RCAF major charged after CBSA seizes prohibited guns

HALIFAX – Transport Canada has ordered a bankrupt tidal power company and a bankruptcy trustee to produce a plan to remove four huge moorings abandoned in the water near Walton, N.S.

The four moorings are made of concrete-filled railcars connected to giant chains, and were to be used for a tidal project by Occurrent Power but were left in the staging area after the company declared bankruptcy Aug. 29.

Transport Canada’s order issued Sept. 10 also asks the company and the trustee to install buoys to mark the location of the four boxcars located near the community along the Bay of Fundy, about 88 kilometres north of Halifax.

In an email to The Canadian Press, Transport Canada says it has formally determined the train cars pose a navigational hazard to boaters. When the tides rise in the channel, the four containers are just metres beneath the surface.

Occurrent Power’s executives have not responded to several requests for comment.

Paul Pettigrew, vice-president with bankruptcy trustee MNP Ltd., said in a telephone interview the trustee has received the Transport Canada notice and “does not have an interest in the railcars and has been in discussions with both Transport Canada and the provincial Department of Natural Resources.”

He says it’s expected that the government agency that relocates the railcars will determine the final cost of their removal and then would become a creditor in the bankruptcy proceedings in an effort to recover those costs.

A statement sent to creditors says the firm has $35.7 million in liabilities and almost $14 million in assets.

The Department of Natural Resources has said the company’s $20,000 deposit for the project is available to help pay to remove the railcars, which are on provincially owned land.

In an interview Wednesday at the legislature, Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton said the province is still “evaluating the price of what it is going to take to get them (the containers) out of the water.”

“We’ve committed to making sure they do come out of the water …. We want to see these off the ground and Crown land returned to what it was.”

Rushton said, “it’s a good step forward” for Transport Canada to order the buoys be put in place, adding that it’s not the long-term solution.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

— With files from Keith Doucette in Halifax.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

HALIFAX – Nova Scotia’s NDP are accusing the government of prioritizing landlords over residents who need an affordable place to live, as the opposition party tables a bill aimed at addressing the housing crisis.

NDP Leader Claudia Chender took aim at the Progressive Conservatives Wednesday ahead of introducing two new housing bills, saying the government “seems to be more focused on helping wealthy developers than everyday families.”

The Minister of Service Nova Scotia has said the government’s own housing legislation will “balance” the needs of tenants and landlords by extending the five per cent cap on rent until the end of 2027. But critics have called the cap extension useless because it allows landlords to raise rents past five per cent on fixed-term leases as long as property owners sign with a new renter.

Chender said the rules around fixed-term leases give landlords the “financial incentive to evict,” resulting in more people pushed into homelessness. She also criticized the part of the government bill that will permit landlords to issue eviction notices after three days of unpaid rent instead of 15.

The Tories’ housing bill, she said, represents a “shocking admission from this government that they are more concerned with conversations around landlord profits … than they are about Nova Scotians who are trying to find a home they can afford.”

The premier’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Also included in the government’s new housing legislation are clearer conditions for landlords to end a tenancy, such as criminal behaviour, disturbing fellow tenants, repeated late rental payments and extraordinary damage to a unit. It will also prohibit tenants from subletting units for more than they are paying.

The first NDP bill tabled Wednesday would create a “homelessness task force” to gather data to try to prevent homelessness, and the second would set limits on evictions during the winter and for seniors who meet income eligibility requirements for social housing and have lived in the same home for more than 10 years.

The NDP has previously tabled legislation that would create a $500 tax credit for renters and tie rent control to housing units instead of the individual.

Earlier this week landlords defended the use of the contentious fixed-term leases, saying they need to have the option to raise rent higher than five per cent to maintain their properties and recoup costs. Landlord Yarviv Gadish, who manages three properties in the Halifax area, called the use of fixed-term leases “absolutely essential” in order to keep his apartments presentable and to get a return on his investment.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.

ST. JOHN’S, N.L. – A crew member of a Canadian Coast Guard ship has been lost at sea off southern Newfoundland.

The agency said in a release Wednesday that an extensive search and rescue effort for the man was ended Tuesday evening.

He was reported missing on Monday morning when the CCGS Vincent Massey arrived in St. John’s, N.L.

The coast guard says there was an “immediate” search on the vessel for the crew member and when he wasn’t located the sea and air search began.

Wednesday’s announcement said the agency was “devastated to confirm” the crew member had been lost at sea, adding that decisions to end searches are “never taken lightly.”

The coast guard says the employee was last seen on board Sunday evening as the vessel sailed along the northeast coast of Newfoundland.

Spokeswoman Kariane Charron says no other details are being provided at this time and that the RCMP will be investigating the matter as a missing person case.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 18, 2024.

The Canadian Press. All rights reserved.