The dream of local business and municipal leaders on the Route 90 side of St. Mary's Bay to develop the tourism potential of Holyrood Pond is being rejuvenated again, this time with an emphasis on encouraging private businesses to play a part by offering a network of services to potential visitors.
The work is being spearheaded by a non-profit group called Holyrood Pond Development Inc. It was down to four members when Patrick Monsigneur, who operates the Claddagh Inn in St. Mary’s with his wife Carol, and some others, including Sylvester Yetman, decided to give the idea another push. The group is now up to 10 members and eager for representation from throughout the region. Monsigneur was elected president. The group is even developing a feasibility study.
Monsigneur and his group sees Holyrood Pond as becoming part of a larger network of attractions on the Southern Avalon peninsula. He points out the 21 kilometre long pond and the possible attractions that could grow from it are "bookended" on one side by the Colony of Avalon Foundation in Ferryland and Mistaken Point Ecological Reserve, and on the other side by the Salmonier Nature Park and the Cape St. Mary's Bird Sanctuary.
Monsigneur envisions the attractions of the southern Avalon as serving as a playground for the growing population of the Northeast Avalon in much the same way that the Muskokas serve Toronto and Mount Tremblant attracts Montrealers seeking outdoor fun.
"Tourism is developing everywhere else, why shouldn't it happen here?" Monsigneur said. "It's got uncommon potential. That's what I've been telling everybody. Right in the middle of it all is this amazing recreational opportunity. And St. John's isn't getting any smaller. It's growing and growing."
At the centre of the dream is Holyrood Pond itself. As Monsigneur has pointed out in a planning document, the mostly land-locked fiord offers a unique ecosystem of salt and fresh water with some 33 species of fish. The potential for angling is tremendous, he said. There is already a commercial eel fishery at the pond, but where the pond opens to the sea periodically, there is also a mix of brown trout, sea trout, salmon and even sharks in the extreme southern end. "We've heard of halibut being pulled out of there," Monsigneur added. "Of course there's caplin and cod down at the bottom... There's all kinds of species of fish in there waiting to be angled."
Another key to the puzzle is the former provincial park at Holyrood Pond. Monsigneur noted it's a huge park, over 250 hectares, with a waterfall, a now unused swimming pool, and potential for recreational camping vehicles, campsites and cottages. Money from the park's operation could help sustain the visitor centre in St. Vincent’s, which HPDI uses as a base, courtesy of the local town council. But HPDI is also open to a private person developing the park as a small business. Monsigneur is expecting the provincial government to soon call for proposals from people interested in acquiring the park.
"We'd like to get into that and develop it, or see somebody develop it," Monsigneur said. "Holyrood Pond Development Inc., as a non-profit group, is studying the possibility of putting our own proposal in. But we are willing and eager to work with any private enterprise that wants to do something down there. It doesn't matter who gets it as long as somebody gets it and develops it, that's the key."
Monsigneur said he has heard there are a number of people interested in the park, but he has not seen any proposals.
There's also plenty of recreational potential along the banks and inland from the pond, Monsigneur said, referring to old trails, including the "crossing place” bridge, that leads to some cottages owned by lcoals, and an old mail route that took a course inland from the Salmonier Line to St. Shotts and Trepassey. There are other potential attractions too, such as the sites of old saw mills that were used years ago to cut the lumber that was harvested inland and floated down the pond. There are still buildings in St. Mary's that were built with that lumber, Monsigneur said.
"It's the best opportunity for development in this region," Monsigneur ventured of the tourism industry. "I don't think anybody is going to come down and reopen a fish plant and nobody is going to bring a brewery or anything like that down here soon, so tourism is the key for this region."
Monsigneur said HPDI supports other groups in the area hoping to benefit from the pond, including one led by Kevin Christopher, that is trying to raise money to build a slipway at Path End for recreational boat users, and other groups that are trying to develop some of the traditional trails and paths.
"But it's going to take some private investment, that's all there is to it," Monsigneur said of the grander plan. "Those kind of ventures are expensive. We're seeing if we can put together our own investment program, but we'd be willing to work with anybody who's got a good program that would benefit the region."
Meanwhile, the group is grateful for any and all support and encouragement it is getting, including from the St. Vincent’s-St. Stephen’s-Peter’s River council, which allows it to use its interpretation centre on the pond as a home base. It has a gift-shop, tearoom, and a boat-slip with floating docks close to St. Vincent's beach where the whales can be seen, in season, chasing caplin. Monsigneur's group of volunteer board members operate it on their own without any government help. The centre is used by many groups for a range of activities - everything from baby showers to exercise programs. The well went bad this summer and the centre had to close early, but fortunately, Monsigneur said, the Department of Municipal Affairs has agreed to help solve that situation.
"I've spoken to people from Path End to Riverhead down to Peter's River and just about every point in between over the period of a year to see what they thought of development at Holyrood Pond," Monsigneur said. "It's right at the beginning of grand possibilities."
Goulds farmer decries ATV, snowmobile 'trespassers'
Goulds farmer Robert Searle says he has had more than his fill of frustration caused by ATV and four wheel riders who are breaking through fences and tearing up hayfields and crops.
Searle’s 68 acre farm is located on the main road in the Goulds, right at the intersection with Ruby Line. He grows hay as well as cabbage, carrots, beets, turnips and potatoes, and is also rearing sheep. He hopes to increase the size of the flock, to better serve the growing demand for lamb in St. John's restaurants, and to start keeping beef cattle. But he is worried about the extra aggravation that will come from trying to protect his animals and the fences penning them in from ATVers and even snowmobilers who as a matter of course now carry pliers and wire cutters to clear the way for their machines.
"Farming is dying off around here," Searle said. "You've got to put 24 hours a day into it, 365 days a year. A farmer will take a mere paycheque at the end of the week. The older generation didn't mind it, that's all they knew. But the younger generation, they can hop on a plane, be in Fort McMurray in 10 hours and they can take home $3,000 at the end of the week."
But Searle is not dissuaded. His grandfather bought the land in 1925. After he died in 1969, Searle's father rented the ground to local farmers. A few years ago, Searle started farming it.
"I grew up farming, yes," he said. "I never did it full time, but I worked for dairy farmers in the area and I always picked vegetables and stuff. But now I'm after buying all my own machinery and clearing extra ground and I want to get back into it again.”
Searle works days at construction and the rest of the time at farming, until the time when he can tend to his land full time.
Most of the farm is composed of large meadows tended for hay. This year, he managed to grow and harvest 84 big bales of hay, which he sold to other farmers. The “bales” are actually more like giant, marshmallow looking balls of hay wrapped in plastic that each hold the equivalent of 14 of the old square bales.
“My intentions are to get into sheep. I'm working on a permit to build a barn here... If I can get a flock of 50 or 60 sheep, I'll be self-sufficient in hay,” Searle said. “But as of now where I've only got 12 of them I've kind of got to get rid of the hay for the time being. It's going to take two to three years to get set up with a nice flock and some beef animals."
The threat posed by ATVers has him worried. The few sheep he has now are terrified by the bikes when they come roaring by. Searle said the roar of a racing engine can cause a pregnant ewe to abort.
"The problem here with the bikes is absolutely unbelievable," Searle said. "The bikes were really bad back during the '80s and they died out during the '90s.But since these new subdivisions have been built around the area, it's after exploding again. Last year and this year is the worst we've ever seen it."
The local residents who own ATVs and snowmobiles, where they grew up around farmers, respect the necessity of staying off the fields, Searle said. "They'll use the trails. But this new crowd that's coming in at Balnafad, Wildrose, Southlands, new places that are being brought in here around the Goulds, there are a lot of people coming in, and I don't know if they know the difference and don't care, but we're really finding the past few years that we are crucified here with bikes."
Hardly a weekend goes by that Searle doesn’t have to drop what he’s doing on the farm and chase after people tearing up through the fields on bikes.
"It seems like every time I stop someone on a bike, they think they're a lawyer for some reason,” said Searle. “They know the law better than half the lawyers around. They'll say, 'Well you never had gates up, you never had chains up, you never had signs up.' And I'll say, 'Yes, because you just tore them down.' Then the first thing that comes out of their mouths is, 'Well sure the government is paying for it anyway.' Everyone has this thing in their head that when they see a meadow the government is paying for it... There's never been a government dollar spent on this property. This is ours. But whether the government is help paying for a meadow or not, that's privately owned ground."
Searle said farmers throughout the Goulds are dealing with the same problem. There aren’t as many fences kept on farms these days, so bikers think they have free reign.
“Years ago, a lot of farmers would have their cattle out grazing the fields between milkings, so they had to put up fences and maintain them,” Searle said. “But the bigger dairy farmers now keep their cattle in 365 days a year, because it's more efficient to bring the forage to the cattle and leave them in the barn. While they are in the barn you can walk through the herd and check them out and see problems. So the farmers more or less let their fences founder over the years. One time in the spring that was the first chore every farmer had, maintaining his fences, because the cattle would be going out in the spring."
But even in places where fences are maintained, such as on sheep farms, the wood and wire is not much of an impediment to the riders.
Searle said he has had fence posts up with signs on them saying "No Trespassing' and 'Keep Out,' but ATV riders completely ignore them. One day he watched an ATV rider come along and steal every 'No Trespassing' sign that had been posted in the meadow.
"And the signs I have on the back of the property up there, I am sick of replacing them," Searle said. "People have the understanding that if they don't see a sign they have the legal right to enter."
Searle is displeased with a recent change in government policy that bans the stringing of chains across gateposts. But even before the law changed, he said, he was constantly replacing the red and orange warning flags on the chains because ATV riders would pick them off. " How stupid," said Searle. "I put the chain there for people's safety... If you come to somewhere that has got a gate or chain, it's there for one of two reasons; whoever owns that land wants to keep something out, or they want to keep something in."
Searle said he replaced one chain three times. "I have it bolted on. They'll show up with wrenches and take chain and all and go on,” he said. “They figure if the chain is not there, they can enter that car road. But when they enter that car road, they've got nowhere to go but into a field, because there's no way out. But it doesn't seem to deter them."
Another time last year, said Searle, he watched four ATV bikers go up over a neighbour's hay meadow. "I went after them in the pickup," he said. "I find that a lot of these kids now have helmet cameras. And they have a great laugh out of watching someone chase them... They could be putting that up on the internet."
Searle said the bikers don't think about the cost of the damage they inflict when they spin their knobby tires cutting through turf and throwing clots of sods in the air. "You take say a 1,000 square foot front lawn," said Searle. "That could be $3,500 or $4,000 to get someone in to do your lawn - topsail, seed it, sod it, whatever. What do they think a 10 or 20 acre meadow costs?"
A hayfield may look like nature put it there, but it actually involved a lot of work by somebody. "It takes an awful or of work," Searle said. "By the time you put a bulldozer up there to clear it off, and an excavator to drain it, then it has to be ditched, then rock raked - there are machines for that - and then rock picked and scarified three times, then seeded - that's the easy part. Now you've got to try to get the seed to grow with fertilizer, limestone, manure - all of this stuff has to be trucked in and paid for. And then you've got some fool in on a bike tearing it up? And they know what they are doing is wrong, but they think it's their personal playground and that they can do what they like."
There is a fork in the pole line that run on back of Searle's land; one route runs to Shea Heights the other to Petty Harbour. A gravel road, owned by Newfoundland Power and dividing Searle’s property from his neighbour, runs from the Main Road to the fork. Instead of taking the dirt road all the way to the pole line, Searle said, he's often seen bikers cross onto his neighbours' hay fields to spin up sods along their way.
"It's an absolute lack of respect," Searle said. "They know the difference. It's just a big laugh to see whoever can flick the sods the highest... They don't know how frustrating it is. It costs thousands of dollars to put those fields there and maintain them, all for the sake of getting a bit of hay out of it to feed your animals or sell."
Searle said it’s useless to call the police. “I'm after having them here a dozen times. And really, what are they going to do?" he said.
Two summers ago, Searle said, he had an acre of potatoes planted in one of his back meadows. "I was here one day and I saw a bunch of four wheelers taking the gate down and driving back and forth through the potatoes and by the time I got up there they were left and laughing. Out of a full acre of potatoes, I'd say a third of it was destroyed. And there was no other purpose of doing it other than for them to have a laugh. I was going to set vegetables up there this year, because there's very good soil up there, but I said, 'What's the sense?'"
Searle said the bikers know the farmer's vehicles and some of them like teasing and taunting them when they are home.
The odd time when a farmer manages to get an ATV rider into court, Searle said, it’s not unusual for a judge to throw the case out.
“It’s like you have no legal right to protect your property,” Searle said.
Residents tell Commissioner they are tired of 'fear mongering' campaign
About 70 people, most of them favouring the proposed Witless Bay Town Plan that was overwhelmingly selected in a recent plebiscite, attended a Public Hearing last week on the document.
The event was held in the Knights of Columbus Hall. The audience also included a small contingent of environmentalists from outside the community who were apparently attracted to the event by a propaganda campaign designed to whip up opposition to the development of three private building lots between Mullowney's Lane and Ragged Beach.
Witless Bay resident Ron Harte took pains at the start of the hearing to make Commissioner Wayne Thistle clarify that all testimony offered during the meeting had to be done under legal oath, thereby putting an onus on all speakers to make truthful remarks. Harte and other residents were incensed by some of the claims circulated in the days ahead of the hearing by a few local protestersincluding Noel O'Dea, who sent out an e-mail circular with a form letter attached asking his contacts to notify the Department of Municipal Affairs of their opposition to the proposed Town Plan. O'Dea's circular contained a two page letter in which he claimed up to 400 houses could be built at Ragged Beach, and a 33 page "information" package that included a photoshopped depiction of a large fence barring access to the East Coast Trail with the caption 'What Ragged Beach Could Look Like In The Future.'
O'Dea didn't attend the hearing, but his e-mail campaign drew the ire of speakers who felt his claims, and efforts to stop two local families and another private land owner from building homes on their privately-owned lots, were outlandish. There were also a number of references to O'Dea's large, glass walled gazebo, which sits right on the beach below his property at Gallow's Cove, as well as stacks of used tires built into the coastline to act as a retaining wall below his land. A couple of speakers also pointed out that under both Town Plans that went to the plebiscite, O'Dea is getting four acres of his own land rezoned to qualify for residential housing development.
The first speaker before the Commissioner was land owner Anne Marie Churchill, who along with her husband Gary, bought 1.5 acres of land below Mullowney's Lane several years ago in the hope of building a house to live out their retirement.
Churchill said she and her family came home for Christmas in 2009 and went for a hike along the trail near Ragged Beach. Struck by the beauty of the area, she immediately started looking for land and found an ad from a family in Witless Bay looking to sell their property on Kajiji. Churchill said she offered to buy it pending a check with the town council to see if it would allow a house there and a check by a lawyer to see if they could obtain clear title.
Clear title was available, she added, and the council offered its support to zone the land to allow a building lot. But she was warned that a group in the area was opposed to any development near Ragged Beach. Churchill said she flew back from Ottawa to meet with members of the group and outline her family’s plans, but was told she would never be allowed to do anything with the land. "We wanted to compromise," Churchill said. "We were told, "We're not interested, We're only going to stop you.'"
The Churchills decided to buy the parcel anyway. "We're not wealthy people, contrary to what people write on social media," she said. "We're not wealthy developers from Ontario... There are three landowners in that area with private property. We are not interested in Crown Land. We simply want to build one house on 1.5 acres, one house in the woods."
Churchill said she and her family are avid hikers and support the East Coast Trail and their house would not interfere with the trail or be near the beach. Churchill said her family has tried twice to meet with the East Coast Trail Association. "There is no way we would block the trail, even if we could," she said.
Churchill said the former council approved Rural Residential zoning for her land, but when the new council came in, it changed the Town Plan to make the land Recreational, without informing the land owners. That meant the Churchills would not be allowed to build. "They sucked the value out of the land, behind our backs," said Churchill. "We get tax bills every year. We pay our taxes."
Churchill pointed out the irony of her family's situation is that the backbone of the opposition are people who own large houses and property in the same area.
"It's ironic that one of our opponents is getting four acres of land rezoned to Residential," Churchill said. “And he's fighting us and Ronnie Harte and Wayne Williams. There are only three of us left... I've been so impressed by the people of Witless Bay… the numbers that came out to that plebiscite to stand up for private land owners, and I hope that their wishes are going to be respected. They voted for Plan A... I think that should be respected."
Churchill's remarks drew enthusiastic applause from most of the people in the hall. But not resident Colleen Shea. "I'm here to speak for the ‘puffin whisperer’ and the trail walkers and all the other people inside and outside Witless Bay who actually use that area," she said.
Shea noted that in 2011, some 1,400 people e-mailed and faxed the council opposing development at Ragged Beach. However, the weight of that claim was weakened later in the meeting when resident Barbara Carey, who was a member of council at the time, pointed out that nearly all of those "letters" was a form letter.
Carey said she hadn't planned to say anything at the meeting, but felt compelled to do so after hearing some of the environmentalists from outside the town who think the residents don't care about the ecological reserve and that the town is rezoning the East Coast Trail and Ragged Beach.
"That's not what's happening at all," Carey said. We're talking about three private citizens who want to build homes out in the woods that won't be visible to the birds... A lot of the propaganda that is going around is fear mongering. It's making the people of Witless Bay afraid that there's a 400 lot subdivision going down there and that there's a developer coming in going to make $25 million. We're not talking about rezoning the whole coast. It's an area close to the area that is already residential. Just three little plots of land. That's all these people are asking."
Developer Blair Paul told the Commissioner that "many misconceptions and half-truths" have been made by the people opposing development in the town, with the statements even being circulated internationally. "Unfortunately the facts have become blurred in an effort to gain public support."
Paul said the rumours of a 400 lot subdivision at Ragged Beach are simply untrue. "It's the height of hypocrisy," he said. "Mr. O'Dea... is the only person in Gallows Cove who owns enough land to construct a subdivision... This man, who claims to promote ecological conservation, is the only member of the community with a private gazebo on a public beachfront bordering his vast personal estate. A St. John's millionaire, who has his land zoned and developed exactly as he wants it, is now fighting to limit others from doing exactly what he has done."
Paul said the subdivision that is being proposed, is located on the highway near the Mobile Arena, quite a ways away from Ragged Beach. "This subdivision will not produce negative ecological repercussions for the Witless Bay (Ecological) Reserve," he added, "but will contribute more than $180,000 to the municipality of Witless Bay in property taxes alone.”
Paul argued that O'Dea and his supporters are using the public's sympathy for conservation to strip away the property rights of land owners in the town.
Paul's father, Fraser Paul, addressed the Commissioner later in the meeting. He said the 49 acre subdivision he and his son have been proposing since 2010 is located three kilometres from Ragged Beach. Some 19 acres of the land is private property, he said, while the rest is publicly owned. Paul said he has already spent some $672,000 on the proposal over the past two years, though none of the 87 lots have been developed yet. Paul said his subdivision will have proper environmental safeguards.
Mayor Sébastien Després broke the usual convention of council members staying neutral at Public Hearings by offering a lengthy warning about the dangers of over development on the town's water table. Councillor Albert Murphy told the Commissioner Després was not speaking for council. Harte interposed to warn the mayor, "Remember, you're under oath."
Després told the Commissioner the two "iterations" of the Town Plan put to the plebiscite "was very confusing for a lot of residents."
That's despite both of the 250 page plans being almost identical with the only significant difference pertaining to efforts by the new council in the second plan to stop Churchill and Harte from developing their land. The other difference involved minimum lot sizes in Rural Residential areas. Plan A called for three quarter acre lots, while Plan B specified a full acre.
Després said Witless Bay residents are potentially facing millions of dollars in additional taxes to pay for the installation of water lines if the drinking water in wells gets ruined by development.
"There are many threats to this town in terms of future liabilities that we could incur, but none greater than poorly planned development," Despré said. "We have to be very careful... Witless Bay is not a magical unicorn. It's a beautiful place, but it will fall prey to the same problems as any other space in the province if we're not careful of development."
Després maintained Witless Bay is under "very large pressures" from a "great number of proposed subdivisions, and these proposed subdivisions are all very, very, very large scale projects."
He added most of the proposed subdivisions would be located in Rural Residential areas in higher elevations of the town. If those subdivisions go ahead, he said, both the Town's Planner and "every professional that council has spoken to about this issue" feels that "public water will become a necessity in the Town of Witless Bay... We cannot bury our heads in the sands and pretend this will not happen... Installing 40 or 50 kilometres of water lines in Witless Bay will bankrupt the community."
Those remarks, along with some of the other claims, drew former mayor Derm Moran to the microphone. He lamented the scare mongering. "Why are they putting so much fear into the people of Witless Bay?" he asked. "There is no need of this. Witless Bay was a nice community. People worked together with each other. They enjoyed each other's company. There was none of this - the lies, the deceit."
Moran said people outside Witless Bay are being given the wrong impression of what's happening in the town.
Moran was followed by several environmentalists, including Bill Montevecchi of Portugal Cove - St. Phillip's, who studies the seabirds at the reserve, and Fred Windsor of St. John's, who said he was representing the Sierra Club. They made general remarks about the value of the reserve and urged residents to prohibit development near Ragged Beach.
Resident Dena Wiseman, a former councillor who along with Després caused the uproar that eventually led to the plebiscite by retracting the new Town Plan and amending it to stop Harte and Churchill from building ontheir land, said her opposition is based on ecological grounds.
Wiseman said she objects to lot sizes in Rural Residential areas being less than a full acre, because of the danger posed to the water tables below. She added she opposes development at Ragged Beach because of the area's proximity to the East Coast Trail and the ecological reserve.
Fraser Paul pointed out to the commissioner that Wiseman is in a conflict of interest pertaining to the Town Plan. He added she is getting her own land rezoned to accommodate half acre lots.
Former councillor Joan Tobin, who developed the first subdivision in the town back in 2007, countered the earlier claims made by Després. Tobin said the previous council, in 2009, passed a regulation requiring all developers to pay for an aquifer study by an independent engineer with expertise in hydrology before council will consider any subdivision.
Tobin said such a study costs some $50,000 to $60,000 and can take as long as a year to conduct. "If you fail that aquifer study, that's it, your subdivision is dead in the water, you don't get to build if the hydrology of the area doesn't support the water tables," she said.
Tobin noted she paid for such a study for her subdivision and offered to show it to the mayor, but he has never taken her up on the offer. The results, she said, based on a study of 150 wells in the community, concluded Witless Bay has a sustainable aquifer. "There are no issues with aquifers," Tobin said. "That is fear mongering at its best by the mayor."
Tobin said there has been a sustained campaign using social media, "designed to entice social outrage” against the several private land owners who want to build houses off Mullowney’s Lane.
“There are no subdivisions on the record, nor proposed, for this area of Ragged Beach,” Tobin said. “There are no applications for sizable chunks of Crown Land in this area... There are three land owners in this area with privately owned land that want to build a single family home. The public trails and the beach area will continue to be utilized and enjoyed by visitors and residents as usual."
Tobin said besides being a trained intensive care nurse, she is a marine biologist with a degree in geography and earth sciences and a post degree program in coastal and ocean management. "I know these three houses will not affect the ecological reserve," she said.
A number of other residents also addressed the Commissioner about how the Town Plan will affect their properties. Thistle said he hopes to submit his report in about a month’s time.
CBDC Celtic reports on efforts to nurture local business growth
The Celtic Business Development Corporation marked the conclusion of another successful financial year at its annual general meeting held in the Bay Bulls Regional Lifestyle Centre last week.
Chairperson Evelyn Reid said the role of the community lender is to help communities build capacity and individuals to "shape their own future."
During the fiscal year ending March31, 2015, Reid noted, Celtic CBDC approved 22 loan applications and disbursed some $1.58 million to eight new business startups and five existing businesses.
"What this really means to the bottom line here on the Irish Loop is the number of jobs that it represents," she added. "It's all well and goodto have businesses, but you really want to have people working in those businesses to better the financial situation of our region."
To that end, the loans disbursed last year helped create 34 full time jobs and maintain 38 others, Reid said.
All told, Celtic CBDC has 55 loans in its portfolio with nearly $3.3 million outstanding. Reid said that's money that is "going to work everyday" to help people further their businesses.
The loans are approved by a volunteer board of directors composed of Reid, Lana O’Neill, incoming chairperson Sharon Topping of Trepassey, Secretary-Treasurer Susan Sheehan of Renews-Cappahayden, business owner Bertha Rousell of Trepassey and retail sales manager Mary Raymond of Renews - Cappahayden. Long time board chairman and director Dan McDonald of the Goulds retired from the board last year, as did fellow directors Mary Fleming, Lil Hawkins and Derrick Thompson.
Reid, who lives in Admiral's Cove, said the CBDC supports a variety of businesses in the region. Loans have been given to businesses in agriculture, the arts, food services, construction, the fishery, manufacturing, real estate and various services.
"We don't only approve loans," Reid said. "We offer services such as training... Training is always something I encourage for people and it's been our privilege I think to offer this kind of training."
Some 33 people received training in the last fiscal year, she noted, in fields ranging from sales to marketing through social media. Not only does the CBDC offer group training sessions, but it also provides individual training to businesses looking to increase the abilities of a worker or staff in marketing or financial management.
The Celtic CBDC also helps people with the federal government's Self-Employment Assistance Program, assess the viability of business ideas, and last year, helped six young people start their own businesses through the Youth ventures program.
Reid said the Celtic CBDC is able to do such work not only because it has an effective board, but also a dedicated staff led by executive director Loretta Ryan. Other staff members include business development officer Gertie Molloy, accounting clerk Anita Sullivan and office administrator Judith Walsh. "We could not realize success without them," Reid said.
This current fiscal year, which ends next March, is also looking good, Reid observed. "We invite you to participate in that success," she said.
Councillor given ultimatum to attend 'Friendly Hearing'
Witless Bay councillor Kevin Smart has been given a final ultimatum by most of his fellow councillors: Show up to the next 'Friendly Hearing' concerning an alleged conflict of interest or be fired from council.
The move came in the form of a motion by councillor Ken Brinston. Since being elected in a by-election this past February, he has been trying to get council to deal with the various natters of alleged conflict of interest that have been dogging the town's business for more than a year.
Smart was accused by developers and private land owners of violating conflict of interest guidelines when he voted to amend the proposed Town Plan and eventually adopt the document in full. They contend he was in a conflict of interest because the plan rezones some property he owns allowing it to be developed for housing. Smart has maintained that he made no request to have his land rezoned and so he did not break the rules.
Councillor René Estrada expressed frustration at the way the matter has dragged on.
"One of the things we have to take into consideration is the advisement from our lawyer," said Estrada. "Kevin was asked to attend a Friendly Hearing on four different occasions. The first time on Tuesday, August 4, he didn't show. On Thursday, August 18, once again he did not show. On September 3, neither he attended, nor the mayor. September 22 neither the mayor nor Kevin showed. Under advisement from the lawyer we were told to give Kevin one last opportunity to show at a Friendly Hearing... If he does not show then his seat will be vacated."
Estrada said Smart's failure to show up has put an imposition on the rest of council. "I have come right from work, left early, to be here for these Friendly Hearings only to find out that he hasn't shown," he said. "Now whatever we may think, or whatever we may decide, will be decided on fact, not on emotion."
Brinston pointed out that at a September 15 privileged meeting, a similar motion was passed and added he was prepared tonight to vote on the matter. Brinston said he changed his mind after contacting an official at the Department of Municipal Affairs who advised that because Smart wasn't informed that council was ready to dispose of the matter at its next meeting whether he showed up or not, "it would be in the best interests to give him one more try. This is one more try."
Smart sat in his chair throughout the discussion and did not comment. When it came to the vote on setting a date for his next Friendly Hearing, Mayor Sébastien Després told him to leave the room. That hearing will be held Oct. 22. Smart will be sent a letter advising him of the date and that his seat will be vacated if he doesn't attend.
"This has gone on long enough," said Brinston. "It has to be taken care of. A decision has to be made."
Meanwhile, on another issue of alleged conflict of interest, which saw husband and wife councillors Ralph Carey and Dena Wiseman booted from council this past summer, Mayor Després said the town has not heard back from its lawyer regarding the pair's appeal of their eviction.
Wiseman and Carey are looking for an apology from council and to be given their seats back, arguing that while they did discuss snow clearing on a private road leading to their property, it was not during a formal council meeting and so they did not break conflict of interest rules. The road in question, Pond Path, leads to property that Wiseman and Carey are having rezoned for residential development in the new Town Plan.
"The town's lawyer was away for a week or so, so no progress was made in the past week," the mayor said. "We're waiting on the town's lawyer for his further directives after council has given him its decision, I guess."
Bay Bulls Mayor aims to silence the public gallery
Some of the changes forced upon Bay Bulls council last month by councillor Joan Luby and members of the public were put into effect Tuesday, but it was clear Mayor Patrick O'Driscoll wasn't pleased about it.
At September's public council meeting, Luby put forward motions that the town's monthly spending report be included in the agenda for public viewing and also asked that cel phone use by councillors be banned during council meetings. She made the latter request based on having witnessed a councillor taking a text message from another councillor who had left the chamber because of a conflict of interest, she said. Members of the public, meanwhile, complained that at nearly every public council meeting, Mayor O'Driscoll closes the session during the middle of proceedings and orders a privileged session, in some cases leaving the public waiting outside the chamber door for as long as an hour for the public session to resume.
At Tuesday's public meeting, council held its privileged session ahead of the public meeting - and also included the list of accounts detailing where the town spent taxpayers' money in the past month. But there was also a printed warning left on every seat in the public gallery warning people they are not allowed to talk or engage with council during meetings.
That was followed by a verbal warning from the mayor once council entered the chamber to start the public proceedings.
"Before we start I want to advise those in the audience there will be no discussion from the gallery during any part of the meeting,” O'Driscoll said. "Unless I address you or have got a question based on your application or whatever you've got on the agenda, we're not going to allow any discussions from the gallery... The last few meetings we've gotten out of hand and it's not going to be tolerated going forward. I ask for your cooperation. If I don't get it you'll be asked to leave ... we'll get the RCMP and they'll escort you out. We need to get through the meeting and the audience is not supposed to influence the discussion of councillors."
No other councillor addressed the mayor's statement. Luby was absent from the public meeting, as was councillor Madonna Hawkins.
The ban on public speaking includes the use of cel phones during meetings. But they can be used in emergency situations, O'Driscoll said.
Boundary expansion
In other council business, the Minister of Municipal Affairs, Keith Hutchings, has responded to the town's request to expand its boundaries by writing back and asking for more information and a letter outlining council's rationale for the expansion, O'Driscoll said.
"I'll make a motion to ask our Town Planner Reg Garland to do up the map for that and council can provide the letter giving the rationale," he said.
Deputy Mayor Harold Mullowney seconded the motion, which passed unanimously.
Road work concerns
Council has received a petition from residents of Track Road Extension about the upgrades that were done on the street this past summer. Mayor O'Driscoll said the residents have concerns about the "work that was done."
Councillor Jason Sullivan noted the town's engineer has compiled a list of deficiencies to be taken up with the contractor, Weir's Construction.
Councillor Rick Oxford asked if any of the holdover money has been paid to the contractor.
"There's been no monies paid," said the mayor. "Basically our engineer is working with their's to negotiate the issues. When a plan is in place we'll be advised."
O'Driscoll made a motion that a letter be sent to the residents advising that the engineer has been on site to review the work and is working with Weir's to address the concerns.
Community makes no mistakes with UNESCO bid
When he first got the e-mail from his bosses at UNESCO with the subject line "Mistaken Point," Dr. Mohn Shafeea Leman thought someone was trying to tell him to correct an error.
The Malaysian geologist eventually learned he was being asked to come to Newfoundland to inspect some of the world's oldest fossils as part of a bid by community organizers and the provincial government to obtain UNESCO World Heritage Status for the ecological reserve situated on the lonely, fog strewn coast between Portugal Cove South and Cape Race.
Once he got here, Leman, who said he learned in school that Newfoundland was famous for fishing, liked what he found.
"It's a pleasure to do this job and to come here," said Leman, who inspected the area with George Green of Parks Canada, and the geologist whose research brought the fossil bed to international attention, Dr. Guy Narbonne of Queen's University.
All three experts were given an enthusiastic reception September 30 in Portugal Cove South's community hall. On hand to welcome the delegation were Premier Paul Davis, Ferryland MHA and Municipal Affairs Minister Keith Hutchings and Dan Crummell, the minister responsible for Environment and Conservation.
The evening's events, which included presentations by local writer Pearl Coombs, plays and skits performed by students of Stella Maris Academy and songs performed by musicians Judy Brazil, David Warr, Rachel Coombs and Marsha Kenny, was emceed by Loretta Ryan, the chairperson of Mistaken Point Ambassadors Inc., the local group spearheading the drive for UNESCO status.
Leman gave the residents some hope that their efforts may be rewarded next fall when UNESCO unveils its latest list of World Heritage Sites during a meeting set for Istanbul, Turkey.
"It's a very nice place," Leman said. "I've enjoyed myself very much... If you want to do something, just believe in it and maybe in the end you can achieve it."
Greene thanked the community for the initiative and work that residents have put into preparing the bid and for the reception accorded the guests. "It's very humbling and it actually makes you proud to be a Canadian," he said. "I just want to say thank you very much for opening your homes and your hearts to us... We are of the view that this submission is poised to join a very elite group... We are looking forward to next year with great anticipation and hope that we will have a successful inscription onto the World Heritage list."
Premier Davis joked that while there was some fog outside Portugal Cove South that evening, there was a bright star shining over the hall itself.
Davis said he was inspired by the hospitality he received that day and the large crowd on hand for the reception. "I know it's really reflective of your community," he said. "And I want to congratulate you."
Davis said he was especially touched to see the involvement of the young people in the community in the project. "When you come to a community and you have such high involvement from all ages... and taking a lead and protective role in it, it speaks volumes for the community and the effort that's happened here."
Hutchings said the night was special for him too. "I was elected in 2007," he said. "One of the first things I did was be part of the opening of the (Mistaken Point) Interpretation centre here, with (MP) Fabian Manning at the time and provincial and federal funding... At some point I went to Mistaken Point with Kit Ward and if you want to talk about ambassadors in the community who drove this and recognized it early on for what it was and what it needed to be, and to protect it, Kit Ward exemplifies all of that and we should recognize her."
From those early encounters, Hutchings said, he worked with the community and some great volunteers to tackle the challenges along the way, including the state of the gravel road leading to the fossil bed. Over the years, in cooperation with the federal government, improvements to the road were made, including the replacement of bridges.
"It's been a pleasure for me," Hutchings said. "It's politics, but it's more than that. I fell in love with the whole thing at some point along the way. It could be related to my son Eric. I remember in 2008-2009, he was nine or 10 years old. We came up and went out to the site with Valerie Sullivan. He did a heritage project on Mistaken Point, he won his heritage project and it was special. And it's still very special for me and I just want to say congratulations to everybody along the way."
Hutchings said he is looking forward to UNESCO's decision next year. "I'd love to be here to be part of that with you," he added.
As part of the evening's ceremonies, Mayor Clarence Molloy and one of the community's most respected citizens, Mike Coombs, signed a proclamation indicating the town's support for the UNESCO bid. Environment Minister Crummell said the province could not have completed the application without the support of the community. "What you have here is just so special," Crummell said. "I've got a special feeling about this."
Liberal candidate has 20 plus years of municipal politics on resume
He has a comfortable lead going into the October 19 federal election, but Liberal candidate Ken McDonald would be the last fellow to take it for granted that he will win Avalon riding.
Instead, the self-employed appliance repairman and mayor of Newfoundland's largest town is employing his usual, below the radar, but well-planned and steady campaign of door to door canvassing to earn support one vote at a time.
The plain-spoken, easy going 56 year old has had a career of highs and lows when it comes to politics, and life for that matter. The past few years have laid opportunity before him. McDonald is fully appreciative of how far he has come.
A lifelong resident of the riding, McDonald started his appliance repair business in 1986. It taught him a lot. "I can remember times when I had to keep my paycheque in my pocket for a few days just to make sure the money was there," he admits. "You'd write it out, but you wouldn't cash it."
Eventually McDonald grew the company to the point where he could employ a couple of others, giving them an extra week's pay each year at Christmas as a bonus.
In 1993, he took a stab at municipal politics in his home town of Conception Bay South. At the time one of the fastest growing communities in Eastern Canada, CBS was making a tough transition from a rural way of life to a suburban one as a bedroom community of St. John's. The councils of the day were frequently embroiled in controversies and imbroglios caused by the rapid pace of growth and a scarcity of funds to keep up with the infrastructure to accommodate it.
McDonald resigned from council in August of 1996 when his fellow councillors refused to abide by all the changes recommended following an Auditor General's examination of the town's practices. A month or so later, the Minister of Municipal Affairs dismissed the entire council. McDonald was later acknowledged as the only councillor who didn't run afoul anywhere in the AG's findings.
But it wasn’t enough to get him re-elected in the following election. He ran at-large instead of as a ward representative.
"In hindsight I was lucky I didn't get elected," McDonald admits. "In July of 1997, Christine was diagnosed with cancer."
McDonald's wife died of the disease three years later leaving him a single father of their son John, who was then 13. He has since married again.
In 2005, McDonald took another shot at municipal politics. He ran for mayor against three big names in the community. He placed second to Woodrow French.
"After that election, I knew what I was going to do," says McDonald. "I was going to run to get on council at the next available chance."
That came with the next election in 2009, when McDonald returned to the chamber as a ward councillor. Before the next four years were up, he started canvassing to run against French again, who was by this time a provincial personality as well as a local one. "And that was my intent from day one," McDonald says. He won handily.
McDonald says he was drawn to municipal politics because it’s a way to help people, something he has enjoyed since his days as a member of the Lions Club. "You saw firsthand at that level how you can help people," he explains. "Whether it be giving a scholarship to a student or contributing to a wheelchair for someone who needed it. It really gave you a feeling that you were doing some good in the community. There are lots of organizations out there, whether it be the Lions Club, Rotary or Kinsmen who do absolutely fantastic work but I don't think any of them blow their own horns enough, because many people don't realize the good that they do in the community."
McDonald is blessed with a folksy way of getting on with people. He attributes that to his upbringing. "As a family we were no different than anyone else," he says. "We had lots to eat, but we didn't have lots of everything else. There no big luxuries. We didn't have a ski doo or a quad by the side of the door. We grew our vegetables, raised a pig or a bull and that's how we survived. We grew enough vegetables in our garden to do us from one year to the next; we never had to buy a potato. I think it showed you the value of things that you move on with in life."
McDonald says he was confident he would win the mayoralty when he ran in 2013. It came, he says, from having done a lot of work on council during his previous four years, returning calls, taking the time to attend events. "From the get go I knew it would be a hard battle to win it," he says.
McDonald also took stands that didn't always endear him with the rest of council, such as the time he fought to stop the town from ordering a man to tear down his new house because it was built three inches over a certain regulated boundary line.
"All that people expect of council is that you will try to help them in some way," McDonald says. "Some things you can't do... but for the most part people are respectful if you try to help them and that's what I've done from day one."
He sees no big difference in taking that approach to a federal level. "The issues may change," he says. "It may not be an issue of a ditch not being cleaned out or a pothole on a street, but it will be an issue of someone's unemployment getting cut off unnecessarily or a pension cheque gone astray... And bigger issues. It will be bigger issues but it will still involve people. And as I said it in my speech way back when I announced I was running for mayor, the one thing that you should never forget is that you're elected to serve the people. You are not elected to serve the corporates, you're not elected to serve even the leader of a party or to follow party policy on certain issues when it affects the people you are elected to represent."
McDonald says he agonized over the decision to run federally just two years after being elected mayor. “I was happy as anything being mayor and if I end up going back to being mayor on October 20th I’ll still be happy because I truly love the position of being mayor,” he says.
McDonald says he would like for his parents to still be alive to see how far he has come. “Growing up, the mayors of the day were notable people in the community,” McDonald says. “I'm thinking, I came from nowhere and can be mayor of the second largest municipality in the province. It goes to show that anyone can do it. You don’t have to have a university education, you don’t have to be a doctor or a teacher or own a big business or be a CEO of a big company; anybody can do this. You just have to be committed to the job that it entails.”
Conservative candidate wants to rebuild bridges
Under normal circumstances, Lorraine Barnett would have a pretty even chance of winning the federal election as the Conservative Party candidate in Avalon Riding - assuming she won have gotten the nomination over the usual line of pretenders who might otherwise have sought it.
But there has been nothing normal about federal politics in Newfoundland since 2007 when then Premier Danny Williams launched an Anything But Conservative campaign against Prime Minister Stephen Harper, scorching the earth of any chances of the Conservatives electing a member in this province for years afterwards.
With nearly 10 years working in the federal minister’s Newfoundland and Labrador Regional Office and years behind her before that working with the Fish Food and Allied Workers Union and a development association on the Cape Shore, nobody in this election is better placed than Barnett to know the details of federal-provincial files and projects.
Reached by telephone in Trepassey where she was campaigning, Barnett said the election has been a great chance to reconnect with people she has met throughout the riding during her career.
But with the Big C for Conservative on her chest, Barnett knows she is facing a tough battle.
“It has been tough,” she allows. “But for me it’s about leadership, it’s about balanced budgets, low taxes and more money in the pockets of families. It’s campaigning not on running deficits but steady as she goes in tough economic times.”
Barnett says it’s important to have someone at the table in Ottawa. According to most polls, if the election was held this week the Conservatives would return to power with the most seats, though slightly behind the Liberals in terms of overall vote count. That leaves the prospect of Newfoundland going another four years without anyone to speak for it in the federal government.
“I don’t think we’ve been forgotten about,” Barnett says, reflecting on the lack of a political representative in the government for the past seven years. “I think what’s lost are the good things we are doing. The media has a tendency to report the negative stuff. I’m talking about the new CAT 3 instrument landing system at the airport that the federal government invested in that will make accessibility go from 93 per cent to 99, investments in Marine Atlantic, the new Canadian Coast Guard headquarters that is going to be built on the Southside in St. John’s to open in 2018, the loan guarantee for Muskrat Falls, the New Horizons for Seniors program, the funding that we get through ACOA. On a daily basis I see what is coming to this province. I think what is missing is someone at the table not only to push for more, but who can let people know we are doing okay. We could be doing better, but we need a voice at the table.”
Barnett says it’s impossible for Newfoundland to be best served by having a regional minister from another province.
“We need to have our voice heard,” she says. “Not only that but to rebuild that bridge between the province and feds. We need to rebuild our relationship, that’s very important. And I think if we got the right person, someone like myself – I’ve seen the tough times, I’ve lived through the tough times with the ABC - I know I can rebuild the relationship between the federal government and the provincial government and that needs to get done. Nobody is gaining anything from the way that this relationship has transpired.”
Barnett is hoping people realize the consequences of potentially going 11 years without a voice in the federal cabinet. “That’s my message at the door – it’s very important to have a Conservative elected,” she says. “And Avalon has a good chance to do that. I’m not a voice of inexperience. I know the files, I know the Avalon, I’ve lived here all my life, I know the people, I could be a good representative at the table.”
Barnett proved at the CBC Radio candidates’ debate that she isn’t the type to be pushed around. By many accounts she was the strongest performer during the event.
Like the frontrunner, Liberal Ken McDonald, Barnett comes from a humble background and has lived in the riding all her life. A single mom who went on to carve a career in economic development and government administration, she grew up in Patrick`s Cove on the Cape Shore, has lived in Holyrood and now makes her home with her husband in Paradise, which is also in the riding.
“I knowwhat it’s like to live in a rural community, where jobs are scarce and very seasonal,” she says. “I know what it’s like to be a single parent, struggling and trying to make ends meet. I know what it’s like to have the ear of ministers and to get things done. I’ve come up through the system, I know how things work.”
If the Conservatives are not re-elected October 19, Barnett’s job as the head of the regional minister’s office is gone. There is also no guarantee that she will get it back if they win and she is not elected. “There is no guarantee,'” she says. “It’s at the discretion of the next regional minister... I haven`t been promised one thing, nor would I want to be promised anything. I want to look people straight in the face and say at the end of the day I’m not being taken care of or compensated.”
Barnett says if she is elected she will be a voice for the people of Avalon and will be visible. “People first, government second,” she says. “But you don’t have to be stupid about it.”
Barnett admits she was disappointed to see Danny Williams emerge again to attack Newfoundland Conservatives. Williams made a public plea this week for people not to vote at all rather than vote Conservative.
“It was very disheartening,” Barnett says. “People have fought and died for the right to vote. I am asking people to vote for me, I would love for them to vote for me, but if they choose not to, at least get out and vote. Don’t let anyone dictate to you that you shouldn’t vote.”
Gaskier council, resident differ over approach to cleaning up delinquent property
The town council in Gaskiers – Point La Haye is wrestling with a way to make a former resident clean up a dilapidated property in the community, but the action won’t come soon enough for Shannon Critch.
Critch and her husband John recently returned to the community after 22 years on the mainland. Their plan was to start a new business and build a new house. The first has worked out. Unfortunately for them, the second part is being affected by the land next door which has an abandoned house trailer with a yard and shed strewn with materials ranging from a bike and building supplies to vehicles and oil tanks.
“It is in a horrible state,” said Critch. “There is debris all over the property, along with it being blown on neighbours’ property. I approached council a year ago to try to have it cleaned up. They refused to take action.”
That isn’t true according to Mayor Pearl Kielly. Council has tried a number of times to reach the former resident, including sending registered letters, she said. The town has also consulted a lawyer and called in an official from the Department of Environment.
Kielly said the Environment official inspected the tanks and found they are safe, but advised the council to make contact with the owner to rectify the situation.
Kielly said she and council are trying. “We really can’t seem to get in touch with him,” she said.
Keilly explained that while the property owner is two years behind on his taxes, council’s policy is that it won’t confiscate property until the non-payment reaches five years. But council is looking at making an exception in this case, she said.
Still, council is being careful, she allowed. It doesn’t want to take action only to be sued by the owner afterwards for interfering with his property. The town has sent one more letter to the last known address for the man in St. John’s giving him two weeks to reply. After that, council will decide its next move, which could include demolishing the trailer and cleaning up the grounds, she said.
“It’s a sticky situation,” said Kielly. “You’ve got to be careful… I’m here (on council) 18 years and I’ve never run into this kind of situation before.”
Critch meanwhile, said she is having trouble getting council to respond to her. “I have contacted (Placentia – St. Mary’s MHA) Felix Collins and he has spoken to council also. I have no idea what else can be done. We have turned to social media if for nothing else but shaming council into cleaning up this property. This property is a hazard and eyesore for sure. Given how many tourists travel the Irish loop, it's an embarrassment to our little community.”
