Port Hawkesbury Holds The Line On Tax Rates in Latest Budget

STRAIT AREA - Municipal, provincial and federal politics take center stage at various points of this week's edition of TELILE 24/7. 

We begin at the 3:05 mark with comments from Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette regarding the provincial government's recent decision to scrap its controversial property tax increases for non-resident property owners. While the deed transfer tax will remain in place for these cases, Warden Mombourquette was pleased with the decision made by Premier Tim Houston and urged council to write a letter of thanks to the premier and his cabinet for this policy reversal.

At 8:19, the scene shifts to Port Hawkesbury, where town councillors unanimously approved a municipal budget for 2022-23 that once again holds the line on tax rates. The residential rate will remain at $1.80 per $100 of assessment - where it has sat since 1987 - and the commercial rate holds steady at $4,18 per $100 of assessment, While Director of Finance Erin MacEachen suggested that this year's budget talks weren't without "bruises," she applauded town councillors and Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton for coming together on a new fiscal plan for the next 12 months. 

Also this week on TELILE 24/7:

19:43 - Cape Breton-Canso Member of Parliament Mike Kelloway discusses the potential expansion of his riding to include the Town and County of Antigonish, and shares his experiences as a past member of Nova Scotia's Provincial Boundaries Commission.

36:12 - Port Hawkesbury's Chief Administrative Officer, Terry Doyle, defends the process used to solicit the opinions of town residents and business owners regarding the Destination Reeves Street pilot project. 

40:01 - Richmond County District One Councillor Shawn Samson suggests that council may wish to ban the use of mobile phones in council chambers by municipal officials and members of the public alike. 

43:11 - Nova Scotia's Minister Responsible for the Office of Acadian Affairs et La Francophonie, Colton LeBlanc, responds to concerns aired by the Conseil scolaire acadien provincial (CSAP) that his office and the provincial government in general are unresponsive to the need to protect French-language education in the province. 

52:28 - We hear one last time from Cape Breton-Canso MP Mike Kelloway, regarding the past - and present - campaigns to establish the Inverness County community of Cheticamp as a separate provincial riding that would receive protected Acadian status if such a move were to come to fruition.