Nova Scotia’s coastline now has even less protection after the province scrapped the Coastal Protection Act, some Queens County residents say.
Tim Halman, Nova Scotia’s minister of environment and climate change, announced this week the government would not proclaim the long-delayed act.
The legislation was passed with all-party support in 2019. Instead, Halman introduced plans, tools and other legislation that would have property owners, municipalities and the province share responsibility for protecting coastal property. He said the government wants to empower coastal property owners to make informed decisions.
Cathie Mourre, who lives near the ocean in Eagle Head, Queens County, says the Tories could have committed to enforcing current environmental protections and making them stronger with the new act.
“But instead they took the easy way out and put it in our hands. We’re not experts, we don’t know how to protect the coastline.”
