PORT HAWKESBURY - A new gathering space and educational centre for local seniors is now in operation at the Strait Area Campus of the Nova Scotia Community College (NSCC). 

Nova Scotia's Minister of Seniors and Long-Term Care, Barbara Adams, visited the Port Hawkesbury campus on September 19 to announce a provincial commitment of $425,000 to open a Centre of Rural Aging and Health (CORAH) in the NSCC's Strait Area and Shelburne Campuses. The province launched its first CORAH in 2021 at the NSCC campus in Middleton. 

Adams was flanked by project coordinator Michele MacPhee, the former Seniors Safety Coordinator for Richmond County, as well as local CORAH committee representative Dorothy Barnard. The minister confirmed that the new centres feature programming that focuses on such topics as physical activity, safety, injury prevention, nutrition and social connections. Some of these sessions will be led by NSCC students and faculty in their respective locations. 

This week's Roundtable also includes a feature interview with first-term Richmond MLA Trevor Boudreau, who was recently named to Premier Tim Houston's cabinet as Minister of Community Services and Minister Responsible for L'Nu Affairs. The episode also includes reaction to the September 14 cabinet announcements from the Premier and from another new cabinet appointee, Twila Grosse. The new Preston MLA will enter the provincial legislature next month as Nova Scotia's first black female cabinet minister, taking on the Office of African-Nova Scotian Relations and also serving as Minister Responsible for the Public Service. 

We will also feature a short portion of the most recent Committee of the Whole meeting of Richmond Municipal Council, which includes discussion on which secondary or "J-class" roads should be submitted to the Nova Scotia Department of Public Works for immediate repair.

While Deputy Warden and District Five councillor Brent Sampson feels that Kings' Road in the eastern Richmond County community of Rockdale should receive consideration in this regard, District Two councillor Michael Diggdon won council's approval to delay the decision until the next regular meeting of council. This meeting is slated to run on Monday, September 25.