HALIFAX - Only five months after joining the provincial cabinet of Premier Tim Houston, Richmond MLA Trevor Boudreau has relinquished his portfolios of Community Services and L'Nu Affairs, citing "personal and health reasons" for the decision.

In a statement released Thursday morning, the first-term MLA shared his "disappointment" with having to give up his two cabinet posts. Education Minister Brian Wong will now add L'Nu Affairs to his cabinet duties, while the new Community Services Minister is Halifax Atlantic MLA Brendan Maguire, who crossed the floor from the opposition Liberals to join the governing PC caucus just as Boudreau announced his resignation from cabinet.

These developments came just six days after Boudreau made one of his last public appearances as a cabinet minister, as he hosted a provincial government announcement that took place on the morning of February 16 at the Port Hawkesbury Paper mill in Point Tupper.

Flanked by Boudreau and Guysborough-Tracadie MLA Greg Morrow, who also serves as Minister of Agriculture, provincial Labour, Skills and Immigration Minister Jill Balser confirmed an investment of $100 million into the Nova Scotia Apprenticeship Agency. This commitment is designed to allow apprentices to apply for a maximum of $1,900 each to defray the costs of equipment and clothing needed to carry out their apprenticeship duties. 

Also this week on TELILE 24/7: 

* 18:46 - Richmond District RCMP is asking the county's municipal officials to provide traffic data collected by the two mobile speed-radar signs that are frequently used in different parts of the county. Richmond Chief Administrative Officer Troy MacCulloch confirmed that a report from one such use of these signs found that 91 percent of 331 vehicles that recently passed the sign were speeding. 

* 22:49 - Port Hawkesbury Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton, town CAO Terry Doyle and town councillor Jason Aucoin are all congratulating the local and provincial public works crews, volunteer fire departments and private contractors from inside and outside the town limits that cleared roads, streets and trails following two massive snowfalls earlier this month. 

* 30:32 - Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette thanked the organizers of an early-February visit to wind-energy sites in England and Scotland - including the Municipality of the District of Guysborough and the federal Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency - during Richmond County's latest Committee of the Whole meeting. 

* 37:22 - Two representatives of Nova Scotia's Property Valuation Services Corporation (PVSC), regional manager Paul Beazley and assessor Adam Travis, made a presentation to Richmond Municipal Council's recent Committee of the Whole meeting to address concerns about rising property assessments within the county. 

* 52:50 - According to Richmond CAO Troy MacCulloch, the county is continuing to negotiate with the Coastal Riders All-Terrain-Vehicle (ATV) Club to see if the organization's members can gain access to lands that surround a former municipal landfill site in L'Ardoise.