Nova Scotia woman forced to connect to power grid to get occupancy permit

Cheryl Smith was building a small house close to Clark's Harbour, Nova Scotia, Canada a year ago. The house remains unfinished as she has been denied an occupancy permit since her plans do not include hooking up to the electrical grid.

 

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Near the door of the unfinished small house are two signs, one saying "Freedom of Rights Denied" and the other saying "Work Stopped". Smith said to CTV Atlantic:"I just don't want to leave a big footprint on the earth. If what we're trying to do is move the world into a greener place and make it more environmentally friendly so there's something still left for our children, then why am I being forced to rely on electricity or fossil fuels?"

Clark's Harbour Mayor, Leigh Stoddart, said that while he admires and empathizes with Smith's decision to go green he claimed that the regulations requiring electricity apply Canada-wide and the city could not make an exception. If the regulations are Canada-wide, it is clear they are not enforced. Lasqueti island is one of the larger of several Gulf Islands off the BC coast who have no connection to the power grid. Lasqueti has a population of 3 to 4 hundred people about 350 staying year round. Solar, wind, and fossil-fuelled generators provide power to the island residents.

Apparently, power is required in Nova Scotia because smoke detectors and a proper ventilation is required for every house. However, these could be powered by batteries or electricity generated off the grid. If this is the reason connection to the grid is required then it would seem that power companies are breaking the law when they cut off your power. Several commentators on the article noted that Smith could simply wire the house connect and then not use it. However, that seems an unreasonable expense in the first place.

In neighbouring New Brunswick province, Wendy Keats, cut ties with the grid when she moved into her home just outside of Salisbury ten years ago. Neither New Brunswick power nor local authorities have complained but that may be because the house did have power originally.Keats a dedicated environmentalist said:"I figured, 'Oh, I should practise what I preach,' so I went off the grid.'It's an investment that quickly pays for itself and then you don't have a power bill, and there's nothing any better than that.I couldn't imagine going back on the grid — you'd have to take me kicking and screaming.".NB power said that it sees an increasing number of customers generating their own electricity to offset their consumption from the company. It claims it has 47 such customers at present with an increase of about a dozen each year. Most of these customers remain connected to the grid in case they need power their systems cannot provide.

In some jurisdictions especially some US states, residents with their own solar generating systems sell excess power to power companies. In Arizona a very sunny state some new housing developments have solar panel systems built in during construction. This makes the systems cheaper. Some large power companies are fighting against these developments as they make their money selling power not buying it.

Fracking an issue as Liberals win majority in New Brunswick election

Brian Gallant, the leader of the New Brunswick Liberal party, won a majority in the eastern province triumphing over the incumbent Progressive Conservatives of David Alward.

During the count, the lead changed several times but in the end the Liberals held 27 seats with only 21 for the Progressive Conservatives(PC) with the Green Party winning one seat. Detailed results for each constituency can be found here.The vote was marred by problems with voting machines: Before the results were declared, however, the tabulations of ballots were suspended late Monday for almost two hours due to concerns about technical issues with memory cards and discrepancies with the vote-counting machines. The issue led the Tories to call for the ballots to be counted by hand, but the Liberals demanded that Elections New Brunswick be left alone to determine the result. Because of the ballot-counting problems the PC leader had not conceded defeat.
There were eight female members elected in the 49 constituencies. Nine cabinet ministers in the ousted PC government went down to defeat. However, five seats were won by less than 100 votes. In the Saint John East riding Liberal Gary Keating won over the incumbent PC member Glen Savoie by a mere eight votes.The leader of the People's Alliance Kris Austin lost to the PC incumbent Pam Lynch in Fredericton-Grand Lake by only 26 votes. The party won just over 2 percent of the vote province-wide.
 In terms of vote percentage Liberals had 42.7 percent, PC's 34.6, New Democratic Party(NDP) 13 percent, Green Party 6.6 percent and People's Alliance 2.1. The NDP failed to gain a seat in the legislature and the leader Dominic Cardy resigned even though the NDP vote actually increased by several percentage points from the previous election. The Green Party, with half the number of votes as the NDP, nevertheless made history by electing David Coon, a well-known environmentalist, in Fredericton South. Coon is the first ever Green MLA in New Brunswick and only the second to be elected to a provincial legislature in Canada. There is one Green member of the federal parliament, Elizabeth May.
 In spite of the vote tally issues, the New Brunswick chief electoral official said that results of the election on the government website are accurate. The official results will not be announced for four days after results have been reviewed. Tom Bateman, a St. Thomas University political scientist said: “If you cannot trust that the technology has indicated exactly how New Brunswickers wanted their vote expressed, how do you say to the people of New Brunswick this is an election and these are the results you can have faith in?”
Among one of the important issues in the campaign was fracking. The Liberal leader Brian Gallant promised a moratorium on fracking "until risks to the environment, health and water are fully understood". On the other side, the PC leader David Alward promoted shale gas development as a prominent part of his campaign arguing that such development would create jobs and keep skilled workers in the province rather than heading off to Alberta.

Tiny Machias Seal Island claimed by both the US and Canada

Machias Seal Island is a tiny rock island 16 kilometres from the coast of the US state of Maine and 19 kilometers south of Grand Manan Island just off the coast of the Canadian province of New Brunswick. The island is claimed by both Canada and the US.

Machias Seal Island has an area of just 8 hectares or about 20 acres. The island is a sanctuary for many seabirds including the Atlantic Puffin seen in the appended video. Visitors from around the world come to view the birds during the summer.

There are no permanent residents of the island although there are lighthouse keepers who come in pairs and stay four weeks at a time. The lighthouse is operated by the Canadian Coast Guard. The original lighthouse was built by the British in 1832. There has been a lighthouse maintained ever since. Many think that the presence of the lighthouse will give Canada a legitimate claim to the island. The United States has never had a presence on the island except in 1918 during the First World War when a small detachment of marines was posted to the island with Canadian agreement.

However in the past private citizens in Maine have claimed ownership of the island. There is a tour boat operator from Cutler Maine, who brings tourists to the island in the summer to view the birds. While there has been no oil or mineral resources discovered in the area, there is a large 720 square kilometres around the island called a grey zone. Lobster fishermen from both Canada and the US fish this area.

MP for New Brunswick Southwest , John Williamson said:

"The fishing community on Grand Manan is permitted to fish there on an open-end basis and it's our way of laying our claim to this water that is part of the Machias Seal Island dispute.I think our claim is sound and is legitimate, but at the end of the day it's going to come down to the minister in this country and the administration in Washington to settle it. I think it is in the interests of both of our countries to do that."

Unfortunately an earlier decision of a joint commission in 1817 did not decide the ownership of Machias Sea Island even though it did decide that of other islands in the area including Moose, Dudley, and Fredericks Islands that are now owned by the US and also Grand Manan island that now belongs to Canada.

Stephen Kelly of Duke University and a retired US diplomat thinks that it would be a good idea to resolve the issue.

"It just strikes me if we have this opportunity to remove a potential irritant going forward, why don't we take it. What if some valuable resource is discovered in the grey zone around Machias Seal Island? What if some other contingency that we can't imagine now of strategic importance comes along?Wouldn't we feel silly that we didn't take the opportunity to resolve this when the stakes were relatively low."

Ralph Edlridge, who has been a light-keeper on the island for 16 years, thought ownership was a non-issue. Neither he nor anyone else who comes to visit the island has to worry about showing a passport whether they come from Maine, Canada, China, or Spain he said. Barbara Harvey a spokesperson for Foreign Affairs and International Trade said that as far as Canada is concerned the island is Canadian: "Canada's sovereignty over Machias Seal Island and sovereign jurisdiction over the 210 square nautical mile surrounding waters is strongly founded in international law." Some residents of Maine may not agree.

13 year old referee ejects hockey mom and coach from game

There is zero tolerance for verbal abuse of officials in youth hockey. In QuispamasisNew Brunswick the police were actually called in after a 13-year-old referee ejected a coach and a hockey mom from the rink after being verbally abused.

The ejected coach of the Saint John Ice Cats was not answering questions today about the incident on Friday. Witnesses confirm that the referee was verbally abused by the coach and the hockey mom. The anti-abuse rule allows officials to stop the game until those responsible for the abuse leave the arena.

The police were called in to make sure that there were no problems when the young official left the arena after the game. The hockey mom involved said that as far as she is concerned the incident is over but that she had no regrets about her verbal jabs at the referee.

It used to be that abuse of officials was as accepted as fighting! For more see this article.

Canada: Occupy Fredericton Camp is dismantled

  While many Occupy sites have already been closed down an Occupy encampment next to the city hall in Fredericton New Brunswick has been ongoing since October 15th last year. In November the mayor Brad Woodside said he wanted Fredericton to be a shining example of how to deal with protesters. He said at that time that he had no plans to close down the encampment. Fredericton is the capital of the province of New Brunswick on the Canadian east coast.
    However Woodside now claims that the protesters have stayed too long and that he is concerned about health and sanitation issues. The city ordered an evacuation notice for Jan. 1 2012. There were three protesters and one police officer at the site when it was dismantled early this morning (Jan. 3) by city workers. I have appended a video. As you can see it was still dark. It takes a minute or so to see much. You can hear the chainsaws at work. There were no arrests or injuries.
    Dana Hart a protester said that it was a cowardly act. A lawyer for the protesters is going to court to argue that they have a right to remain in their encampment under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Hart said the mayor should have taken the protesters to court. Most of the protest sites in Canada and the U.S. have been closed down. Perhaps after winter is over their will be a North American spring in the U.S. and Canada and the Occupy movement will start growing again. For more see this article.

New Brunswickers dissatisfied with provincial Liberals: Poll

The sale of the provincial power utility to Quebec seems to be a prime cause of the dissatisfaction. However, as the poll also shows the Conservatives are not any more popular. Only the NDP seems to be making substantial gains in the polls and it is certainly not enough to upset the two major parties. No party leader seems to be popular. In conclusion as in many other places there seems to be general dissatisfaction with politicians! This is from the CBC.

Most in N.B. dissatisfied with Liberals: poll
NB Power deal likely reason, says pollster

CBC News
The majority of New Brunswickers are dissatisfied with the performance of the governing Liberal party, but that hasn't translated into more people planning to vote for the Progressive Conservatives, according to a new poll.

Dissatisfaction with Premier Shawn Graham's Liberal party grew to 55 per cent in February - up from 51 per cent - in the latest quarterly poll by Corporate Research Associates.

At the same time, popular support for the Progressive Conservatives dropped to 42 per cent from 46 per cent in November, the poll suggests.

'It may be that people are dissatisfied with the government when it comes to the deal, and I think you have to make assumption based on the numbers.'
—Don Mills, Corporate Research Associates
The results suggest the Progressive Conservatives - and leader David Alward - haven't succeeded in rallying opponents of the NB Power deal to their party, said Don Mills, president and CEO of Corporate Research Associates.

"It may be that people are dissatisfied with the government when it comes to the deal, and I think you have to make assumption based on the numbers," he said.

"But they're not yet ready, necessarily, to leap on the bandwagon for the other party frankly yet because the other party hasn't given them enough reasons why their ideas are better."

Party support February 2010 November 2009
PC 42 % 46 %
Liberal 36 % 36 %
NDP 18 % 14 %
Green Party 4 % 4 %
Undecided

45 % 42 %
The Graham government plans to sell the majority of NB Power's assets to Hydro-Québec for $3.2 billion.

The Opposition has argued the government doesn't have a mandate to sell the majority of NB Power's assets and the public deserves to have a voice on the issue, but the Liberals have countered that the Opposition hasn't offered any alternatives.

With support for the Liberals unchanged from the last poll at 36 per cent, the gap between the two parties has narrowed.

Support for the New Democratic Party increased to 18 per cent from 14 per cent in the previous poll in November.

Meanwhile, the number of people who are undecided, don't plan to vote, or refused to state a party preference was 45 per cent, up from 42 per cent.

The Halifax-based polling firm sampled 804 New Brunswickers between Feb. 1 and Feb. 25. The margin of error for the entire poll is 3.5 percentage points, 19 times out of 20.

Graham's popularity also slips

Premier Shawn Graham's popularity as the preferred choice for premier has dropped to 25 per cent, from 45 per cent one year ago, according to the latest CRA poll. (CBC)Graham's personal popularity also took a hit, according to the poll. About 25 per cent of those polled listed him as the preferred choice for premier, down from 29 per cent in November and 45 per cent one year ago.

Alward edged the premier out with 27 per cent of those polled choosing him as their preference for premier, but his support was also down slightly from 29 per cent in the previous poll.

Support for NDP's Roger Duguay stands at 11 per cent, compared to 8 per cent in November.

Nine per cent don't like any of the leaders, or prefer others, the poll suggests. About 23 per cent didn't have a definite opinion, it found.

Denise Scott, executive director of the New Brunswick Liberal Association, said the change in the gap between the Liberals and the Tories is a potential weakness for Alward that her party will try to exploit ahead of September's provincial election.

"Of course a focus on him is going to be part of our strategy," she told CBC News on Monday.

"This is an unknown. People have a right to know who he is and what he stands for."

Paul Robichaud, the energy critic for the Tories and the MLA for Lamèque-Shippagan-Miscou, said it's the high dissatisfaction numbers that count and that gives his party room to grow.

"It's up to us to try to reach that clientele, to come to our party and support our party," he said.

Mills said without doing that, it will be difficult for the Progressive Conservatives to continue the momentum that they seemed to have in the last poll. In November, the PCs saw their popular support jump to 46 per cent, up from 35 per cent in August.

NDP leader Roger Duguay said his party is the only one showing that momentum heading into the election campaign.

"The Alward Conservatives refuse to commit to reversing the deal and the public are catching on, they know they're being sold a bill of goods," Duguay said in a news release.

"Only the NDP is standing up to the Liberals."

Contentious power deal

The Graham government announced its contentious plan to sell the majority of NB Power's assets to Hydro-Québec for $4.8 billion in October.

Following a public outcry and open dissent within the Liberal caucus, Graham unveiled a $3.2 billion, slimmed-down deal in January, just a few weeks before the latest CRA poll.

Last month, the government also announced it plans to delay the sale for nearly two months in order to hold a full public debate, but the consultations won't result in any changes to the agreement itself.

Under the deal, Hydro-Québec would acquire most of the province's power-generation assets, but New Brunswick would maintain control of transmission and distribution.

New Brunswick's residential ratepayers will get a five-year rate freeze. Medium-sized industries will see a roughly 15 per cent cut in power rates and will have those rates locked in for five years while large industrial customers will see their power prices fall by roughly 23 per cent.

After five years, rates will increase with inflation and be regulated by the New Brunswick Energy and Utilities Board.



Read more: http://www.cbc.ca/canada/new-brunswick/story/2010/03/09/nb-poll-liberals-dissatisfied.html#ixzz0hhfHiyko

NB Minister Open to User Pay Health Care

User fees are not allowed under the Canada Health Act and so if they were used transfer payments ought to be stopped from the Feds. Of course there are already under the table user fees (tray fees in private clinice etc.) and de-insuring of some items. The Canadian system is not very generous in what is covered compared to many other countries. Generally speaking all universal systems have been evolving so that more expenditures become out of pocket rather than out of taxes. This is part of the continual erosion of the entitlements of the welfare state.
Of course user pay is a misnomer since users pay anyway. However they can pay collectively through taxation on the basis of income or individually out of pocket--or more likely by private insurance.



Friday » April 27 » 2007

N.B. minister open to user-pay health care
Wants option on table

Tom Blackwell
National Post


Friday, April 27, 2007


A key member of New Brunswick's Liberal Cabinet has signalled an unexpected new openness to private-sector involvement in health care, suggesting for-profit companies be allowed to compete for public health dollars and patients permitted to pay for medical services out of pocket.

Michael Murphy, the Minister of Health, also said in a speech yesterday that the health care system could make millions of dollars by selling surplus capacity in operating rooms to workers compensation boards, private insurers and corporations.

It could all be part of what he called a North American health care "hub" in the Atlantic province.

Mr. Murphy, the Minister for just seven months, acknowledged his ideas will be considered controversial, and he stressed that patients must continue to have speedy, equal and free access to health care.

But he said soaring health care costs and New Brunswick's determination to shed its dependance on federal transfer payments mean new ways of managing the system have to be explored.

"Right now, there are probably New Brunswickers in the United States, in India or even another province in Canada obtaining a health service that they'll pay for entirely on their own," the Minister said in his speech.

"What if they could do that here? This could reduce the demand on our public system."

"We need to open our minds to new possibilities in health care," he added. "We need to share ideas and, at the same time, respect other people's opinions."

Mr. Murphy said none of the suggestions in his speech to the Fredericton North Rotary Club are government policy yet, and his ultimate goal is to strengthen the universal system.

But his statements quickly generated controversy.

Dr. Gerald Maloney, head of the New Brunswick Medical Society, said the Minister should be lauded for being "brave" enough to float the sort of proposals that often backfire on Canadian politicians.

"He just wants to have a debate. He's not trying to prejudice any decisions," said Dr. Maloney, a family physician in St. Martins, N.B. "As long as the system allows for timely access by all patients, regardless of their ability to pay, then I think we're on side with holding discussions."

But Michael McBane, a spokesman for the union-led Canadian Health Coalition, a staunch defender of the public system, said the ideas have been proven ineffective and would only make health care more expensive and less accessible.

"These are the kind of stale ideas that have been batted around for decades," Mr. McBane said. "It doesn't work and it's been studied to death."

He said it is ironic that New Brunswick is looking at free-market health care when many in the United States are backing away from that approach and Alberta's Conservative government abandoned a similar plan it proposed last year.

An analyst with The Fraser Institute, a conservative think-tank, however, encouraged Mr. Murphy to follow through on his ideas, which he said would create parallel public and private systems similar to those of countries like Sweden and Switzerland.

"New Brunswick is actually having the conservation that we should be having in every province," said Nadeem Esmail of the institute's Calgary office. "These discussions are definitely a good thing for the residents of New Brunswick."

Mr. Murphy said he did not think a separate private health system would ever become very large in his province of 800,000, but suggested people should have the choice.

"Is it really right for us to tell people how to spend their money?" he asked in an interview.

His also proposed giving for-profit operators more opportunity to compete for public funding of services that would be available free to all.

If a private company can offer the care more cheaply, "We have to give this a very close look," he said.

The Minister asserted that operating rooms in the province's hospitals often go unused, even during the day, because of an "archaic" system of matching surgeons with patients.

Even if those problems could be solved and medicare patients served more quickly, there would still be excess capacity, he maintained.

That could be sold to the workers compensation board, insurance companies that want their clients to get treated faster or even "global corporations" anxious to get their sick or injured employees back on the job, Mr. Murphy said.

© National Post 2007








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