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.
Nova Scotia’s Public Works Minister and Queens MLA Kim Masland. (Rick Conrad photo)
Like many longtime Queens County residents, MLA Kim Masland lived through the closure of the Bowater mill in Liverpool in 2012.
“When we lost Bowater, it was a huge blow, to not only Liverpool but to Queens County and to the western end of the province,” Masland said Wednesday.
The Nova Scotia government announced last Thursday that Paper Excellence Canada, the company that operated the former Northern Pulp mill in Pictou County, is looking at the possibility of opening a new mill in Queens County.
The company plans to conduct a feasibility study that could take nine months. It’s part of an agreement between the province and Paper Excellence to settle the company’s $450-million lawsuit it filed after the mill shut down in 2020.
Premier Tim Houston and Natural Resources and Renewables Minister Tory Rushton said last week that a new mill would fulfill a need identified in a 2018 report on forestry practices by Prof. William Lahey. It found that demand for forestry products in the western end of the province was seriously affected by the closure of Bowater and Northern Pulp.
Houston said that a new mill would represent a $1.4-billion investment.
Masland, who is also Nova Scotia’s public works minister, has heard from a lot of constituents about the possibility of Liverpool becoming a mill town once again.
“When we look at the reputation of Northern Pulp in Pictou, it wasn’t great,” she says.
“Environmental standards have certainly changed, environmental reporting has certainly changed. I am a rural country girl who grew up and was supported through our industries aof forestry, farming and fishing. I believe in all of them. I believe that in our province and in Queens County we can still continue that. But everything that we do does need to be done with the highest, and I mean the highest, of standards, environmentally. And that will be government’s job to make sure that if this does go ahead that all of those standards are being met.”
Masland told QCCR on Wednesday that opinions seem to be evenly split between concern about the environment and the potential for employment that a new kraft pulp mill would bring to Queens County.
“I do believe that we as a forestry sector do have the ability to supply a mill. This is tremendous economic benefit to our community, but I also understand that economic benefit and the health of a community, one can’t outweigh the other.”
She said that while people are concerned about the smell and about Northern Pulp’s environmental record, it’s also clear that residents, woodlot owners and the forestry sector in general would benefit greatly from a mill.
“Let’s think about this. In Liverpool right now, Queens County has one of the highest poverty levels in Nova Scotia. We have no industry. We have a small industry in a sawmill. We have no industry, we have tourism, fabulous, we have two wonderful resorts that offer great employment, but we really do not have any industry for people in our community. People are struggling and people deserve to have an opportunity that others have had.”
Masland said that she won’t commit to supporting a Northern Pulp mill in Queens County until she sees the results of the feasibility study.
“I would want to see the feasibility study before I would support anything. I’m not going to say I’m going to support something unless I have all the information. I’ve never done that.”
An undated aerial photo of the former Bowater Mersey plant in Brooklyn. (Queens County Historical Society Photo Collection, housed at the Queens County Museum)
The pulp and paper industry may be making a comeback in Queens County.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston announced on Thursday that Paper Excellence, which owns Northern Pulp in Pictou County, will be launching a feasibility study into whether it can open a mill in Liverpool.
He was speaking at a news conference in Halifax. His opening remarks were broadcast to a crowd of local politicians, chamber of commerce members and forestry sector workers at the Astor Theatre in Liverpool.
The possible new mill in Liverpool is part of a settlement agreement to resolve the company’s $450-million lawsuit against the province.
“The Pictou mill is not reopening,” Houston said. “The province has agreed to support Paper Excellence in the idea of building a new kraft pulp mill in Queens County, in the areas around the former Bowater mill.
“With the support of the region’s forestry sector, the company believes that Liverpool could again support a new mill, and I agree.”
Houston said the company will likely launch the feasibility study in the next few weeks. It is expected to take up to nine months.
“Let’s keep in mind a new mill is not a guarantee. If the company decides not to proceed with the new mill, Nova Scotia’s interests are still accounted for and protected. But if there’s a business case and the company brings forward a project, it could mean an investment of more than $1.4 billion in our economy.”
Bowater, which operated in Brooklyn from 1929 to 2012, employed hundreds of people in Queens County. It was founded as the Mersey Paper Company Limited by industrialist Izaak Walton Killam.
When it closed, it threw 320 people out of work. It also affected people in other industries.
Many of the employees retired or left for jobs in western Canada or elsewhere. The region fell into an economic funk. And it took years for the local economy to begin to recover.
Houston said a new mill would be good news for Queens County and for the province’s 35,000 woodlot owners.
“We are building a stronger economy for Nova Scotians, and a new mill has enormous economic potential. It could kickstart a new chapter for communities along the South Shore and the province’s economy overall.”
Northern Pulp closed its mill at Abercrombie Point, Pictou County, in 2020, after the Nova Scotia government under Stephen McNeil refused its application for a new effluent treatment facility. It had been pumping effluent into nearby Boat Harbour, sparking protests from the Pictou Landing First Nation.
Houston said Thursday that any new mill in Queens County will have to meet modern standards.
“Let me assure you that any project that comes forward will need to meet today’s standards, and will undergo environmental assessments, significant public engagmeent and indigenous consultation. We will also hold the company to a high standard for the Pictou mill site.”
Many of the people at the Astor for the announcement Thursday would not comment afterward. Queens MLA and Public Works Minister Kim Masland declined to comment. She said all media inquiries were being handled by the premier’s office.
The forestry workers in attendance did not want to be interviewed, but were happy with the announcement and said that the “industry’s needed some good news”.
Mayor Darlene Norman said she was limited in what she could say publicly.
“For those who understand the forestry sector, this is a wonderful opportunity for Queens.”
The possibility of a new pulp and paper mill in Queens County came to light this week when CBC reporter Michael Gorman reported on Wednesday that an announcement was imminent.
Kerry Morash worked at Bowater for 19 years and was also the Queens MLA for the Progressive Conservatives from 1999 to 2006. He welcomed the news that the industry might return to the area.
“I think it’s a big opportunity for the community and western Nova Scotia,” he said in an intervew. “And especially when you look at the storm damage that we have and we have a lot of wood laying down in the forest from Pictou to Yarmouth and that’s getting drier and getting ready to catch on fire. If we can clean up the forest and produce a product and make some employment, envrionmentally friendly and sustainbably, it’s all good news.”
Ashley Christian, president of the South Queens Chamber of Commerce, said she wants to make sure a mill is safe and sustainable.
“As long as all environmental regulations are being met and taken really seriously, I think that we in Queens County would welcome industry, we welcome jobs and what that would provide for our community.”
As part of the settlement agreement with the province, Paper Excellence has to top up Northern Pulp pension plans by $30 million to protect the former employees’ pensions. It also has to pay $50 million of its own court costs.
If the company’s study finds a new mill in Queens County is viable, it will pay the province $15 million to settle its $99 million debt. If it finds a new mill isn’t possible, it would pay the province $30 million and pay $15 million toward the cleanup of the Northern Pulp site.
If the company goes ahead with a new mill, it would seek financing and work with the province and others to get it going.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston told reporters Thursday that a $25,000 fine for violating burn restrictions is about preventing more wildfires. (Nova Scotia Government)
With wildfires breaking out in western Canada, Nova Scotia has increased the fine for violating the daily burn restrictions to $25,000.
From March 15 to Oct. 15, daily burn restrictions are in place across the province to help prevent wildfires.
Burning is not permitted anywhere between 8 a.m. and 2 p.m. because that is when the wildfire risk is greatest.
Premier Tim Houston told reporters on Thursday that the increased fine is to help prevent the wildfires from happening in the first place. The basic fine for violating burn restrictions is $237.50. The larger fine is in place until the end of wildfire season.
“We encourage all Nova Scotians to check before you burn,” Houston said. “Check the website, reach out to find out what’s the situation in your community. … With the weather changing, the risk increases and we know the experience that we had in this province last year and we are seeing what is happening across the country, significant forest fires across the country. We should do what we can to prepare and encourage prevention.”
Last spring, wildfires in southwestern Nova Scotia and in the Halifax area consumed more than 25,000 hectares and destroyed 200 homes.
Houston said people should check the province’s BurnSafe map every day to check the restrictions in their area.
The daily burn restrictions also now apply to campgrounds. Open fires like campfires are permitted only after 2 p.m. when the BurnSafe map is green or after 7 p.m. when the map is yellow. Those are the same standards for open fires in people’s backyards.
The province increased the fine to $25,000 last year when the Nova Scotia wildfires were still burning. Houston said Thursday he’s confident that if somebody violates the burning restrictions, they will be fined.
“So the enforcement is there. We’re serious about preparation, we’re serious about prevention. I would personally push for if anyone ignores the burn ban, I want them charged for sure.”
So far this year, crews have responded to 41 wildfires across the province that have burned about 39 hectares.
Debris from the fish farm near Coffin Island on Beach Meadows Beach in 2021. (Rick Conrad photo)
It’s been a little over a month since Nova Scotia’s aquaculture review board indefinitely adjourned hearings into a fish farm application in Liverpool Bay.
And there’s still no indication if the hearings will ever begin.
Jamie Simpson with Juniper Law represents one of the intervenors in the hearing, a group of lobster fishermen. He said Thursday he hasn’t heard a word.
“The parties haven’t been informed of any updates, any new dates, or any attempts to schedule anything,” Simpson said in an interview.
“It’s just kind of radio silence at the moment. And I guess we’re just kind of sitting tight waiting to see what might happen.”
Kelly Cove Salmon, owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied in 2019 to expand its salmon farming operation off Coffin Island near Liverpool, and to add two new farms off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. If successful, that would increase Cooke’s operation to 60 pens from 14, and include trout as well as salmon. It could mean up to 1.8 million farmed salmon in the bay, compared to about 400,000 now.
More than 150 residents, businesses and community groups filed written submissions with the board. Five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.
The hearings had been scheduled to begin in Liverpool on March 4. At a business luncheon in Liverpool on Feb. 7, Premier Tim Houston said he was personally opposed to the expansion, but that he respects the independence of the review board.
On Feb. 20, groups involved in the hearing got a “high priority” email from the board, telling them those hearings were cancelled. Lawyers were told that April hearing dates were still a go.
Then on March 6, the board posted a notice on its website that “all sessions of the hearing have been adjourned until further notice.”
The board did not give a reason. And it’s still just as tight-lipped today as it was then.
In an email on Thursday, board clerk Stacy Bruce repeated what he told QCCR in March, that there is no new information about the hearing. And he said when new information is available, it will be posted to the website.
Bruce also turned down a request from QCCR to interview board chairman Tim Cranston. He said board members are not available for public comment on their work.
The delays occurred when lawyers involved in the hearing were told in mid-February that then-chairwoman Jean McKenna was no longer on the board.
They were surprised because McKenna had been involved in preparing for the hearings, even though her one-year term was set to expire anyway on Feb. 15. That is confirmed in a ministerial order signed by then-Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Steve Craig on Feb. 17, 2023.
Part of the ministerial order from Feb. 17, 2023, reappointing Jean McKenna as chairwoman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board for one year.
A spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture declined comment Thursday on the delays.
And Kent Smith, Nova Scotia’s fisheries and aquaculture minister, also would not comment Thursday. A spokeswoman said it wouldn’t be appropriate to comment while the matter is still before the board.
Lawyer Jamie Simpson said that regulatory boards generally try to address issues in a timely manner.
“I would presume that the most affected is Cooke, Kelly Cove Salmon,” Simpson said. “They are the ones that brought the application forward and they are the ones that are interested in getting this moving. In terms of the lobster fishers of Liverpool Bay, they would rather not see the aquaculture site go in of course because of the potential impacts on lobster stocks and impact to fishing in that area.”
Simpson said that his clients will wait and see what happens with the hearings. He said it would be nice to have the issue resolved, but that it’s up to the board to make that happen.
Premier Tim Houston speaks to reporters on Thursday about an agreement with Nova Scotia teachers. (Nova Scotia government Facebook page)
Nova Scotia will likely avoid a teachers’ strike as government and union negotiators reached an “agreement in principle” late Wednesday night.
The Nova Scotia Teachers Union entered conciliation talks with government negotiators on Monday and Tuesday with a 98 per cent strike mandate. More than 10,000 teachers and educational specialists voted last Thursday to go on strike if an agreement couldn’t be reached.
Teachers are concerned about rising levels of violence in schools, teacher recruitment and retention, and compensation for substitute and permanent teachers.
Premier Tim Houston joined the talks himself on Monday night.
Houston told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Thursday that he believes the agreement addresses many of the union’s concerns.
“I think it’s an agreement that teachers can be proud of,” he said.
“I did personally attend the bargaining table late on Monday evening and tried to make it clear at that point that we heard the voices of teachers and the NSTU and that this government shares their focus on students, student outcomes and classroom conditions. I think teachers will see significant investments in these areas in the agreement. It’s an agreement that responds to the call that students can’t wait. … Our government has great respect for teachers and our focus was on reaching a deal that was fair to teachers and ensured improved classroom conditions for students and teachers.”
Ryan Lutes, president of the teachers union, said in an interview Thursday that the premier’s presence at the bargaining table seemed to move things along.
“The premier was helpful,” Lutes said.
“Up until that point, I would say our negotiating team saw very little movement on the issues that mattered to teachers and students. The premier shared his commitment to improving classroom conditions, to improving work-life balance for teachers and his desire to invest in public schools, and I think that spurred his team along into eventually getting an agreement with teachers.”
So far, it’s only a verbal agreement. Lead negotiators for both sides are still hammering out the language. As soon as the union’s bargaining team sees and signs off on the document, they can call it a tentative agreement.
Lutes said it will likely take another week or two before teachers see something they can vote on. Details won’t be released until that happens.
“I don’t believe the premier would have spurred along his own negotiating team without the strong strike mandate. I think our members were really important. The message came through with the strong strike mandate that members aren’t going to accept an agreement that doesn’t move their priorities forward. And I think the premier heard that. He was able to pretty positively contribute to that discussion on Monday night.”
The premier said his government shares teachers’ concerns about classroom and working conditions.
“We knew the importance of the negotiations for sure. That was never diminished and that was never a second thought in our mind. So we’re really happy that we’ve been able to reach the agreement in principle. When it’s all said and done, this is an agreement that teachers can be proud of and I’m optimistic about the path forward from here.”
The government and NSTU have been negotiating since last June. Their last contract expired July 31, 2023.
A map showing where Kelly Cove Salmon proposes two new fish farm sites (in yellow) and where it plans to expand its existing operation (in green). (Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board)
It’s anyone’s guess as to when or if the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board will hold hearings into a proposal to expand fish farming in Liverpool Bay.
The board posted a notice on its website on March 6, saying that hearing dates scheduled for April 2 to 5 were cancelled. They gave no reason, and no new dates are on the horizon.
Kelly Cove Salmon, owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied in 2019 to expand its salmon farming operation off Coffin Island near Liverpool, and to add two new farms off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. If successful, that would increase Cooke’s operation to 60 pens from 14, and include trout as well as salmon. It could mean up to 1.8 million farmed salmon in the bay, compared to about 400,000 now.
Groups involved in the hearing are as much in the dark as everybody else.
Jamie Simpson with Juniper Law represents one of the five intervenors, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay.
He said Monday that he received an email from the board telling him the April dates were cancelled. They also made no attempt to set new dates, he said. Since then, he hasn’t heard a thing.
“I would have thought that we would have heard some sort of a followup plan for the path forward here, but it’s just been silent so far.
“I mean I don’t know what to think. I’ve never seen it before basically. … It’s been radio silence since we got that letter.”
The hearings have been on hold since chairwoman Jean McKenna left the board on Feb. 20. Her departure surprised groups involved in the hearing, although the Nova Scotia government said her term had simply expired.
The board cancelled March hearing dates and said that the April hearings would still go ahead.
The Tory government appointed board member and former Tory candidate Tim Cranston to take McKenna’s place as chairman. Cranston has been a member of the ARB since 2023. He ran unsuccessfully for the Conservatives in the last provincial election.
Premier Tim Houston came out against the proposed expansion in early February, but said that he supports aquaculture and respects the independence of the review board.
More than 150 residents, businesses and community groups filed written submissions with the board. Five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.
Representatives with the review board have not commented on the cancellations or when there might be new hearings scheduled. They have said that any new information will be posted on their website.
Jamie Simpson said Monday that all he and his clients can do is wait.
“I don’t know what the forces are that are moving this, but all we can do is sit back, it’s highly unusual,” he said.
“It seems like anything’s possible at this point. I assume that Kelly Cove Salmon wants to go ahead with their application. I haven’t heard anything to the contrary in that regard. So assuming that Kelly Cove doesn’t pull out, we’ll be going ahead at some point. And that’s about all I can say.”
A spokesman for Cooke Aquaculture could not be reached on Monday.
Debris from the fish farm near Coffin Island on Beach Meadows Beach in 2021. (Rick Conrad photo)
April hearings into a proposed fish farm expansion in Liverpool Bay have been cancelled.
The Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board posted on its website last Wednesday that “all sessions of the hearing have been adjourned until further notice. Timeframes for submissions to the Board remain unchanged and are closed.”
It’s the latest surprising turn of events for the review board. In early February, Premier Tim Houston announced at a business luncheon in Liverpool that he personally opposes the expansion in Liverpool Bay. He added that he respects the independence of the review board.
Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied in 2019 to expand its existing operation off Coffin Island. It also wants to add two new site off Brooklyn and Mersey Point.
On Feb. 20, groups involved in the hearing got a “high priority” email telling them the hearings scheduled for March 4 to 8 were cancelled. They were also told that board chairwoman Jean McKenna was no longer with the board.
Lawyers were told that other dates that had been scheduled for early April were still a go.
A new chairman was appointed. Tim Cranston was appointed to the board in February 2023. He also ran for the Tories in the last provincial election in Halifax.
Houston told reporters that McKenna’s term had expired and that there was nothing inappropriate about Cranston’s appointment.
And then last week, the board posted on its site that the April dates were now cancelled.
The board has been mum about all the recent changes and hearing cancellations, saying only that when new information is available, it will be posted on its website.
There is no indication when or if they will be rescheduled.
Louisbourg Seafoods is owned by Jim and Lori Kennedy, who started the business in 1984. It deals in snow crab, redfish, northern shrimp, lobster, sea cucumber and blue mussels.
Barry contributed $250 to Liberal candidate Marc Botte in the 2019 byelection in Sydney River-Mira-Louisbourg, according to an Elections Nova Scotia candidate disclosure statement.
In an interview with QCCR last week, Agriculture Minister Greg Morrow, who was acting fisheries and aquaculture minister while Kent Smith was out of the country, did not know if another member would be appointed to the board to replace Jean McKenna, who left the board in mid-February.
The review board’s website has not been updated with Barry as a member.
A screengrab of the list of Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board members on the Nova Scotia government website.
McKenna was one of the first three members appointed to the review board in 2017 by the then-Liberal government. She had been its first and only chairwoman until her term expired earlier this month.
She was replaced as chair by Tim Cranston, a lawyer who ran unsuccessfully for the Tories in Halifax Atlantic in the last provincial election.
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston said last week that there was nothing inappropriate in Cranston’s appointment as chairman. He said McKenna’s term had expired and the board needed a new chair.
The review board was scheduled to begin hearings March 4 into an application from Kelly Cove Salmon, owned by Cooke Aquaculture, to expand its fish farms in Liverpool Bay. Kelly Cove wants to expand its current operation near Coffin Island off Beach Meadows Beach to 20 pens from 14, and add trout to the salmon already farmed there. And it wants to add 40 new pens at two sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point. It would mean more than 1.8 million salmon and trout being produced, compared
Groups involved in the hearing were surprised when they were sent a “high priority” email from review board clerk Stacy Bruce on Feb. 20, telling them McKenna was no longer with the board and that the March hearing dates would be cancelled.
Along with Kelly Cove Salmon, five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.
Jamie Simpson of Juniper Law, who is representing the lobster fishermen group, said it’s unusual that “a decision maker who has been significantly part of the process” would leave on the eve of the hearings.
“It’s no small feat to get several days in a row scheduled among the diverse parties here, so it’s a challenge,” Simpson said in an interview last week. “When they had the March dates nailed down it was an accomplishment and to see them cancelled now it’s a shock.”
Houston and Queens MLA and Public Works Minister Kim Masland have both spoken against the planned expansion. At a business luncheon in Liverpool on Feb. 7, the premier said that while supports aquaculture in Nova Scotia, he was personally opposed to more fish farming in Liverpool Bay.
In an email Monday, board clerk Sayeed Maswod told QCCR to “visit the regularly updated NSARB website for all information related to hearings.”
The review board has been mum on when the hearings will begin, but Simpson told QCCR that dates set for April 2 to 5 at the Best Western Plus in Liverpool are still a go.
Premier Tim Houston spoke to reporters after a cabinet meeting on Thursday. (Nova Scotia Government)
By Rick Conrad
Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston says having a former Progressive Conservative candidate as the new chairman of the Nova Scotia Aquaculture Review Board won’t affect the board’s independence as it hears an application to expand fish farming in Liverpool Bay.
Houston spoke to reporters after a cabinet meeting Thursday. He was asked about the change this week in the board’s leadership.
Chairwoman Jean McKenna is no longer on the board. Her replacement as chairman is Tim Cranston, a board member who also ran for the Tories in the last provincial election.
“Mr. Cranston has been on that board for quite some time,” Houston said. “He’s a free thinker. As a member of that board, he’ll listen to the evidence and hear the hearings. The chairperson’s term had expired and it was time for a new chair and there’s a new chair and that’s a good thing. But the work will be done by that board.”
Greg Morrow, acting minister of fisheries and aquaculture, said Thursday in an interview that McKenna’s term expired on Feb. 15. Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Kent Smith is out of the country on a trade mission and was not available for comment.
“As I understand it, her term was already extended and that extension has expired. So a new chair has been appointed. Legislation enables these types of transitions. It’s all part of that process and we have faith in it.”
McKenna was one of the board’s first three members when she was appointed chairwoman in 2017 by the then-Liberal government. Morrow did not know if a new member would be appointed to the board.
Kelly Cove Salmon, which is owned by Cooke Aquaculture, applied to the board in 2019 for an expansion of their fish farm operation in Liverpool Bay.
Kelly Cove wants to increase its farm near Coffin Island to 20 pens from 14 and to set up 40 pens at two new sites off Brooklyn and Mersey Point.
Five groups were granted intervenor status at the hearings: Protect Liverpool Bay, the Region of Queens, the Brooklyn Marina, 22 Lobster Fishermen of Liverpool Bay, and Kwilmu’kw Maw-Klusuaqn, which is representing the Acadia First Nation.
Groups involved in the hearing were surprised this week when the board told them that McKenna was no longer chairwoman, and that hearings planned for March 4 to 8 in Liverpool were cancelled.
Jamie Simpson of Juniper Law represents a group of 22 lobster fishermen who oppose the expansion.
“It seems a bit bizarre when you have a decision-maker who has been significantly part of the process and then to all of a sudden not have that decision maker there it is certainly unusual from my experience,” Simpson said in an interview Wednesday.
Morrow wouldn’t comment on that, and said that the board’s schedule is up to the new chairman.
He said there was nothing inappropriate about how the new chairman was appointed.
“I’m not concerned. It’s an independent board. They’ll make their decision on all applications that are brought forward to them. Anyone that’s interested in being considered for appointments can apply through the government-wide ABC appointment process. Mr. Cranston was already a board member, … and he met the criteria for the position. Rules governing the independent board are established, fair and they’re known to everyone so, no, I have no concerns about the independence of the board.”
Unless the board decides otherwise, hearings into Kelly Cove’s application will begin April 2 at the Best Western Plus in Liverpool.
