They also work in waste and recycling facilities as well as water and sewage treatment plants.

The 36 members of Local 1928 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers voted on the region’s settlement offer on Monday. Thirty-five of 36 members rejected it, voting in favour of strike action if needed.

James Sponagle, the business manager of Local 1928, said the two sides are set to return to the bargaining table with a government-appointed conciliator next Monday.

In the meantime, the union has filed an unfair labour practice complaint with the Nova Scotia Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration. 

That concerns the region’s definition of temporary employees. Sponagle says the employer has told those employees they must cross a picket line in the event of a work stoppage.

The union says they are union members and cannot be forced to work during a strike or lockout.

“They’re going to take our union members and they’ll force them to do bargaining unit work,” Sponagle said.

“If they don’t, they’ll fire them, is what they’ve been told.”

Sponagle said the union offered not to file its strike notice if the region also held off on its lockout notice until the unfair labour practice complaint is resolved.

He said the region rejected that proposal.

Sponagle said the region’s last offer didn’t satisfy union members’ main concerns. 

The IBEW members are some of the lowest-paid municipal workers in Nova Scotia. They’re seeking closer wage parity with other municipal employees in places like Shelburne and Bridgewater. And they want to protect overtime provisions for weekend work.

Mayor Scott Christian said this week that he’s hopeful a deal can be reached. The mayor and councillors get updates on negotiations, but they are not directly involved.

“We certainly value the union members, the public works employees, they’re really valuable members of the organization. We want to make sure there is a fair and good deal in place for these folks.”

The union’s last collective agreement expired in March. In that deal, which was signed in 2020, employees received raises of two per cent a year. The next year, the region gave its non-unionized staff a four per cent raise.

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Queens regional councillors are looking for ways to help prevent more water crises in the region. (Henryk Niestroj via Pixabay)

While residents and businesses in the Liverpool area are being asked to cut back on water, Region of Queens councillors want to find ways to improve communication and deal with any future water shortages.

Last week, councillors asked for a comprehensive staff report on the region’s water and wastewater systems. They also want staff to develop a communication system to inform customers quickly when problems arise.

Municipal water users in Liverpool and parts of Brooklyn have been asked since Nov. 1 to restrict their water usage. 

Water levels in the Town Lake Reservoir are too low to support the town’s usual consumption. 

The region has warned people that without significant amounts of rain, more drastic measures may have to be taken.

Mayor Scott Christian said it’s important to investigate longer-term solutions.

“It has appropriately alarmed a lot of our residents and a number of members of council as well,” Christian said.

“So I think it’s appropriate that we ask those questions in terms of how are we going to avoid situations like this in the future. What’s our Plan B? How can we make sure that we do all we can to protect against known or foreseeable risks to the stability or the dependence of our water supply?” 

Other councillors said they were also worried how the water supply could be affected if the Liverpool Fire Department needs to respond to a fire.

Liverpool fire chief Trevor Munroe could not be reached for comment Monday.

District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell said the region needs to address problems with its existing infrastructure.

“I think we’ve got an infrastructure problem on the west side of Liverpool from the town well to Union Street. This is very, very serious. We need to know what Plan B is, we need to look ahead and we need to look after people that already hooked up before we start hooking up new.”

The region has been criticized in the past for its efforts at spreading the word about water problems.

In summer 2023, the region imposed a boil-water order on municipal users. 

But some businesses and residents complained that they didn’t know about it until days after the order was issued. 

People were also upset at what they saw as a lack of transparency about the reasons for the order.

Deputy Mayor Maddie Charlton said residents and businesses need to be informed more quickly and more directly.

“I’m also running into a lot of residents who are unaware that they’re supposed to decrease their water usage right now, so I think that this is critical that this happen so that residents can be alerted when needed in a very quick manner.”

CAO Cody Joudry could not give councillors a timeline for when staff will complete their report.

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Work is underway on the $8.1-million outdoor pool at Queens Place Emera Centre. (Rick Conrad)

The dream of an indoor pool for Queens County was likely sunk on Monday night.

Two weeks ago, Region of Queens councillors asked CAO Cody Joudry to investigate the feasibility of turning the outdoor pool now under construction at Queens Place Emera Centre into an indoor facility.

At their meeting on Monday night, councillors heard that it’s not so straightforward, or cheap.

Joudry said the $8.1-million outdoor project would likely balloon to at least $30 million if councillors decided to change it. He said the cost to taxpayers of the current project is less than one cent on $100 of assessment over 20 years. For an outdoor pool, that could go up to five cents.

“Council needs to either pick an indoor pool or an outdoor pool, but you can’t really convert an outdoor to an indoor pool,” he told councillors.

The region secured $3 million from an anonymous donor and $2.2 million from the province for the current project. It’s picking up the remaining $2.9-million tab.

Joudry said if the region changes or stops the project now, it could be on the hook for “sunk costs” of up to $2 million — in penalties or work that’s already done. And the municipality may also have to look for new funding, which would further delay the project.

The region would also have to come up with a whole new design.

Adam Grant, the region’s director of engineering and public works, said the current design is not easily adapted. He said some of the work already done could be salvaged, but much of it would have to be abandoned.

“When you start adding heating systems and take a facility that was deisgned to operate three months of the year conducive to the climate and turn it on its flip side and tell it it’s got to operate nine more months of the year, heating, air conditioning, ventilation, as well as condensation control. You start adding structural steel known to support a roof or with roof loads or snow loads. It’s not a simple matter of just putting a roof over it.”

District 3 Coun. Courtney Wentzell said he wants the region to consult with community members. He said it was a big issue during the recent election campaign, and most people who were in favour of a pool wanted an indoor one.

Mayor Scott Christian campaigned on getting an indoor pool. But on Monday, he told QCCR that changing it up would be a big burden to taxpayers.

“The total bill for the residents is about 3 million bucks with that project completion. 
And so incurring $2 million in sunk costs without any assurances about the extent to which we’ll actually be able to repurpose any of what has already been done, I think we can’t go there right now.”

Christian said he’d like to get the Queens Community Aquatic Society involved again and re-form the region’s pool committee.

Councillors decided to stick with the status quo and allow the outdoor pool project to continue. The heated, 25-metre pool is expected to open by 2026.

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Construction has begun on the $8-million outdoor pool at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool. (Rick Conrad)

Region of Queens councillors want to test the waters on the idea of switching lanes and building an indoor pool after all.

Construction on the $8.08-million heated outdoor pool next to Queens Place Emera Centre has already begun. But councillors said Tuesday they heard from many residents during the recent election campaign who want an indoor facility.

Coun. Courtney Wentzell said many of his constituents prefer an indoor pool, while some were against a new pool altogether.

“So when we’re voting on this and we’re thinking about this, we need to think about our constituents and what we heard in each district,” he told council. “And I will say from my experience and my constituents, they definitely prefer an indoor pool.”

Coun. Jack Fancy said he also heard from many people on both ends of the pool debate. He added that council’s initial pool discussions were always geared toward building an indoor pool.

Council voted in June 2023 to go with the less expensive outdoor option — a heated, 25-metre, six-lane pool. But many residents have long advocated for an indoor pool that can be used year-round.

“As Coun. Wentzell has said, it was a hot topic. Every house asked me,” Fancy said. “I think most people didn’t even realize that we were getting donations or monies from the government.”

Fancy said voters were also concerned about how spending more money on a pool would affect the region’s tax rate.

The region secured $3 million from an anonymous private donor and $2.2 million from the province. The region is picking up the rest of the tab.

Councillors on Tuesday asked the region’s CAO to prepare a report on how feasible it would be to change the current project so that Queens has a year-round pool.

Mayor Scott Christian campaigned in favour of an indoor pool. He said regardless of what councillors find out, it won’t stop the current project.

“This motion wouldn’t in any way impact currently what’s taking place with the preparation of the site,” Christian said.

“It also would not reverse course in terms of no pool at all. That’s not what’s on the table. It’s very much about providing the assembled council with all of the information required to understand what would be required and what the foreseeable impacts would be of entertaining and exploring and shifting the construction project to an indoor pool.”

Coun. Vicki Amirault said it’s important for councillors to understand the conditions under which the region secured funding for the indoor pool and how a change might affect that.

CAO Cody Joudry said he hopes to report back to council at their next meeting on Nov. 25. He said that report may not be made available to the public, if it includes information about contracts or negotiations.

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Region of Queens councillors chose District 2 Coun. Maddie Charlton on Tuesday as the region’s deputy mayor. (Rick Conrad photo)

District 2 Coun. Maddie Charlton is the new deputy mayor for the Region of Queens.

Councillors voted for Charlton, who was the only nominee, at Tuesday’s meeting, the first since the Oct. 19 municipal election.

Charlton’s term as deputy mayor is for two years. She won’t get a raise, though she will be compensated at the mayor’s rate of pay while she acts as mayor.

Scott Christian presided over his first council meeting as the region’s new mayor. Charlton was re-elected to council, as were Jack Fancy and Vicki Amirault. New councillors are Courtney Wentzell, Stewart Jenkins, Wanda Carver and Roberta Roy.

Region of Queens councillors make $20,865 annually, while the mayor makes $41,730.

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Scott Christian, mayor of the Region of Queens, is preparing for the newly elected council’s first meeting. (Rick Conrad photo)

Queens County residents can expect more than just new faces around the table as regional council meets Tuesday, for the first time since the October election.

Region of Queens Mayor Scott Christian says people will also notice changes in how meetings are run. He says they’ll be a little less formal, and give councillors more opportunity to address residents’ concerns.

“Where we can, making it feel more approachable and trying to generate good, fulsome conversation,” Christian told QCCR in an interview.

“So a little less formal, a little more conversational with the hope of making it more engaging for the public and to really foster good conversation around the table.”

One of the first issues they’ll tackle on Tuesday is the new outdoor pool at Queens Place Emera Centre. In his campaign for mayor, Christian said he wants the pool to be a year-round, indoor facility. 

The region broke ground on the new pool on Oct. 4. The $8-million structure is slated to be open by 2026.

Christian says he and the rest of council will discuss the region’s options if councillors eventually decide to upgrade the project. 

“We haven’t had an apportuity as a council to debate this and I look forward to hearing what my fellow members of council, what their perspectives are on it,” he said.

“But at this stage, the motion will just be related to having better information. From my perspecitve, that’s the first appropriate step, is to have a complete understanding about if we go down that path what are we getting ourselves into, but also what opportunites are there, what willingness is there on part of the various funders at the table and the construction company who’s been engaged to pursue a shift in scope?”

Before becoming mayor, Christian was a private and public sector consultant. He was elected in a tight race in the Oct. 19 election with former Queens County educator Terry Doucette. 

The other new faces on council are Roberta Roy, Courtney Wentzell, Wanda Carver and Stewart Jenkins. They’ll be joining re-elected councillors Maddie Charlton, Jack Fancy and Vicki Amirault.

Christian says he’ll be working as mayor full time. And he admits he has a lot to learn.

But he says he and the rest of council have had a good start, thanks to guidance from CAO Cody Joudry and a productive two-day training and orientation session in Halifax last week. 

“What I heard loud and clear throughout the campaign was a desire to see our council working effectively together. I think that we’ve already made some really great strides. I’ve had conversations with each and every member of the council and sought to hear them out. … I think we made some really positive strides as a group in terms of coming together while we were in Halifax. … And another thing too is working effectively with other members of the community, with other organizations, and other orders of government, and what I hear is a real comitment across the team to start to do those things.”

Christian says there’s a lot of work to be done. But he also says that with a staffing crunch at the region, he and the rest of council need to be patient.

“We as a council need to be realistic in terms of the capacity of the staff right now to execute on some of the work that is important. The whole team has a real commitment to addressing the priority concerns in the community, but we need to do it in a way that makes sense.”

Ultimately, Christian says he hopes he and the rest of council can get the public more involved and engaged in the region’s business.

“We are accountable to the pepole of Queens and we need to make sure that they are well informed and that they have access to the decisions that we’ve made and the conversations we’ve had in reaching those deicsions.”

The new Region of Queens council meets Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. at council chambers on White Point Road. You can see the agenda here.

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QCCR acknowledges the support of the Community Radio Fund of Canada’s Local Journalism Initiative.

Scott Christian is a candidate for mayor of the Region of Queens in October’s municipal election. (Photo via Scott Christian)

Scott Christian, a business and government consultant, is one of two candidates running to be the next mayor of the Region of Queens.

Terry Doucette, a former teacher and school administrator, is the other candidate.

The election will be held on Oct. 19.

QCCR interviewed Christian on Aug. 30. His campaign website is scott4mayor24.ca, or you can follow his Facebook page.

You can listen to the interview with Scott Christian below.

Region of Queens Mayor Darlene Norman will not be seeking another term in the October municipal election. (Rick Conrad)

Darlene Norman has made it official, announcing she won’t seek re-election as mayor of the Region of Queens.

“I have decided not to reoffer simply because these last four years have made me realize that it was one thing to be a councillor, it’s another thing to be the mayor,” she said in an interview Wednesday.

“When you are a councillor and you vote in a certain way at a meeting and the vote didn’t go your way, then it’s over and done. When you are the mayor and you vote at a council meeting for something that you feel is very important and you lose the vote, … as the mayor you still have to speak on behalf of council for the vote. And I am the type of personality that finds it very difficult to speak favorably about an issue that I think is so wrong.”

Norman’s decision to serve one term as mayor caps a 20-year career in municipal politics, which began in 2000 when she was elected councillor in District 1, which covers the area of Hunts Point, White Point, Port Mouton and Port Joli.

She served as councillor for the area until 2016 when she was defeated by current councillor Kevin Muise.

In 2020, she decided to run for mayor, beating incumbent David Dagley and two other challengers – Susan MacLeod and Brian Fralic.

Norman said she enjoyed her time as mayor.

“I really liked being the mayor, I liked helping people, I liked meeting people. But I just have a very difficult time when I have to as mayor speak on behalf of council and it’s a decision of which I disagreed. Other than that, being the mayor was wonderful.”

In a Facebook post on Tuesday announcing her decision, she said council has achieved many good things over the past four years. But she said there were other things she regrets.

One of those was not building a new library. The Thomas H. Raddall Library has to leave its leased premises in downtown Liverpool by the end of December. After many stops and starts, council couldn’t agree on a new permanent location, so they decided to put it, at least temporarily, in the Liverpool Business Development Centre on White Point Road.

“We could have built a lovely library, it would have been open by now. For one reason or another, things went sideways. Council couldn’t agree on a location.”

Another frustration for Norman over the past four years is the concentration of municipal resources in the Liverpool, Brooklyn and Milton areas. She says council needs to find a way to improve services in other areas of Queens County, such as north Queens and areas outside the so-called urban core of Liverpool.

“Our biggest assessment areas are in rural Queens. … I look around at north Queens, east and west, people are paying incredible tax dollars in those parts of the county, despite people in the town of Liverpool who think they’re paying the biggest tax dollars. I’m just finding it really difficult with the Region of Queens and trying to find a balance with specnding in rural as well as central.”

She said building new accessible washroom and change room facilities at Beach Meadows Beach was council’s way to try to spread some municipal dollars outside the Liverpool-Brooklyn-Milton core. 

She said it’s one of council’s accomplishments that she’s proud of. Others include improvements in accessibility at other municipally owned facilities such as the Astor Theatre; working with a wind farm developer in Milton to create more renewable energy; advocating for new cell towers in north Queens and supporting affordable housing initiatives by Queens Neighbourhood Co-operative Housing.

“Those are good things, those are really positive things for Queens. … There have been so many more benefits than disappointments.”

And even though the region still struggles with staffing shortages, she said she’s very proud of what municipal employees have been able to accomplish. She said the region has only two building inspectors and one planner, at a time when development is on the rise. And she said their bylaw enforcement division is also understaffed, while complaints increase.

“People are so quick to criticize the staff of the Region of Queens and I really wish that perhaps people like that could be the mayor for a week or a month and actually sit in my chair and get a good understanding of how much work they do, because our staff work hard.”

Norman said another reason she won’t be reoffering in October’s municipal election is the abuse she said she’s received on social media.

“The cruel, the unkind, the unjust things that are said. And all people have to do is pick up a phone and they’ll know that all those rumours aren’t true. I tend to bite my tongue and … almost cut off my fingers not to write back some things on some posts that I’ve read. But it’s just not what I was prepared for.

“And I just don’t want it anymore. I’m a really good sleeper and when I don’t sleep at night because of stuff at council or things going on, I have too many people my age dropping dead and I want to do positive things that have positive results and are not attached with any negativism.”

She says she’s not sure what she’ll do after October. But it will include spending more time with her young grandson in Shelburne. And she plans to volunteer in her community of Port Medway and work on some of her art projects.

“I’ll find something to do. … I’m interested in helping my community of Port Medway. … I’m artistic, I might just discover who I am again. But I want to get out and do something that I want to do that doesn’t have the stressors that being the mayor does.”

Regardless of some of that stress, she says she’s grateful for the opportunity to be mayor of the Region of Queens for the past four years.

“I’d just like to thank the people of Queens for poviding me this wonderful privilege to represent Queens County,” she says. “And it is a privilege. We are a wonderful county, we have some of the best people in the world. And we are very attractive to people around the world who want to live here. So let’s welcome newcomers, regardless of what country or what culture they are. Diversity is wonderful for us. It makes us stronger. Thanks to the people of Queens.

“And I’m here for a couple of more months if there’s anything anybody needs any help with.”

The municipal election is set for Oct. 19. Former teacher Terry Doucette and business consultant Scott Christian have already announced their campaigns for mayor. People have until Sept. 10 to file their nomination papers. 

For the first time, voters in Queens will be able to make their choices by traditional ballot or by phone or online.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Liverpool resident Terry Doucette declared his bid on Tuesday for mayor of the Region of Queens. (Rick Conrad)

A former teacher wants to be the next mayor of the Region of Queens.

Terry Doucette retired in 2015 after 37 years as a teacher and school and school board administrator. He declared his intention at a council meeting on Tuesday during the public comments portion.

In an interview afterward, Doucette, who lives in Liverpool, said he’s running because he wants to see a number of concerns and priorities addressed in the next four years.

He said some of those are housing, senior care and the environment.

“In addition to that, we have a new mill being proposed through the province of Nova Scotia. And I’m excited about the potential for that. That will create the need for environmental sensitivity as well as labour-related benefits for our community. I watched Bowater Mersey over my time. … I know people who worked there with good wages. And I think if it comes this way … if they can assure us it’s going to be an environmental plus, I think the community would support that.

“And I realize that housing is the No. 1 concern for our residents. Seniors, young people, the demand for more apartments, the increase in rents has created a crisis.”

So far, the only other person running for mayor is Scott Christian. He announced in November that he was vying for the top elected spot in Queens County.

Christian is a business consultant who is also the former chairman of the Queens Daycare Association.

Another candidate had declared his intention to run, but has since thrown his support behind Christian. James Grant, a former business owner from Milton, said he would drop out of the race if somebody else ran that he could support.

Queens Mayor Darlene Norman has not said whether she will seek re-election. 

For his part, Doucette said Tuesday that there wasn’t one single issue that made him decide to run. And he declined to assess the job of the current council.

“I know there are always dissensions when people are in the position to govern locally or provincially or federally. As a mature person, I believe in communication, I believe in moderation, I believe in conflict resolution. I have a lot of leadership skills from my past. People have to come together and share their views and this is a place on the council to share those views. At the end of the day, we’re all here and running for the same reasons, which is to respect what the people want.”

In his time as an educator, Doucette says he’s lived and worked all over Queens County. He’s also volunteered with the board of Queens Manor and run a property management company.

“I’m not running against anybody, I’m running for something,” he said. “I’m running for the people in North Queens, I’m running for the people in South Queens, I’m running because I’ve been into all the communities. I’ve worked with the people, people know me and I’m asking for a chance and some support.”

There’s still lots of time for others to join the race for mayor and the rest of council. The election is on Oct. 19, with the second Tuesday in September, or Sept. 10, set for candidates to file their nomination papers.

This year, for the first time, people will be able to vote in person, online or by phone.

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com

Listen to the audio version of this story below

Scott Christian announces candidacy for Region of Queens Mayor. Photo: Scott Christian for Mayor of RQM Facebook page

Scott Christian is first to announce his intention to run for Mayor of Queens in the 2024 municipal election.

The former Chair of the Queens Daycare Association made the announcement in a video released on social media Friday.

During the two and a half minute long video Christian raised concerns about the high levels of poverty, lack of affordable and seniors housing, and under-realized economic development in Queens.

He calls for the municipality to work with the province, grassroots and non-profit organizations, as well as local businesses to address those concerns.

Christian says he intends to change the culture around the council table.

“But the reality is that the current mayor and council have held us back because they’ve failed to work together as a team, and they have no plan in place for the future,” says Christian. “So, what I propose is this, that in our next council defines and commits to a common vision for the future of Queen County, develops a plan to get us there, and supports our administration to follow through on that plan. We make thoughtful, affordable, strategic investments in our community.”

Christian spent several years as the Chair of the Queens Daycare Association before it was recently placed under the care of the YMCA.

He is a business consultant and launched the Work Evolved co-working space in Liverpool.

Christian says Queens has many attributes and much to be proud of including the Universally Designed Play Park and the new long-term care home under construction around Queens Place.

In his video, Christian says Queens Place is still reeling from the loss of their junior hockey team and the canteen has been unable to find a way to stay open. He also criticizes council for not moving fast enough to get a new swimming pool in South Queens.

“There’s clear desire for change within the Region of Queens Municipality and I would be honoured to lead that change,” says Christian. “We can and will do better together.”

At this point neither Mayor Darlene Norman nor Deputy Mayor Jack Fancy have publicly announced if they will run for the position.

There is still plenty of time for candidates to announce as the next municipal election is scheduled for October 2024.

To hear the broadcast version of this story click play below.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

Queens Daycare extension under construction, September 2023. Photo Scott Christian

The South Shore chapter of the YMCA will take over operations of Queens Daycare.

President of the Queens Day Care Association Scott Christian says putting the centre in the hands of the YMCA will ensure the sustainability and long-term solvency of the daycare, while offering improved programming by providing more opportunities to professionalize and better support staff.

“It has become so incredibly arduous and challenging to stay apprised of, and responsive to the shifting landscape around early childhood development,” said Christian.

He says the provincial and federal governments have recognized the importance of providing childcare and have really thrown their support into the sector.

Christian says initiatives like $10 a day daycare, better training and increased wages for workers are all very welcome but all those measures come with a level of oversight that is difficult, if not impossible for a volunteer board to meet.

“When you have that type of corporate infrastructure you can just leave the day-to-day of, the on-site director really has to worry about relationships with the families and supporting the staffing compliment right?” said Christian. “Like, the actual day-to-day stuff and not having to worry about maintaining the building, managing the building, you know, and then reporting for funding and budgeting and you know, and then the list goes on and on and on.”

According to CEO South Shore YMCA Yvonne Smith, that is where they come in.

“There’s a lot happening with the, with the changes within the childcare environment and so we were really one of the first if not the first to transition a for-profit childcare to a license not-for-profit and that was the Greenwood transition which we did, and since then we’ve been working on some others,” said Smith.

Christian believes the YMCA is the right organization to lead the daycare in the years ahead.

“They’re really well suited. They are engaged and involved in provision of licensed childcare throughout Southwest Nova Scotia and this just is kind of, for me, it’s the next chapter, the next chapter of Queens daycare,” said Christian. “[It] makes a lot of sense I think that I applaud what we as a volunteer community group have been able to do, but it’s just time to recognize that the best decision for the operation is to allow an organization who’s better suited to be able to take it to the next level.”

Christian says the Queens Daycare Association and YMCA have been working on the deal for months.

They agreed they would wait to make the announcement until the association had an opportunity to inform staff and families of the change.

Now that the details have been worked out and those groups have been notified, Christian anticipates the YMCA will take over the day-to-day operations in early November.

To hear the broadcast of this story click play below.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com

Queens Daycare extension under construction, September 2023. Photo Scott Christian

Queens Daycare Association has set spring of 2024 to open their expanded childcare centre.

The facility currently provides care for 42 children and 8 infants. Once renovations are complete another 65 childcare spaces will be opened.

President of the Queens Daycare Association Scott Christian says some reconfiguration of classes will be necessary during construction.

“The new side is expected to be complete this winter. We’re aiming for December or January to have the new building portion complete and then we’ll just migrate all the kiddos over there onto the new side so that there’s no sort of disruption to the operation,” said Christian. “Migrate everybody over there and then we’ll be getting the upstairs of the old Mount Pleasant school which the program is currently taking place in and that will be completely renovated.”

The renovations will involve the creation of 13 new toilets and sinks to meet provincial guidelines that dictate the ratio of children to washroom facilities.

Christian says finding qualified Early Childhood Educators (ECEs) has been challenging in the past and he appreciates the work being done by the provincial government to open new spaces to train more childcare professionals.

“It’s really challenging to get the infrastructure and the labour force pieces to kind of move in tandem with one another and so sort of, delays to the construction project have meant that now we’re further along in terms of the province investing and creating more and developing more ECEs.,” said Christian. “So, we’re hopeful that when we do get to a point where we’re able to open up both sides of the new and newly renovated daycare that we will be able to hire and have the type of team that we will be able to pretty quickly ratchet up our program to accept new families into the program because we still are maintaining a waitlist that fluctuates between 40 and 50 kids.”

Christian says the childcare landscape has changed drastically over the past few years as different levels of government try to find a path forward that works for children, parents, and care providers.

“The move to sort of, $10 a day average childcare across the province and across the country has been challenging,” said Christian. “It’s just structurally, is very complex but I have to applaud the government has been, well it’s been challenging and while there’s lots of difficult decisions and what they’ve been very supportive, I would say they’ve been very supportive to the community-based organisations who are trying to navigate it.”

Christian sees more young families in Queens and says the renovations will be key to the Queens Daycare meeting the demands of the community.

To hear the broadcast of this story click play below.

E-mail: edhalversonnews@gmail.com