Roger MacKay and Family Have Reason to Celebrate (Facebook Photo)
Add one more name to the list of people you’ll be asked to choose from in the fall election. Roger MacKay is the new Conservative candidate in Central Nova in that vote. With a 62 per cent voter turnout over the weekend, local Tories have decided that MacKay has the best chance of unseating Liberal MP Sean Fraser. MacKay defeated Wes Surrett, Harvey Henderson and Luke Young with several hundred P-C members turning out Saturday night at Summer Street. MacKay has been on the Westville Town Council since 1994 and has been mayor of Westville since 2008. Two of his key door-knocking issues, he says, will be reducing taxes and putting people to work. I would like to commend Luke, Wes and Harvey for a spirited race. In the days ahead I will be leaning on all of you for advice. In the next few days I will be meeting with the local party executive to get the ball rolling on election preparations.
THORBURN FIRE AWARDS 2019
The Thorburn Fire Department’s Award Winners have been named for 2019. The Charles Cooley Memorial Award is awarded to Cpt Kenneth Adam MacGregor.
Firefighter of the Year honours go to Jyl MacCulloch.
For the George F Cress Memorial Award: Derrick Heatley picks up that award. It’s presented each year to the senior firefighter who embodies the ideals that Mr. Cress brought to firefighting. And they’ve posted some nice photos on Facebook from those presentations. Congratulations from us!
PERKINS CAN FILE COMPLAINT – RCMP
RCMP say a man accusing one of their officers of overreacting by arresting him in what he calls “a rough manner” during a public meeting about gold mining has the option of filing an official complaint. Corporal Jennifer Clarke also says a video showing the arrest of John Perkins at last Thursday’s meeting in Sherbrooke only shows a portion of the incident. Perkins is a member of Sustainable Northern Nova Scotia and says he’s looking at his legal options after admitting he asked embarrassing questions to officials from Atlantic Gold, which wants to build an open-pit gold mine near Sherbrooke. That mine and neighbouring facilities are expect to create paycheques for people in Pictou County.
Two new cases of measles have been discovered in suburban Saint John, bringing to 5 the number of teenagers affected at Kennebecasis Valley Regional High. Parents have become increasingly wary and experts say it’s only a matter of time before measles turns up in Nova Scotia. Measles is a leading cause of childhood blindness in developing countries.
Police in Halifax say they have re-arrested a high-risk offender who escaped from a federal halfway house on the weekend. Police say 35-year old Joshua James Turner didn’t bother putting up much resistance yesterday afternoon after being on the lam for nearly six hours. Turner ran away from a facility in Dartmouth around 9 o’clock yesterday morning. While he was on the run, police issued a warning describing Turner as a high-risk offender based on sexual and violent offences and said he was dangerous to approach.
Tech giants will be in the hot seat this week as politicians from Canada and 10 other countries gather to consider how best to protect citizens’ privacy and their democracies in the age of big data. The international grand committee on big data, privacy and democracy is meeting in Ottawa for three days, starting today.
It will hear from experts on how best governments can prevent the use of social media to violate individuals’ privacy, spread fake news, sow dissension and manipulate election outcomes.
Committee members will also grill representatives from a host of internet giants — Facebook, Google, Twitter, Microsoft, Amazon and Mozilla — on what they’re doing, or not doing, to prevent abuse.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer says the Liberals’ decision to name an anti-Conservative union to a panel that will decide which media outlets receive government funding is the latest example of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau “stacking the deck” in his favour to get re-elected in October. Scheer has told The Canadian Press he believes the decision to include Unifor on the panel — which will determine eligibility for a $600-million bailout package —is unacceptable and will undermine the credibility of the panel’s work. Unifor has campaigned against the Conservative party and the union has recently published tweets calling itself Scheer’s “worst nightmare.” Scheer says this is the latest in a string of moves by Trudeau to give himself an upper hand ahead of the fall federal election. He also points to changes made to pre-election spending for political parties that impose restrictions that he says mainly affect the Conservative party, while no limits have been placed on government spending or travel in advance of the writ period.
Clara Teed, who lives at Glen Haven Manor, and was a personal care worker at the facility when it opened in 1969, has been named Ambassador of Glen Haven Manor’s 50th anniversary celebrations. CEO Lisa Smith says “Clara is the epitome of grace and dignity and is the perfect choice for our anniversary Ambassador. She points out that having “a current resident who was also a dedicated employee is a connection that deserves to be honoured.” Clara will preside over several key events with Honorary Chair Henderson Paris to mark Glen Haven’s 50th year this summer, followed by a grand finale in late-October.
SPORTS
The Toronto Raptors are getting ready to host Golden State in the NBA final on Thursday, after finishing off Milwaukee over the weekend.
World Hockey Championship
Bronze-medal game
Russia 3 Czech Republic 2 (SO)
Gold-medal game
Finland 3 Canada 1
CFL Pre-season
Edmonton 22 British Columbia 7
MLB
Boston 4 Houston 1
Toronto 10 San Diego 1
