Bus 149 driven by Brian Ward to Saltsprings, West Pictou Consolidated and Northumberland Regional High School this morning is running 35 minutes late…..
WES SURRETTE TO RUN FOR LOCAL TORY NOMINATION
Central Nova Tories now have a third name in the race to run in this year’s federal election and he’s a name many people in Pictou County already know. Wes Surrett (pictured above with his family) has announced he’s joining the nomination contest. The date for the nomination meeting is expected to be scheduled in the coming weeks. Surrette says living, working and raising a family in Antigonish and now in Pictou County, he has seen first hand the strength of the communities that make up our riding. As the operator of Pictou Lodge and having served as president of the local tourism destination organization, Surrette says he’d be honoured to represent the riding’s communities Surrette formerly served as an Executive Assistant to a cabinet minister in Premier Bernard Lord’s Conservative government in New Brunswick.
There’s a power outage in Trenton between Duke and Park Rd, and from Little Harbor Rd to Woodburn, Sutherland’s River to Ardness and Laggan. It went off last night at 10:52 PM. They hope to have it back by 11am today. (Thursday)
Premier Stephen McNeil says a Diversification Committee has been struck to look at ways to broaden markets for the forestry sector in case Northern Pulp has to undergo a temporary or even a permanent shutdown. He says Northern Pulp operates the most inter-connected mill in all of Nova Scotia, and he’s hoping it’ll meet environmental deadlines, and survive. Responding to questions in the legislature from Tory Leader Tim Houston, the Premier says that committee is also looking into the mill’s pension plan to ensure it covers current workers and people who have already retired from the Abercrombie mill. McNeil says Paper Excellence has paid money into the pension plan, but he wants updated information on how that’ll keep the plan stable.
There’s renewed talk of a pilot transit project for Pictou County. New Glasgow councillors have been informed that the four towns involved – New Glasgow, Westville, Stellarton and Trenton – will next meet to discuss transit next Monday. New Glasgow CAO Lisa MacDonald says the province will be chipping in on the pilot as well. She says they’re toying with the idea of a September start-up, when people return from their summer routines as a way of boosting ridership. The cuurent plan is for the province and the towns to spread the cost of a single year’s pilot over 2 consecutive fiscal years to cushion the cost.
There will be no daytime E-R available in Tatamagouche today and Friday. That means no Emergency Room service at the Lillian Fraser hospital from 8 am until 8pm both days. The E-R will still be open for the night shift in Tatamagouche.
Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland is linking the lifting of what she calls “absurd” U.S. tariffs on Canadian and Mexican steel to the ratification of the new North American free-trade deal. Freeland says dealing with the tariffs — imposed by President Donald Trump under a controversial national-security provision of U.S. law — is a key part of the ratification process.
Freeland says she’s heartened by the recent comments from American lawmakers who say the new trilateral trade agreement cannot be ratified with the “Section 232” tariffs still in place.
House Democrats have formally requested copies of President Trump’s tax returns, taking action on one of their top oversight priorities. Ways and Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal has sent a letter to IRS Commissioner Charles Rettig requesting six years of Trump’s personal and business tax returns, from 2013-2018, and they want them by April 10th. (NEXT Wednesday) Democrats have long had an interest in examining Trump’s tax returns to learn about any conflicts of interest he may have involving foreign governments, as well as to see how he has been affected by the tax-cut law he signed to help the country’s very richest people in 2017.
Trump is the first president in decades to not make any of his tax returns public. He has cited an audit, but the IRS has said that audits don’t prevent people from releasing their own tax information.
Gas prices are up by 1.3 cents a litre in New Brunswick this morning. Diesel prices in that province are down by just over a penny. Nova Scotia’s new prices will be set at midnight.
The vast majority of Canadians believe that vaccinations should be mandatory for school-aged children, according to a new poll.
In an Ipsos poll for Global News, 88 per cent of Canadians say they would approve of legislation to make it mandatory for all school-aged children to be up to date on their vaccinations unless there is a medical reason why they can’t be immunized. Two-thirds of Canadians says they would strongly approve of that kind of legislation.
Ipsos Public Affairs, which did the polling for Global, says Canadians would also go so far as to say this is important enough that it needs to be posted so they can know that their local school or daycare is compliant, for the sake of their child’s safety.
If a new provincial bill from the McNeil Liberals eventually becomes law, hospitals will need to refer all suitable donors to Nova Scotia’s organ donation program after they die. Unless the bill changes, that’ll happen whether or not they have signed an organ donation card. Following that referral, families would then be approached by medical officials to discuss the possibility of allowing organ or tissue donation.
The government says the proposed Human Organ and Tissue Donation Act is aimed at growing the pool of organ donors and making Nova Scotia’s organ donor program the strongest in Canada. The Health Department says about 55 per cent of Nova Scotians have now consented to be organ and tissue donors. The aim is to increase that number, so people have to opt out, instead of being asked to opt in, which is currently the case.
Reuters News Agency is reporting Boeing anti-stall software repeatedly forced down the nose of a doomed Ethiopian jet after pilots had turned it off. That, as investigators scrutinize the role played by technology and crew in the fatal March 10th crash. That news comes as Air Canada confirms it’s going to keep those Boeing jets grounded for a couple of months longer than originally planned when it made the announcement last month. Here are the local changes that Air Canada has made to its schedule up until the end of June:
⦁ A new Calgary to Halifax service will now start July 1st instead of May 18.
⦁ Some Toronto to Edmonton flights will now be served by Rouge for people connecting into Toronto from the Maritimes.
⦁ AND….Flights from Halifax and St. John’s to London Heathrow are suspended at least until the end of May, but the airline still plans to offer them after that.
New Islamic criminal laws that took effect in Brunei on Wednesday, punishing gay sex and adultery by stoning offenders to death, have triggered an outcry from countries, rights groups and celebrities far beyond the tiny nation’s Southeast Asian shores.
The penalties are provided for under new sections of Brunei’s Shariah Penal Code. The code was set up in 2014 to bolster the influence of Islam in the oil-rich monarchy of around 430,000 people. Two-thirds of the tiny nation’s population is Muslim.
Even before 2014, falling in love with a person of the same gender was already punishable in Brunei by a jail term of up to 10 years. The first stage of the Shariah Penal Code also included fines or jail for offences that include pregnancy out of wedlock or failing to pray on Fridays.
But under the new laws — which apply to children and foreigners, even if they are not Muslim — people making love to someone of the same gender could be stoned to death or whipped until they’re dead. Heterosexual adulterers risk death by stoning too, while thieves face amputation of a right hand on their first offence and a left foot on their second.
The Go Clean – Get Green Litter Clean Up is being held on the final weekend of this month. Friday, April 26th will be the Corporate Challenge and Student Appreciation Day where participants are asked to pick up the litter on their property and any adjacent properties within a 100 foot radius. Friends, families and community groups are encouraged to register and join in onthe spring clean-up an area of your part of town, in any of the local municipalities or neighborhoods on Saturday, April 27th.
Two of North America’s best Ribbers are bringing the flavor of sweet, smoky BBQ to the New Glasgow waterfront for Pictou County Ribfest, during the weekend of August 23-25, 2019.
Bibb’s BBQ and Silver Bullet BBQ will fire up their grills at Glasgow Square Theatre in a three-day event for the whole family. Details are still being finalized, but in addition to the Ribbers, visitors can also expect local businesses and vendors, music, children’s entertainment, and a beer tent. Admission is free, and the event will run 11:00 am to 11:00 pm Friday and Saturday, and 11:00 am to 7:00 pm on Sunday.
PICTOU COUNTY SPORTS
The Peewee AAA Crushers are hosting Atlantics starting today (Thursday) at the Wellness Center. The top teams in Atlantic Canada are competing for the title of Atlantic Champions! Opening ceremonies are tonight at 6pm and the Crushers play following that at 7 pm. Admission is free.
The Pictou County Bantam A Crushers captured the Northern conference championship last night as they defeated the Sydney Steelers 11-1. Scoring for the Crushers was Ty Briand with 3, Dawson Mackay 2, Seth Gallant put in 2 goals, with Cameron Munroe, Colby Nichol, Josh Macdonald, and Kayden Moulaison adding singles. Assists came from Blake Maclellan 3, Dawson Mackay 2, Kaleb Melanson 2, Carter Dauphinee 2, Brennan Hood, Ty Briand, Jake Henderson, and Seth Gallant all with 1. Last night’s winning goalie was Chloe Stroud.
***The last “in person” registration for Pictou County Lacrosse will be held tonight at the Trenton Rink Annex from 6:00 pm to 8:00 pm.
NHL
Ottawa 4 N.Y. Rangers 1
Chicago 4 St. Louis 3 (SO)
Anaheim 3 Calgary 1
NBA
Boston 112 Miami 102
Toronto 115 Brooklyn 105
MLB
Chicago White Sox 8 Cleveland 3
Minnesota 7 Kansas City 6
Detroit 2 N.Y. Yankees 1
Toronto 5 Baltimore 3
Texas 4 Houston 0
Boston 6 Oakland 3
ENTERTAINMENT NEWS
REEL CANADA has announced the sixth annual National Canadian Film Day (NCFD), celebrating 100 years of Canadian cinema on April 17th. And it seems it’s being met with real Canadian enthusiasm. More than 1,000 screening events will take place in 600 Canadian communities and 25 countries, from the northern tip of Baffin Island to St. John’s, NL, to Tofino, BC, and from Paris to Kathmandu. Major broadcasters and online outlets are programming a wide variety of titles supporting the celebratory theme to ensure that everyone who wants to view amazing Canadian films gets their chance.
This year’s theme is “celebrating 100 years of Canadian cinema” . There are three easy ways to join the fun:
1. Find an event in your community at canfilmday.ca/events
2. Find out what your local broadcasters have programmed at canfilmday.ca/broadcast
3. Find out what your favourite online platform is streaming at canfilmday.ca/stream
