(NB-Lobbying-Changes)
New Brunswick’s Liberal government has introduced legislation proposing major changes to the province’s lobbying rules.
Integrity commissioner Charles Murray says the changes would expand registration requirements to nearly two-thousand more lobbyists.
The proposed legislation would also give the commissioner power to issue fines and require monthly reports on meetings with government officials.
Murray says the reforms would bring New Brunswick closer to other leading Canadian jurisdictions on lobbying transparency.
(The Canadian Press)
—
NS-Elliot-Page-Donation)
Nova Scotia-born star Elliot Page says he is frustrated that after seven years and 25-thousand dollars, there is still no community well in Shelburne.
The actor donated 25-thousand dollars to establish the well in 2019, in the heels of his documentary about Nova Scotia’s history of environmental racism against Black and Indigenous communities.
The well project has been fraught with disagreement, division and delays involving the province and two municipal governments, a community college and a community group known as the South End Environmental Injustice Society.
Page says it’s disappointing that after seven years of efforts to establish the clean water source in the community, the well is still dry.
(CBC News)
—
(NL-PowerSchool-Report)
Newfoundland and Labrador’s information and privacy commissioner has released a report about the cyberattack on the PowerSchool platform in 2024.
Kerry Hatfield’s report says the perpetrators accessed personal information belonging to more than 285-thousand students, teachers, parents and caregivers.
She says information breached included social insurance numbers, health-care numbers, phone numbers and addresses.
Her report says the province did not have adequate oversight measures to ensure that PowerSchool was maintaining reasonable security measures.
(The Canadian Press)
—-
(NS-Workers-Support)
Nova Scotia workers and businesses affected by tariffs and global market changes will receive new training and income supports through a 13.8-million-dollar federal fund.
The Workforce Tariff Response Fund will support workers in industries including steel, softwood lumber, seafood and agri-food over the next three years.
The funding is expected to help up to 15-hundred workers through retraining, skills development and employment supports.
Provincial officials say the programs are aimed at helping workers stay employed or transition into new opportunities.
(The Canadian Press)
—
(PEI-Affordable-Housing)
P-E-I has paused its Community Housing Expansion Program as the province deals with a record budget deficit.
The program allowed government to buy private rental units and transfer them to non-profits for affordable housing.
Housing Minister Kent Dollar said the program is paused, not cancelled.
The province purchased about 250 affordable housing units through the program over two years at a cost of 20-million dollars.
(CBC)
—
(PEI-Oyster-Support)
P-E-I is expanding support for the oyster industry as it deals with the impacts of M-S-X and Dermo.
The province says existing support programs for oyster fishers and growers will continue, alongside new wage and interest relief initiatives.
A new wage assistance program will help offset payroll costs tied to increased sorting and handling work, while an interest relief program will help businesses facing losses of at least 30 per cent.
An advisory committee has been created to help oversee the programs and funding distribution.
(The Canadian Press)
—
