The Shoreline Journal and The South Cumberland News are monthly community newspapers based in Bass River, Nova Scotia, and serving the Fundy Shore/Glooscap Trail from Truro to Parrsboro and further north to Advocate Harbour.   See submission deadlines...

Established in 1994, the Journal was originally published as the West Colchester Free Press by Ken Kennedy Publications, and later renamed to The Shoreline Journal.  In January 2008 The Journal changed hands and is now under the management of  Maurice Rees.  He initiated a redesign of the paper, with the addition of several colour pages in each issue. Each monthly issue concentrates on the many community events which involve residents of all ages, from the elderly to Like us on Facebook to keep up to date along the Shoreline!the very young, and those young at heart.  A primary focus is those activities which involve students, whether it be school or 4-H club activities.

Maurice has extensive experience in the community newspaper & advertising field, and has been running several businesses in Maitland for the past few years. 

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Features

The Shoreline Journal understands that rural communities want to know about news and events in their communities, so that's our focus, the things that directly affect our subscribers, sponsors and customers.  Watch for items like: 

Rees' Pieces (Publishers) Letters to the Editor Community Calendar
Heritage Notes Sports Events Classified Ads
Senior Affairs Nature Notes Credit Union News
MLA Activity Report Community Centres Fire Brigade
Favourite Pet Photo Parish News 4-H Clubs
Kitchen Korner Poems & Photos Obituaries
Front Page Briefs    

plus notes from many communities and organizations such as:

Bass River, CCJS Student Council, Chiganois, Debert Elementary, Debert Legion, Great Village, Londonderry Council, MacCarell Villa, Masstown, Onslow Belmont, skating clubs & other groups


Rees' Pieces - December 2024

Stress-filled Troublesome Times Ahead?

Today, I am not sure, what to think, about this, upside-down world. Particularly, how did we get here and where are we headed?

If we have chosen not to be an ostrich and stick our heads in the sand, we have a numerous uneasy thoughts racing through our heads cluttering our minds.

One thing is paramount. Now is not the time to throw up our hands in disgust. We must settle ourselves down; serious thinking about how we are going to cope and successfully make it to the other side.

Here are some of the things which are affecting every human’s daily life. These things are not in order of importance, and will affect people to varying degrees. Cost of food; danger to health because of not eating properly; cost of gasoline and heating fuel; condition of roads; racism and bigotry; housing; higher rent prices; climate warming; Nova Scotia families who do not have a doctor – resulting in poorer health; changing weather patterns – excessive amounts of rain and flash flooding; safety of children and what they are going through stress our children are under as a result of extreme stress their parents face.

Read the full editorial...


"Plan It Colchester" Presentation to Council

By Maurice Rees

Deputy Mayor Laurie Sandeson chaired for her first committee meeting on November 14th following being elected to the position at the October monthly meeting. First item on the agenda on November 14 was a presentation by Ian Watson, Uplands Studio on the progress of the "Plan It Colchester" initiative as it enters a series of engagement and public open houses.

Province mandated that all municipalities must develop a master plan by early 2025. Council received an update on the progress of public input into the planning process Upland Planning and Design, who have been contracted to do the study for completion by March 2025. The presentation to council included a series of Power Point overheads to explain the process.

The Shoreline Journal has extracted the overhead data and converted them into an explanatory article starting on Page 6 of this issue.

Craig Burgess, Director Recreation service presented an update on the North Colchester Recreation Centre – $1,767,890 Floor Replacement Project contracted to Lindsay/Higgins Construction to replace the floor at the North Shore Arena. Upon review of the contract, it was noted that the committee could do approximately $119,000 of in-kind work. The community came together to do that work to help reduce the project costs to $1,648,890 excluding taxes.

The item before council committee was to request consideration to cover costs associated with the replacement of the arena floor. Council committee recommended to council the request from the North Colchester Recreation Centre for additional overages of $359,115.02, with a cost to the Municipality of approximately $70,300 once grants, tax rebates and GIC have been received.

More complete details on the project is contained in a separate article elsewhere in this issue.

Michelle Boudreau, Director Public Works presented a Funding Application, Growth and Renewal for Infrastructure Development Program (GRID) to seek Council’s support for an application to the GRID program. Funding priority will be given to shovel-ready projects that help communities address critical capacity issues, health and safety, expand services, build more accessible and adaptable communities, and projects that enable and/or preserve housing.

Council Committee recommends that Council support an application to the Growth and Renewal for Infrastructure Development program with the selected project being replacement of 833 metres of trunk sewer in Tatamagouche at an estimated project cost of $1.3M. Council Committee was asked to seek Council’s support for an application to the Green Municipal Fund’s Local Leadership for Climate Adaptation Program. Staff recommend using a project cost estimate of $100,000. If the application is successful, the program would provide 70% funding, or $70,000. The remaining $30,000 would be covered by the Municipality and that amount would be included in the upcoming operating budget deliberations. Staff’s recommendation was approved by council committee.

The Green Municipal Fund (GMF) is a program which is administered by the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and funded by the Government of Canada. Its mandate is to support local governments in their efforts to tackle climate change and reduce greenhouse gases.

Regarding adopting a Code of Conduct, which the province has mandated all municipalities adopt a Code of Conduct, on motion by Mayor Blair, Council Committee recommends to Council that the current Code of Conduct for Members of Council Policy and the Code of Conduct Complaints Policy be repealed; and, By way of resolution, that Council adopts the Code of Conduct for Municipal Elected Officials Regulations as set forth by the Province of Nova Scotia.

Additional information items before committee on November 14th included: Updates from Carbon-Free Colchester Implementation Committee and Paul Smith, Director Community Planning Report (see elsewhere thinks issue) prior to committee going in to closed session to discuss two items: Contract and Property Matter.


Remembrance Day in Londonderry - Audrey Rushton, Darla Rushton and Macy Drummond place a wreath in Memory of their great-grandfather Bamford Rushton, Royal Canadian Ordance Corp WWII. (Linda Harrington Photo)


Carbon-Free Colchester Implementation Update

By Maurice Rees

An information item was circulated to council committee at its November 14 meeting to update Council on the Carbon-Free Colchester Implementation Committee’s activities since its inception in Fall 2023, with a focus on two key ideas that have emerged from Committee discussions.

The Carbon-Free Colchester Implement Committee, a committee of Council, began meeting in October 2023 is to advise the Municipality by assisting staff to set priorities for implementing the Community Energy & Emissions Plan. The outgoing Committee consisted of two Councillors (Parker and Sandeson) and six enthusiastic and knowledgeable community members.

This Information Item aims to share two key ideas emerging from the CFC Committee:

1. Incentives for Energy Efficient New Builds

One of the key ideas that has emerged from the Committee is an incentive for developers/builders to: build new homes and commercial buildings to a higher standard of energy efficiency than is required by the National Building Code; build to a "net-zero emissions" or "net-zero ready" standard; build new homes and buildings to be EV-ready, or add solar panels to newly constructed buildings.

Any incentive offered would need to adhere to the Municipal Government Act. At the request of the Committee, staff will research the options, opportunities, and implications of creating an energy efficiency incentive and bring a report and recommendations to Council by the end of this fiscal year.

2. Additional Climate Staff Capacity

The Committee has expressed concern about the level of staff capacity dedicated to climate action, noting that, frequently, ideas proposed by the Committee are unable to be undertaken because of staff time limitations. The Committee wishes to communicate to Council the Municipality’s climate action work is extremely important, and that if the Municipality hopes to successfully implement the Community Energy and Emissions Plan (CEEP) and meet its emissions reduction targets, additional staff capacity will be required to do so.

The Municipality currently has access to several external resources to support staff capacity, which should be fully leveraged before further increasing internal capacity: In April 2024, Colchester joined the Clean Foundation’s Community Climate Capacity (CCC) program, which provides the Municipality with a Climate Lead for 30hrs/month and access to a team of climate specialists. The CCC staff have proven in just six months to be an invaluable resource.

Colchester is taking part in the QUEST Net-Zero Communities Accelerator (NCA) program, which will give staff guidance, tools, and access to a community of practice to assist Colchester to implement its CEEP.

ICLEI Canada’s Building Adaptive and Resilient Communities program assists municipalities to undertake a community-level climate risk assessment. Colchester may have an opportunity to participate in another ICLEI Canada program that will support municipalities’ transitions from climate adaptation planning to implementation.

Because the Municipality is in the early stages of working with the Clean Foundation and QUEST, staff feel that another position is not needed at this time. Staff will reassess needs after one year of participation in the CCC and NCA programs (in summer 2025) and subsequently on an annual basis and recommend staffing changes as needed.

Additionally, before a new full-time position is created, staff would advise that the existing PACE Program Coordinator position, currently a 3-year term, could be made a permanent fulltime climate action position. Expanding the scope and timeframe of this position would enable the presently titled PACE Program Coordinator to take on greater responsibility on the sustainability team and better support the Sustainability Planner with her many projects and initiatives.

Joanna Burris, Colchester’s Sustainability Planner, would like to highlight that climate adaptation work is increasingly important and, due to limits to staff capacity, has received little attention.

CEEP lays out a pathway to reduce emissions, but effort and funds will also be needed in the coming years to adapt our communities to a changing climate. This might include upgrading infrastructure to withstand expected future climate impacts, supporting homeowners to make their properties resilient to extreme weather and wildfires, improving and expanding emergency response programs, completing a community climate risk assessment, and more. The Municipality’s CCC Climate Lead will help staff to get started on specific climate adaptation initiatives.

Staff have also begun planning cross-departmental training on climate change to increase the capacity of staff across the organization to embed climate considerations into their work.

(The above article was compiled from an Information Item from the November 14th committee meeting media package.)


Provincial Election Candidate Questionnaires

By Maurice Rees

All candidates in Colchester Musquodoboit Valley were asked to complete a questionnaire unique to the constituency. Answers from participating candidates can be found, in alphabetical order, in this issue of the Shoreline Journal.

  • Colchester-Musquodoboit Valley – Gwyn Bellefontaine, page 5; Colchester North – NDP Candidate, Christina McCarron, page 6.
  • Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook- Salmon River – NDP Candidate, Cailen Pygott, page 7.
  • Colchester North – Liberal Candidate, Dustin Rekunyk, page 9.
  • Truro-Bible Hill-Millbrook-Salmon River – PC Candidate, Dave Ritcey, page 10.
  • Colchester North – PC Candidate, Tom Taggart, page 11.

Front Page Briefs - December 2024

 

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Starting this month, as part of the RCMP’s national deployment, the Nova Scotia RCMP will begin issuing body-worn cameras (BWCs) to officers across the province. The cameras will be issued to 600 Nova Scotia RCMP officers in a phased approach over the next six to eight months.

"Body-worn cameras can help build trust between the police and the community because the video evidence collected provides an independent, unbiased, and objective way to capture interactions," says Chief Superintendent Dan Morrow, Officer in Charge of Criminal Operations for the Nova Scotia RCMP. "The use of BWCs will also improve evidence collection and help resolve public complaints more quickly."

BWCs will be complemented by a digital evidence management system that will be used to store and manage video captured by the cameras.
RCMP officers will typically wear their BWCs on their chests; members of the public will know they’re recording when a red light is visible and flashing below the lens of the camera.

Dreams of Olympic glory will be on the line when the 2025 Canadian Mixed Doubles Trials take place Dec. 30-Jan. 4 at Queens Place Emera Centre in Liverpool, N.S.

Public Input and Community engagement In Person Open Houses for Colchester’s "Plan It" strategy development will be held 6:30-8:30 pm on: November 20, Knox United Church, Brookfield; November 21, H. Douglas Boyce Village Hall, Bible Hill; November 26, The Grace Arts Centre Theatre, Tatamagouche; November 27, Debert Legion Brach 106, Debert; and November 28, Old Barns United Church, Rte 236, Old Barns.

The postal, strike makes life more difficult, but does not stop us. It’s getting near the season what gift we want to give a relative or friend? If you permit us to make a suggestion, why not a subscription? Use the form on Page 5 for pricing details. Then send an e-transfer with all the details to maurice@theshorelinejournal.com We will send a card announcing your gift, plus an issue once a month. Can you think of a more suitable gift that keeps on giving all year long?

 


Read the Journal on-line!

The entire issue is available on line in pdf format - browse through the paper page by page, read as little or as much as you like.  Click for Issue Archives...

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Upcoming Deadlines and Publishing Dates

Issue Deadline Published
October 2024 September 17, 2024 September 25, 2024
November 2024 October 22, 2024 October 30, 2024
December 2024 November 19, 2024 November 27, 2024
January 2025 December 9, 2024 December 17, 2024

 


Read our special 4 page Portapique pull-out section from our May 2021 issue...

 


Like us on Facebook to keep up to date along the Shoreline!Maurice Rees, Publisher
The Shoreline Journal
Box 41, Bass River, NS B0M 1B0
PH: 902-647-2968; Cell: 902-890-9850