Category: Front Page

It’s almost time for the Sackville Farmers Market to move out of Bill Johnstone Park and on to its winter location. But this year the move is slightly delayed as the market board considers two potential locations: the Sackville Commons on Lorne Street where the market has spent winters since 2021, and the Sackville Visitor Information Centre on Mallard Drive, outside of the market’s usual downtown territory.

“Every year we have to move from our summer home,” says Anthony Maddalena, owner of Bagtown Brewing and chair of the board with the Sackville Farmers Market. “This year we’re just exploring if there’s any other options… We’re getting information from both the Commons and the town and looking those two different sets of information.”

Maddalena says the market board will also consider feedback gathered in vendor and customer surveys distributed at the market on October 19. “Everyone’s got some varying opinions and different perspectives,” says Maddalena. “Some vendors look to draw in a completely different type of clientele than some other vendors, right? Whether it’s students or folks who are just visiting Sackville or the local community that’s here year round.”

“We’re always trying to take into consideration what’s the best move for our vendors, and then, obviously, for the community that we serve,” says Maddalena.

A location committee with the market board of directors has been working for years exploring options for both a permanent market location and seasonal winter locations.… Continue

The second production in Mount Allison’s Motyer-Fancy Theatre season is not going to be your typical theatre experience, says resident designer Ian McFarlane.

THE DARK will take audiences outside, on a lantern-lit procession through the Sackville Waterfowl Park, culminating in a staging of a poem featuring Mount Allison’s Elliot Chorale in Normandy Field. Audiences are also invited to participate in advance, in lantern making workshops happening this weekend.

CHMA spoke with McFarlane this week:

McFarlane says he has been “tinkering with lanterns and light” for years now, and since coming to Mount Allison has had some “extraordinary creative collisions” with other artists such as THE DARK’s co-creator Kiera Galway of the Elliot Chorale, and Sackville poet Keagan Hawthorne, whose poem The Dark inspired the production.

THE DARK takes place next weekend on November 2 and 3 starting at 7:30pm near the Waterfowl Park entrance beside Cranewood on Main.  Participants are asked to bring a lantern for a night time procession through the park, and can register in advance on Eventbrite. Optional lantern making workshops are happening this weekend on October 26 and 27, from 10am to 1pm at the Purdy Crawford Centre for the Arts.  … Continue

A contracted recruitment process for Tantramar’s first Director of Protective Services this past spring was unsuccessful, and the position remains vacant, says Tantramar CAO Jennifer Borne.

The municipality hired consultants Municipal Human Resources in March at a cost of $15,000 to help fill the position.

Borne says via email that approximately 30 applications were received and the recruiter narrowed the pool down to four final candidates. But then, writes Borne, “after a rigorous application process including multiple interviews with candidates,” no one was hired.

Borne says it’s not unusual for a recruiting process to be unsuccessful. “Overall, I am pleased with the process and I want to ensure the commitment to hiring the best and most suitable candidate to fill this new position on the Senior Leadership Team,” writes Borne.

The Director of Protective Services is a new post-amalgamation position, and will oversee fire services, police services, by-law enforcement, emergency measures, and animal control.

It’s one of two senior leadership positions currently vacant with Tantramar. The other, Director of Community and Corporate Services, has been vacant since Kieran Miller left in August.

Director positions earn in the range of $93,676 TO $124,901, according to the municipality’s salary scales.

Borne says the municipality will be “going out to the marketplace in the coming months for both positions.”

UPDATE: The posting for Director of Community and Corporate Services went live after this story was published.

Currently seeking active living manager and heavy equipment operator

There are currently two other active job postings with the municipality.… Continue

There were plenty of cheers in Green headquarters in downtown Sackville on Monday night, as newly re-elected MLA Megan Mitton thanked her supporters, and said “bye bye Higgs”, in reference to the defeat of the PC government led by former premier Blaine Higgs.

“I’m so proud to represent all of you and the whole riding, and to fight for the whole province,” said an emotional Mitton, “because we still need to build. We still need change. We still need to fix the crisis in our health care system. We still need to eliminate patronage and corruption from our political system.”

As if on cue, Mitton’s toddler son wandered over during her victory speech to present her with a large green Lego trophy, much to the delight of the crowd.

CHMA caught up with Megan Mitton after the formalities on election night:

Mitton said she would miss her Green colleague Kevin Arseneau, who lost his seat in Kent North, bringing the Green party seat count from three down to two in the legislature. “He was one of the hardest working, one of the best MLAs there,” said Mitton. “But I know that David [Coon] and I will work hard together, and we will hold the government’s feet to the fire.”… Continue

Nova Scotia premier Tim Houston has announced “shovels in the ground” on the Chignecto Isthmus. On Wednesday, Houston issued a statement announcing a four-metre high, 500-metre-long berm will be constructed behind a section of dyke that runs along the La Planche river outside of Amherst.

A map of the project shows plans to build a one-kilometre-long access road extending from existing roads that access the windmills visible from the Trans Canada Highway, and the aboiteau that allows freshwater in the La Planche river to flow out when the tide is low.

According to Nova Scotia Public Works project lead Kevin Bekkers speaking on CBC’s Maritime Noon, the work will cost $2 million to complete, and is not considered part of the Chignecto Isthmus Resiliency Project being managed by a cross-border working group.

Local MLA Elizabeth Smith McCrossin didn’t get advance notice of the major project in her constituency, but says her initial reaction to the news on Tuesday was positive.

“I was really pleased to see something finally happening and actually getting shovels in the ground,” said Smith-McCrossin on Wednesday. However, says McCrossin, “I was surprised at how little is actually going to get done.”

According to an engineering study on how to protect the Isthmus released in 2022, there’s approximately 35 kilometres of dykes currently holding tidal waters at bay.

Smith-McCrossin says that while she “certainly would have liked to see more than this… it is something to get us started.”… Continue

Memramcook village council chambers were overflowing on Tuesday night as over 50 residents showed up for a public hearing on a proposed rezoning that could make way for another gravel pit on route 925, or rue Principale.

Memramcook village councillors heard from dozens of people complaining about the noise and dust created by a steady flow of trucks on and off the site since February, when Pulse Excavating Ltd. acquired the property, expanded their access road, and started clearing the land. Others worried that the dump truck traffic created by the planned gravel pit would hurt their property values, and hamper efforts at building the agritourism industry along the route.

The marathon hearing started out with a presentation from Plan 360 planner Phil Robichaud, who outlined pros and cons to the approval, ultimately recommending that council approve the rezoning, with some conditions attached.

It took Memramcook clerk Monique Bourque nearly two hours to read aloud over 30 letters from residents opposed to the zoning change. And then Mayor Maxime Bourgeois called on a number of presenters, including neighbour Nathalie Goguen, who works from her home as a naturopath. Goguen said her yard is metres from the upgraded access road constructed by Pulse Excavating, and played two videos to demonstrate the noise and dust produced as dump trucks sped down the dirt road.… Continue