Memramcook-Tantramar MLA Megan Mitton says a new memorandum of understanding (MOU) between Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to coordinate work on the protection of the Chignecto Isthmus is good news. “It shows some type of progress to governments working together,” Mitton told CHMA, “but we still need a third – we need the feds to be at the table and part of an agreement.”
The Chignecto Isthmus between Sackville and Amherst is home to the only land transportation links between the two provinces. Parts of the Isthmus are at risk of flooding due to predicted sea level rise and extreme weather associated with climate change.
The new MOU says that the two provinces will take on “pre-construction activities to ensure readiness” for one or a combination of the options outlined in a 2021 engineering study. The work outlined in the MOU includes:
- Data collection
- Preliminary design
- Final design
- Indigenous consultation
- Regulatory work
- Stakeholder engagement
- Land acquisitions
New Brunswick Minister of Transportation and Infrastructure, Richard Ames told Mitton in April that the province has allocated $750,000 in this year’s budget to go towards that work. Ames also said the province has requested $650 million from the federal government to complete the project.
Last July, New Brunswick Premier Blaine Higgs and Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston announced they would apply to the federal government’s Disaster Mitigation and Adaptation Fund, which could cover half the project cost. At the same time, the province of Nova Scotia asked that province’s court of appeal to rule on whether the federal government is exclusively responsible for “the interprovincial transportation, trade and communication links across the Chignecto Isthmus.” New Brunswick is registered as an intervenor in that case.
The MOU states that the work it coordinates does not prejudice that case.
‘Still 10 years from final product’
“Unfortunately, the money part seems to have slowed things down,” says Mitton, pointing out that it’s been nearly three years since New Brunswick’s DTI received an engineering study outlining options for the project.
“I do find it extremely frustrating, says Mitton. “I’ve been fighting for this for a decade, [and there are] people who’ve been working on this even longer, and we’re still 10 years from our final product.”
The 2021 engineers’ report estimated costs ranging from $190 to $300 million to do one of three proposed fixes, two of which involve shorter dykes and a new water control structure across the mouth of the Tantramar River, and another which involves fortifying and raising an existing 27 kilometres of dykes.
The study has been criticized for not considering or consulting outside expertise in coastal erosion and wetlands, something that Mitton is hoping could change as the project continues. The MLA is hoping project managers will consult with experts in nature-based solutions to coastal management, as well as farmers and other stakeholders. Indigenous consultation is specifically mentioned in the MOU, as is the creation of a “stakeholder management plan.”
An organization chart included in the MOU shows an executive team or steering committee, made up of three representatives from each of the two provincial governments. That committee will oversee an external project manager who will be hired jointly by Nova Scotia and New Brunswick. The deputy ministers for New Brunswick’s DTI and Nova Scotia’s Department of Public Works will in turn oversee the steering committee.
Mitton says she’s hoping that the new collaboration between the provinces will mean an increase in communications and information sharing. Though the MLA has been asking questions about the Isthmus for years, the provincial government did not inform her of the MOU. Rather, she says she found out about it through reporters with interview requests.
CBC Nova Scotia’s Michael Gorham broke the news of the interprovincial agreement, after Nova Scotia published an order in council to approve the MOU. The Nova Scotia government released a copy of the agreement at the end of April, but CHMA is still waiting to hear back from the New Brunswick’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure regarding a similar request.
