South Coast Today - sterling belliveau

Aquaculture regulations falling behind schedule

SCT and news sources — Fri, 18 Sep 2015 14:05:10 +0000

Regulations might be "best in the world"
Nova Scotia’s fisheries minister Keith Colwell told the Chronicle Herald Thursday that regulations for aquaculture should be ready in October and will be “some of the best, if not the best” in the world.

Colwell said he sees "major economic potential for the province from aquaculture, but it must be done right.

Colwell said growing the economy and protecting the environment "have to go hand in hand.”

Colwell had previously said the regulations would be ready this summer, but admitted that consultation is taking longer than expected.

He expects the propsed regulations to be a combination what the government had planned and “pretty well all the things" included in a recent auditor general’s report and the Doelle-Lahey report on aquaculture.

The new regulations will also be infomed by department evaluations of practices in Maine, New Brunswick, Prince Edward Island and Europe.

No cherry-picking regulations, says Belliveau
Former Fisheries and Aquaculture minister Sterling Belliveau told SCT recently that he is adament that all of Doelle-Lahey recommendations should be be in the final regulations. "Our government (former NDP government) spent considerable resources to have Mr. Doelle and Mr. Lahey do a comprehensive analysis and report and it would be wrong for this government to "cherry pick" aspects of that review."

Contrary to the findings of several community groups, Colwell insists that every area in the province is suitable for aquaculture, with some more suitable than others.

“In some areas," he told the Herald, "we just may decide that we’re not going to do it there for all kinds of reasons.”

Broken promises on Shelburne fish plant
New Brunswick multinational firm Cooke Aquaculture has complained that delays in getting the regulations in place have hampered its ability to inbstall a processing plant in Shelburne by the deadline of December 31, 2015. Sterling Belliveau disputes that Cooke claim, saying that, when he negotiated the deal with Cooke executives, "they knew full well that the commitment to build the propcessing plant was based on cages they already had in the water in 2012. The company received a $25-million loan from the province, $9 million of which is forgivable, for the plant and other projects in 2012.

Cooke has been in the news frequently over the past three years, often in stories which feature widespread disease in their salmon operations in New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Chile. Three of its most senior executives pleaded guilty to felony charges of knowingly dumping gallons of deadly pesticides into the Bay of Fundy close to lobster holding pens.

Cooke's buying spree
During the time Cooke was "accessing" the $18 million, they went on a buying spree, purchasing salmon and other fishing and processing operations in the USA, Chile and Spain.

Cooke has accessed $18 million of the funds to date and executive Nell Halse told the Herald via email Thursday that, “We will honour the repayment terms of the loan with the province — just as we honour all of our financial and legal commitments.”

Colwell has disputed claims by the company that it needed more leases in order to have the capacity to build the processing plant and says the government has no intentions to "speed up" the regulations process.

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Opinion: Action needed to protect fishery from drilling blowout

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 28 Aug 2015 13:38:35 +0000

I’m deeply concerned about the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency decision to allow Shell to take up to 21 days to cap a drilling blowout off the coast of Nova Scotia.

The fishery is crucial to Nova Scotia’s economy as it supports the livelihoods of literally thousands of families from one end of the province to the other.

I myself am a former fisherman, following in the footsteps of my father and my grandfather. Nothing is more important to me than ensuring this resource is protected. That’s why I’m deeply concerned about the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency decision to allow Shell to take up to 21 days to cap a drilling blowout off the coast of Nova Scotia. To put it bluntly 21 days of inaction sounds like recipe for disaster to me.

Shell’s deepwater Shelburne Basin project is located 250 kilometres off our coast. As Denny Morrow, former executive director of the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association pointed out in a recent Chronicle Herald article, a blowout left uncapped for 21 days would place haddock, lobster and crab stocks at risk. Furthermore, “Browns Bank and Georges Bank could both be irreparably damaged if pollution moved in that direction.”

The provincial government has a responsibility to ensure safe development of the energy sector. We all want jobs here in rural Nova Scotia, but we need to keep our fishing grounds and coastlines safe for a sustainable fishery as well. The fishing and oil industries can coexist - the needs of one need not override the other – but strong, sensible and science-based regulations are crucial.

While the Canadian Environmental Assessment Agency has approved Shell’s plan, the province through its representatives on the Canada-Nova Scotia Offshore Petroleum Board, can help ensure additional conditions are placed on the project. Specifically the province must ensure the timeline to cap a blowout is decreased; 21 days is just too long.

I strongly urge Fisheries Minister Keith Colwell, Environment Minister Andrew Younger, and Energy Minister Michel Samson to ensure that if the worst were to happen - if there were an oil spill from a deep water well, that we wouldn't have a repeat of 2010's Deepwater Horizon oil spill, which started in April and wasn’t capped until July.

Sterling Belliveau
MLA Queens/Shelburne

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BP to pay billions in Deepwater Horizon spill settlement

Timothy Gillespie — Thu, 02 Jul 2015 16:23:05 +0000

The federal government and the Gulf Coast states have reached a tentative deal with the British oil company BP for it to pay about $18.7 billion, the largest environmental settlement in American history, to compensate for damages from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill, federal, state and company officials said Thursday.

An American BP subsidiary, BP Exploration and Production, will pay at least $7.1 billion, and possibly more, to the federal government and the states of Louisiana, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and Florida, for damage to natural resources; $5.5 billion in penalties to the federal government for violation of the Clean Water Act; $4.9 billion to the states to compensate for harm to their economies; and up to $1 billion to more than 400 local governments.

It is thought by many that the Deepwater blowout, fire and spill triggered the Dexter NDP government's descision to impose a moratorium on oil and gass drilling on Georges Bank in 2010. Prior to the spill, premier Dexter had traveled to an oil and gas convention in texas where he offered up drilling leases on Georges Bank as enticements for exploration commitments in Nova Scotia waters.

Less than 72 hours before the Deepwater spill, Fisheries and Environment minister Sterling Belliveau told a legislative committee that deepwater drilling was so safe, it would be near-impossible to have a major blowout.

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Lobster buyers say "no deal yet", according to NDP

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 22 May 2015 17:50:11 +0000

"Sounds like stealing to me."

In a news release Friday, NDP MLA Sterling Belliveau is calling on Fisheries Minister Keith Colwell to clarify statements he made Thursday about a lobster marketing fee deal with buyers in Southwest Nova Scotia.

Colwell also said that the government did not need agreement from lobster fishermen to implement the levy.

Colwell told reporters that lobster buyers in Southwest Nova Scotia had agreed to pay into a marketing fund totaling $2 million, says the release. Belliveau says according to numerous calls he’s received today from buyers, that is not the case.

Terry Zinck, owner of the Xsealent Seafood Company, and a member of the Nova Scotia Fish Packers Association, says no deal has been reached, adds the release.

“I was left scratching my head when I read the Minister’s comments,” says Zinck. “We’ve been working with the government to develop a strategy to make our lobster industry more competitive, but to say we’ve reached a deal is not accurate. There is still considerable work to be done and the Minister has placed the cart before the horse. I’d like the Minister to clarify his comments so this process does not get derailed.”

Belliveau says this is not the first time the McNeil government has made premature declarations about a marketing levy. He says the Minister should not be making announcements about marketing fees or levies before first having a mandate from the industry.

“I’ve said all along, Minister Colwell needs to do a better job consulting with the industry and present to them a clear proposal about how this marketing fund will work,” says Belliveau. “If the industry votes to accept the proposal, then the Minister can say he has a deal. “Unfortunately, to this point the Minister has mishandled this file and made a mess of the whole process.

A Facebook page for fishermen from LFA 33 and 34 was abuzz with the controversy about the levy. Some of the comments from fishermen included

Jordan Scott - "Sounds like stealing to me."

Eddie Hopkins - "If a fee goes in, I will never vote liberal agian. Just a scam to get more money for the politicians. They can never get enough.

Clifford Walton - "More money for.the boys to play with"

John Symonds - "If we soon don't get organized we are going to have to put up with this and a lot more!!!"

Brae Pothier - "I'd be for the levy if it was gonna benifit the fisherman, but you think the buyers get a better price overseas they are gonna give us one red cent more for our lobsters? Cause I know we wont see any benefit."

Alex Stoddard - "I want to see the algorithm and the smoke and mirrors they use to show me how this Levy improved my wage one cent."

Frank Nickerson - "Why would any dealer share the profit if fishermen don't add to the pot?"

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McNeil government cutting seniors services, says Belliveau

Timothy Gillespie — Fri, 15 May 2015 14:53:11 +0000

NDP MLA Sterling Belliveau says in a news release Fridaythat the McNeil government’s decision to cut funding that helped seniors with lawn care is causing extra stress for seniors in Shelburne County.

“Last summer I was able to get help with my lawn care but this year that’s changed. Now I’ll have to come up with the money on my own,” says Vivian R. Williams, a resident of Shelburne. in the release

Last year, adds the release, Williams, who has only one income to operate her household, benefited from the Lend a Hand program offered by the Shelburne Association Supporting Inclusion (SASI). SASI received funding from the Nova Scotia Department of Health Continuing Care division. In April, SASI was informed that funding for the Lend a Hand program was being cancelled.

Holly Perry, Vocational Coordinator with SASI, says they have been able to access funds through another government grant which will allow them to continue mowing some lawns this summer but not all the lawns they helped care for last year.

“Unfortunately the funding we lost for the Lend a Hand program means there are some seniors we can’t provide services for this summer,” said Perry. “We’re doing our best to work with those seniors, like Vivian, to help them find solutions.”

Belliveau says the McNeil government should have taken more steps to ensure seniors like Williams wouldn’t suddenly be without services.

“This type of funding supports seniors who are trying to stay at home. It’s very unfortunate the McNeil government isn’t supporting them," says Belliveau.

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Provincial court closures blow to rural areas, says Belliveau

Timothy Gillespie — Mon, 13 Apr 2015 18:43:12 +0000

Rural outmigration official Liberal policy?

NDP MLA Sterling Belliveau says in a news release Monday that the closure of satellite courts in seven communities is another blow to rural Nova Scotia. He says, "It’s clear that encouraging rural outmigration has become an official policy of the McNeil government."

The McNeil government’s second budget released last week includes the closure of satellite courts in Barrington, Comeauville, Liverpool, Lunenburg, Port Hood, Guysborough and Baddeck.

“Hardly a day goes by when the McNeil government doesn’t announce it is cutting a job in a Nova Scotia town,” says Belliveau. “First it closed community services offices, then it laid off provincial park workers, then it closed visitor information centres and now it is closing provincial courts. The elimination of these services and jobs is making it more and more difficult for people to stay in rural communities.”

He adds, “The worst part is the combined savings of all these cuts is tiny when compared the impact they have on families and seniors.”

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Opinion: $25 million for Cooke Aquaculture - where are the jobs?

Timothy Gillespie — Sat, 14 Feb 2015 08:03:53 +0000

Queens-Shelburne MLA Sterling Belliveau recently went public - in exclusive interviews with SCT and other media - complaining about Cooke Aquaculture not following through on its promise to build a fish processing plant in Shelburne and to expand food production in Truro.

Cooke’s sugar-coated promise was to create 400 jobs in return for the approval of major expansion of open pen fish farms in the province. Glenn Cooke, in his acceptance speech for a 2012 $25 million loan-grant combo, praised Belliveau and his boss, then-premier Darrell Dexter, as if they were the saviours of coastal communities.

Dexter, Belliveau and Al Delaney, the mayor of Shelburne, seemed to be the only ones who actually believed that this promise was anything but a means for Cooke to get a big chunk of Nova Scotia taxpayers’ money.

Strangely, this announcement was made a few weeks after 300 citizens representing more than 100 organizations outlined the pollution, poison and disease issues of this industry as experienced in New Brunswick, and now very evident in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. It may not be as surprising, since renowned scientists and citizens of British Columbia had been identifying these issues for 25 years.

The presence of anoxic sludge moving on sea currents, shoreline fouling, pesticide treatments, cage damage with fish escapes, viruses deadly to the salmon including mass mortality, damage and risk to wild salmon populations and lobster fisheries had been identified and communicated to government officials by dozens of citizens, scientists, business operators and fishermen.

Belliveau’s complaint does nothing but expose himself and Dexter for their gullibility to have been “sweet-talked” into handing the $25 million over to Cooke in the first place. Recall that Belliveau was minister of both the department of Fisheries and Aquaculture and Environment, but seemed to be strangely oblivious to all the identified problems. How far can one bury one’s head in the “beach sand?”

Going on three years later, dozens of requests through Freedom of Information to find out what happened to the $25 million and/or obtain other pertinent answers have been either ignored or evaded by both governments.

Mr. Belliveau, you could have done well to have kept silent on this issue. Your exposure illustrates a high level of gullibility and failure to listen to and support the wishes of your constituents.

Fred Giffin, Liverpool, NS

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d'Entremont, Belliveau, others, garner Better Politics Awards

Timothy Gillespie — Sat, 24 Jan 2015 17:10:27 +0000

Photo Rebecca Zimmer

The Nova Scotia Springtide Collective wants to change the trend of disinterst in politics and recently held is first annual Better Politics awards, designed to acknowlede MLAs and democratically conscience citizens as they work towards a more active democracy. For Mark Coffin, President and founder of Springtide Collective, it is all about creating the opportunity to celebrate.

Among South Coast winners at Wednesday nights award ceremony were Chris d'Entremont for Legislator of the Year and Sterling Belliveau for Most Collaborative.

MLAs included (Left to Right) Norm Collins for Advocate of the Year, Geoff MacLellan for Most Open MLA, John Lohr for Rookie of the Year, Chris d'Entremont for Legislator of the Year, Maureen MacDonald for Most Knowledgeable MLA, Sterling Belliveau for Most Collaborative MLA and Bill Black for Story Shaper of the Year. Missing, David Darrow for Public Servant of the Year. Photo Rebecca Zimmer

SEE ORIGINAL STORY FROM HALIFAX MEDIA CO-OP

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LETTER: Deer in the headlights

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 07 Nov 2012 14:15:58 +0000

After listening to Fisheries and Aquaculture Minister Sterling Belliveau defend his government’s decisions concerning expansion of pen fin fish farming in this province, he reminded me of that old expression: “deer in the headlights.”

The recent Cohen report confirms without question that fin fish farms are contributing to extensive declines in the wild salmon populations in both British Columbia and the Maritimes.

Alexandra Morton, renowned biologist, has studied the negative effects of fin fish farms in B.C. for years. Her recent visit to communities in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia confirmed ecological damage, as related by lobster fishermen, anglers, tourism operators and individual residents.

Sea lice-infested salmon were removed from Sobeys store shelves.

One company has withdrawn one of three applications to build cage farms along the Eastern Shore.

Concentrations of copper, far above environmental regulations, along with regurgitated food and oily substances, were found in sea foam near a trout farm in Port Mouton Bay.

Mr. Belliveau said: “We make the right decisions based on good science.” More appropriately, and certainly the truth, this should be reworded: We make the WRONG decisions because we IGNORE good science

Fred Giffin, Liverpool

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OPINION: Did the boundaries commission just sink Belliveau?

Timothy Gillespie — Wed, 26 Sep 2012 15:25:00 +0000

From the Shelburne election Facebook blog, submitted by Roy O'Donnell

There was a revised report released in July suggesting dividing Yarmouth to supplement Argyle to the south and Clare to the north.

But that met with stiff opposition during a public meeting in Yarmouth.

Chairperson Teresa MacNeil said it was clear the community did not want to see any change.

She goes on to say "we chose the one that received the least objections" meaning Shelburne County.

Give me a break....

Of course there wasn't objections from Shelburne County.

It made perfect sense to add Argyle to Yarmouth etc. To a great extent they share a similar culture and language.

There wasn't any notification that we were even a part of any discussion by the commission.

We weren't even shown the courtesy of a public meeting.

We were kept in the dark and blind-sided by this commission.

In conclusion ... Give us our public meeting and we too will show you that this community doesn't want to see any change....

Send an e-mail and voice your displeasure to [email protected]">[email protected], with a copy to [email protected]">[email protected]

Just The Way I See It.

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