Marine Infrastructure I - Wharves

Saving Our Crumbling Wharves

In the Maritimes, the well-being of our wharves, lighthouses, and harbours is essential if our coastal communities are to continue participating in the global economy. They are central to our fisheries, our tourism industry, and our recreational boaters. But today our coastal communities face a grave peril: reeling from huge budget cuts dictated by the Finance Department's Treasury Board, the Department of Fisheries and Oceans (DFO) is moving to shed itself of the responsibility it has held for generations to maintain our marine infrastructure. (Small Craft Harbours, the section of DFO that has long held responsibility for our wharves, has seen its budget trimmed from $126 million in 1989-90 to $51 million in 1997-98.)

In hundreds of coastal communities across the Maritimes, fish harvesters and other users have responded to these massive budget cuts by taking on the cost of operations for community wharves through the formation of local, incorporated Harbour Authorities. On the positive side of things, this assures the short-term survival of almost 250 wharves and allows coastal communities a certain amount of power to determine the direction of their economic development. But the flip side of the coin is that it adds further to the ever-increasing burden of user fees imposed on fish harvesters and marine industries. As well, it discriminates against smaller communities where the revenue base is insufficient to cover the cost of wharf upkeep. Across the Maritimes, scores of wharves are being left to crumble, as the power of the sea exerts its inexorable force.

And, providing for the day-to-day cost of wharf operations is only the tip of the iceberg: as wharves deteriorate, coastal communities can find themselves just one storm short of disaster. As well, funding for wharf repair and construction is now so low that communities could become engaged in wars among themselves for priority. For example, communities that are able to put together significant resources tend to receive better treatment from DFO, in the form of cost-shared arrangements, than less fortunate communities. So, those who "have" get more, while those who "have not" get less.

Over the past two years, this issue has been a major concern of people attending meetings and workshops organized by the Nova Scotia-based Coastal Communities Network (CCN). Last year, CCN conducted a survey on the wharf issue, polling some 116 Harbour Authorities across the province. The results were then independently assessed by Dr. Dan MacInnes, a sociologist at St. Francis Xavier University in Antigonish who also serves as Head of the Fisheries Sectoral Committee, Voluntary Planning, Nova Scotia Department of Economic Development and Tourism. Responses were received from 38 Harbour Authorities, a rate of 33%, well within the range of statistical significance. The survey asked 24 questions about wharf operations, medium- and long-term planning, Small Craft Harbours' divestiture process, the importance of the wharf to the community, and related matters. Dr. MacInnes writes:

Replies to several questions in this survey indicate a high degree of [agreement among those involved with local Harbour Authorities] from one end of the province to the other. In order of their appearance, these questions received the highest levels of [agreement]:

• Do you have plans for storm-related loss of wharves? – No (87%)
• Does the [Harbour] Authority have a long–term funding plan? – No (80%)
• Should DFO download responsibility for "other harbour facilities"? – No (84%)
• Will you sell the wharf to private ownership? – No (100%)
• Should there be changes to the divestiture policies? – Yes (78%)
• Do taxes and fees benefit the fishery? – No (86%).

Based upon this data, it could be argued that this survey clearly repudiates certain dimensions of the current policy divestiture direction taken by Small Craft Harbours.

Respondents largely felt that the entire process of divestiture had been introduced too quickly and without proper consideration of the consequences. "It appears obvious," Dr. MacInnes writes, "that this must be the case if 87% of the Harbour Authorities do not have plans for wharf replacement and 80% of respondents report that they do not have any strategy for long-term funding."

There was also a strong rejection of the idea that DFO download other facilities to Harbour Authorities. "It would appear that a limit has been reached," writes Dr. MacInnes. "That limit is reflected in the finding that 86% of those surveyed believe that the fees and taxes government collects from fishery-related activities are not returned to the fishery. In effect, the respondents feel that they are being ‘ripped off '."

It is clear from the survey results that Small Craft Harbours' divestiture procedures have, in very short order, burdened many communities that were ill-prepared, both financially and organizationally, for these new and thankless responsibilities. To address these concerns, CCN calls for Treasury Board and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans to work together to implement the following policy changes:

• DFO/Treasury Board to create a substantial fund to assist Harbour Authorities with necessary wharf repairs and maintenance;

• Small Craft Harbours to retain responsibility for the insurance costs and liabilities of facilities devolved to local Harbour Authorities;

• fees collected by DFO from fish harvesters to be earmarked for the repair and maintenance of existing marine infrastructure, rather than being applied to Treasury Board's general revenues, as is presently the case;

• funds to be made available to teach necessary management skills to members of local Harbour Authorities;

• Small Craft Harbours to explain, in understandable terms and at the earliest possible instance, the full implications of its downloading of all marine infrastructure, rather than unfolding its plans in piecemeal fashion, as is presently the case.

Today, governments at all levels claim to be seeking ways of creating "sustainable community economic development." CCN agrees that this is an essential undertaking. But in our Maritime coastal communities, this will be impossible if our wharves are left to whither on the fiscal vine. In scores of our coastal communities, efficiencies have been realized, sacrifices have been accepted silently, and new and unwelcome responsibilities have been shouldered thanklessly. People in our coastal communities have taken these tasks upon themselves willingly, because they know that the maintenance of our marine infrastructure is vital. We ask only that they be given the necessary resources to do the job.

A Leap in the Dark Over Lights

While wharves in our small coastal communities are at considerable risk, but they are not the only symbols of the Maritime way of life that are under siege. Lighthouses, those symbols of what it means to live in the beautiful corner of the world we call the Maritimes, are also in peril. Last November, the cash- strapped Canadian Coast Guard, which has been responsible for the region's 290 or so lighthouses for generations, announced it was ending a longstanding moratorium on the divestiture, sale, or destruction of these historic beacons.

In recent years, Coast Guard personnel have been working in the best of faith with local community and lighthouse preservation groups to try to save as many of our lighthouses as possible. But deep and ongoing budget cuts mean that any lighthouses the Coast Guard deems "surplus" to its needs could be turned over to the federal Treasury Board's Crown Assets Division as early as this April. They will then be put up for sale to the highest bidder. Although only a few lighthouses are in immediate danger, once it begins, this process of divestiture of lighthouses to Treasury Board will continue relentlessly. The fate of dozens of these precious and historic symbols of Maritime life lie in the balance.

The cost of losing these lighthouses will be staggering. Our heritage will be diminished. Tourism will suffer, especially in our small coastal communities. But, most tragic of all, lives will be put at risk. The Coast Guard takes the view that, given recent advances in global satellite technology, many lighthouses are no longer needed. However, many small-scale fishermen in our coastal communities can't afford to buy the required equipment, so, even though the Coast Guard might declare a given lighthouse "surplus" to its needs, that structure might still be essential to the safety of people trying to earn a living from the sea. And, thousands of recreational boaters will face a similar risk.

A number of groups are trying to save our lighthouses in the face of this imminent threat. People are banding together in local communities to try to cobble together voluntary organizations that might take responsibility for some of the lights. The Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society is working to have a Lighthouse Protection Act, based on the 1990 Heritage Railway Stations Protection Act, put before Parliament. As well, a committee of concerned citizens and Coast Guard personnel has been working together to try to find alternative uses for many of the lighthouses that dot our coast. But such efforts will be like "closing the barn door after the horse has left" once the process of turning over lighthouses to Treasury Board for disposal gets underway.

Nova Scotia's Coastal Communities Network (CCN) is calling for an immediate one-year extension to the Coast Guard's moratorium on lighthouse divestiture. This would provide a reasonable time frame for the above-mentioned organizations to put plans in place that will both preserve our marine heritage and prevent tragedy at sea. Otherwise our marine heritage will be much diminished and the safety of modern-day seafarers will be threatened.

CCN urges all who value marine heritage and safety to fax Federal Fisheries Minister David Anderson (613-943-1943) a letter outlining your support for an extension of the moratorium on the divestiture of lighthouses to Treasury Board. CCN Executive Director Ishbel Munro has a sample letter that is available by calling her at (902)379-2688, or you can compose your own. Lighthouse supporters may also wish to contact Chris Mills, Co-Chair of the Nova Scotia Lighthouse Preservation Society's Lighthouse Protection Act Committee, at (902)868-2313.

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Putting Their Money on the Table

Woodlot owners and foresters in western Nova Scotia have been through some hard times over the past ten years, but one group of local people in western Nova Scotia, working together with community-based local industries, has recently banded together to pool their resources and strengthen the local economy throughout the area. This is the story of West Nova Investment Co-op.

In 1989 the Bowater-Mersey pulp mill upgraded its pulp-making procedures, switching to a more efficient Thermal Mechanical Process (TMP). This effectively reduced its demand for pulpwood by almost one third, and so the company was able to shrink the geographic area that it drew pulpwood from. Small woodlot owners had lost an important market they had relied on for many years. Bowater-controlled woodlands in Digby and Yarmouth counties, being farthest away from the Liverpool mill, were sold to a Weymouth-area lumber company. At the time, the New Brunswick-based Irving family was investing in the Weymouth operation and its need for wood was on the rise, and soon this market was taking up much of the slack that had been caused by Bowater's switch to TMP.

A few months later, however, a fire at the Weymouth mill seriously disrupted its production, and woodlot owners in Digby and Yarmouth counties soon were having difficulty finding buyers for their wood. In 1991, West Nova Silva (WNS), a forestry marketing group venture – essentially, but not technically, a co-op of area woodlot owners and others involved in the area's forestry industry – was created to try to ease the problem by finding reliable markets. It approached some of the smaller, locally owned mills in the area to see if some mutually beneficial arrangements might be made, but, at the time, these efforts didn't lead to any productive arrangements. So WNS looked elsewhere for markets for its members' wood, and it was able to gain a contract to sell pit props for use in Moroccan coal mines. As well, in 1992 it secured a contract for delivery of 3,500 cords of pulpwood to a mill in Bucksport, Maine. Despite these efforts, times remained pretty lean for a lot of woodlot owners in the two counties.

In the mid-1990s woodlot owners and others involved in the area forestry industry were still looking for other markets for their wood. "We went back to management of the local industries here, and we found that they had changed their way of thinking," says WNS President Arcade Comeau. "Now, they were willing to work together with us. But they also wanted us to come up with some money of our own."

The provincial government had recently established a Community Economic Development program under which community-based companies and cooperatives could provide substantial tax incentives to people willing to invest in local businesses. The idea of a local forestry-based investment co-op seemed attractive to many people in the area, and soon Fred Pierce, Director of the Cooperative Branch of the provincial Department of Economic Development and Tourism, was spending a fair bit of time in the area helping local people develop local plans. "Fred was a really great help to us," says Comeau. "We decided to develop a business plan and then form an investment co-op, to be called West Nova Investment Co-op (WNIC)."

The group then approached the Western Valley Development Authority for help in developing that investment and business plan. In early 1997, plans were devised for a joint venture, to be called Eagle Timber, involving two area sawmills – Comeau Lumber of Meteghan and Douglas Lumber of Caledonia – along with McNutt Lumber, an independent wood marketing firm based in New Brunswick, and WNIC. The new Eagle mill, which was to produce studs for the construction industry, would be built on the site of Comeau Lumber's existing operation, WNIC would provide the wood, and McNutt would find markets for the finished product. (The Comeau mill would also plane and dry the sawn wood.) Eagle Timber would be 24 percent owned by WNIC, with the other partners sharing the balance. But the entire plan hinged on raising a good deal of cold, hard cash from people in the local community.

Along with his duties as President of WNS, Arcade Comeau (who is no relation to the owners of Comeau Lumber), also serves as President of WNIC, working out of a small office in an old house in Concession, Digby County. He is a large man, who, when he recalls that period in 1997, speaks with animation and a wry grin. "Under the plan we drew up," he says, "we figured we would need to raise $184,000 from local people. That seemed like an awful lot of money, and, under provincial regulations, we had only sixty days to do it. That would amount to 1,840 shares at $100 apiece.

"On the evening of August 25, 1997, we invited about 80 people – woodlot owners, truckers, and others we thought might help the cause – to a meeting at Universit&#eacute; Ste. Anne, and told them to bring their friends," Arcade remembers. "We asked people to commit to buying shares. At the end of the night, we had commitments for 1,500 shares. We were on a high that night, I tell you! We felt confident that we could get the rest by offering shares to the people who work at Comeau Lumber."

But then came a hitch, Comeau remembers: "I didn't sleep a lot that night, and I got to the office early the next day. The phone rang, and it was a guy who had been at the meeting the night before. He had committed to buying ten shares, and now he wanted to cut that in half! Of course I had to tell him, ‘No problem,' but when I hung up the phone, I asked myself where we'd be if half our commitments evaporated. I was really getting nervous, then!"

But his nervousness was to be short-lived. "Twenty minutes later," Comeau tells me, "another couple of guys walked in the office. One of them said, ‘I want to change my commitment. I said five shares last night, but now I want twenty.' And this kept happening as the day went on. By three o'clock that afternoon, we had commitments for $200,000!"

This success, though, brought its own headaches. "The Finance Department regulations, as they read then, would have caused a number of difficulties for us," Comeau tells me. "Fortunately, we were able to rely on Fred Pierce of the Co-op Branch, who managed to get this regulation amended. On September 26, deadline day, we'd sold shares worth $280,000. And it was in mid-December that we turned more than $300,000, all of it raised in the local community, into an account at the Clare Credit Union!"

As Arcade and I drive the few miles from his Concession office to the new Eagle Timber mill in Meteghan, he tells me that construction on the mill began in late 1997 and that production got underway late last year. It's now early March, and the mill is going at full tilt, keeping fifteen full-time employees busy. By the time he tells me that most of the mill's output goes to supply the construction industry in the United States, we're nearing Eagle's scene of operations.

Arcade parks in front of the spanking new mill and we alight from his pick-up truck. It's a walk of only twenty feet or so to the mill entrance, but it's about five minutes before we make it inside: every few strides, someone appears coming in or out of the mill, and each stops to exchange a few words of banter with Arcade, most of them in the French Acadian dialect of the Clare region. It's clear that community roots run deep here.

Inside, Arcade proudly tells me about the various aspects of the production process at this state-of-the-art operation, pausing to share nods of greeting and perhaps a few words with each of mill workers in turn. He introduces me to Eagle Manager Paul Comeau (again, no relation!) who tells me that the mill is ready to handle between 17,000-20,000 cords of wood per year.

On the drive back to his Concession office, Arcade tells me that WNIC's membership has agreed that any profits they might be due from Eagle's operations over the next four years will go directly back to the company. He also explains that, while many woodlot owners living between Digby and Yarmouth now have a pretty secure market for their wood, most of them also realize the importance of assuring that the entire logs-to-mill-to-market operation is sustainable in the long term. Woodlot owners belonging to WNIC all contribute to a provincial Sustainable Forest Management Program for Small Private Woodlots. The amount they contribute is matched by both the province and the sawmills, and this money is used to pay for sustainable woodlot management practices including re-planting, selective cutting, thinning, and other techniques.

The West Nova Investment Co-op is a rare example of ordinary citizens, community-based companies, and government programs working in harmony for the benefit of all concerned. While there is no solid guarantee that its story will have a happy ending – Eagle Timber's success is no more guaranteed than that of any other business enterprise – I'd be willing to bet they'll make a go of it. After all, there are a lot of people in the area who have already put their money on the table.

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Creating a Coastal Corridor

If you live in a coastal community, you'll be interested to know about the Nova Scotia Sea Trail Project, a partnership of the Ecology Action Centre, the provincial government, and private industry. Its goal is to establish, by the summer of next year, the first leg of a coastal water trail in Atlantic Canada. A water trail is a recreational waterway along a river, lake, or ocean that provides access, day-use sites, and overnight accommodations to the boating public. The first part of the Nova Scotia coastal water trail will start in Halifax Harbour and end near Lunenburg. It will allow local and visiting recreational boaters to travel along the coast, stop at a variety of overnight accommodations, visit local attractions, and use local services. (The sea trail is for the use of all recreational boaters, although some sites might be suitable only for certain vessel types or sizes.) The Nova Scotia Sea Trail is a pilot project and, if it's successful, it will serve as a prototype for creating coastal water trails in other parts of the province.

A series of public meetings was held in 1997 along the entire Atlantic coast of Nova Scotia where the idea of a Nova Scotia Sea Trail received solid public backing. This encouraged us to pursue the pilot project between Halifax and Lunenburg. Now we want to make sure residents along this stretch of coast know about the project, and to learn what they think of the idea and the way it is being implemented.

A sea trail isn't the same as a hiking trail because, obviously, there is no actual physical trail involved. Instead, it's a coastal corridor where there are suitable sites for boaters to stop. Typically, overnight accommodations will be offered at wilderness campsites on offshore islands or remote headlands, and at bed-and-breakfasts along the coast. Day-use sites will include secluded picnic spots and local tourist attractions. Access sites will provide designated parking and launching areas, as well as emergency take-out facilities. A trail guide will be published to show the route and provide information on local services and marine conditions, boater safety, low-impact camping, and coastal environments. Every site in the guide will appear with the owner's permission.

In putting together this sea trail, we want to respect residents' privacy and also make sure that the route directs boaters away from any ecologically sensitive areas. For instance, some offshore islands are nesting sites for birds, and seals also bask on some of the inner islands and mainland coves. By directing people away from such areas, and by providing designated camping and access sites, we hope to avoid any negative impact on both human and non-human communities.

Local people and community groups are invited to get involved in this sea- trail project. The trail is being planned by a steering committee made up of representatives from the provincial government, community groups, and private industry. Local input is essential if the trail is to be a success. The project can also offer support to local community projects, such as Bay Look- Out Park in Boutillier's Point, Pennant Point Provincial Park, and other local initiatives. Two of our central objectives are to help conserve coastal lands for minimal use and to help maintain public access to the ocean. The sea trail will also offer small businesses in coastal communities the opportunity to package their services or products to a new clientele, one that will arrive by sea instead of by land. We want the trail to provide boaters with the opportunity to camp on an offshore island one night, stay at a mainland campground the next, and perhaps enjoy the comfort of a bed-and-breakfast the next. Numerous other services could also be made available to travelling boaters, such as taxi services to ferry users around difficult spots, water and fuel delivery to remote islands, laundry facilities, Internet access, and, of course, food services. (Boaters love food!)

To find out more about the project, or if you'd like us to come to a formal or informal meeting in your community, please contact me, Sue Browne, at 1596 Prospect Bay Road, Prospect, Nova Scotia, B3T 2B2. Phone (902)852-3082. E-Mail: seatrail@istar.ca

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The Cobequid Pass: Another View

Dear Editor:

It seems that some issues can never be put to rest. More than two years after the opening of the Cobequid Pass, those who opposed it from 1992 onward seem to prefer to live in the past and continue to whine about the route choice of the four-lane highway instead of looking ahead and being positive about the possibilities for community development.

The same old stories and arguments that were made by most of the opponents who gave presentations in Great Village in 1992 were trotted out once again in Ms. Maybee's article. One particularly irritating argument – the weather conditions that force road closures – was harped on yet again. It seems that the Pass opponents only see the weather on the 45 kilometres of the Pass. They fail to notice that the weather which forces Pass closures invariably also closes the Tantramar Marsh section of the highway, and frequently Route 102 beside Truro.

The most important point of the entire article is tucked inconspicuously into a paragraph, making it almost unnoticeable. That is that "there have been no fatal accidents…" This highway is safer. Safety was the reason behind the construction of the four-lane route. Opponents tend to overlook the fact that there have been no fatal accidents in more than two years compared to 50 fatalities in the last ten years that the TransCanada went through the Wentworth Valley, giving that beautiful area of Nova Scotia the unfortunate label of "Death Valley," which, mercifully, is no longer in use. We should be celebrating, not complaining, and we should thank the good judgement shown by the RCMP in closing roads when conditions are so severe. A few hours wait is a small price to pay for safe travel.

Kathy Redmond echoes the feelings of practically every Wentworth resident – being able to wake up in the morning to hear the birds singing. No more continuous rumble of eighteen-wheelers and all manner of traffic 24 hours a day. Instead, a safe road for local residents, quiet classrooms in the school, and children who can bike or walk to work along the road without fearing for life and limb.

Most people realize that the Irvings do not maintain businesses that are not profitable. The closure of the Lady Wentworth was indeed an economic blow to the community, but it was an inevitable one – even if the opponents' favoured Tatamagouche route had been built. The Glenholme Loop has good signage and the Masstown Market is booming: is there some problem with this? If a Visitor Information Centre is built on land generously donated by a community-minded Eric Jennings – someone who has been involved in the highway discussions from the start – that would appear to be a huge benefit to the entire area – to Glenholme, Great Village, all of western Colchester County, Parrsboro, Wentworth, and the North Shore area. Councillor Gerald Langille makes a point that all the communities on Route 4, and on Route 6 along the North Shore (the Sunrise Trail), have been concerned about – the lack of adequate signage. This is an issue that must be and is being addressed. Perhaps more forceful voices on the Community Liaison Committee during route construction would have resulted in at least some signage for the Wentworth-North Shore area.

It does seem rather unfair that the Westchester Volunteer Fire Department must bear the burden of responding to all the calls on the Pass. Perhaps something could be worked out with the Great Village and Collingwood Departments for sharing responsibilities. But, did the Wentworth Fire Department receive any remuneration during all the years they attended to accidents and emergencies when Route 104 passed through Wentworth?

Bully for the folks of Tatamagouche – I am sure that in the long run they will find the information highway infinitely superior to the "four lanes of pavement" they were denied. But it is hard to be sympathetic when they complain about having been denied a highway that would have run near Tatamagouche: they only entered the highway debate at the last minute and then fought to have a road that would have been eleven kilometres longer than the Cobequid Pass. It is time now for people to accept that the Cobequid Pass exists. Places like Wentworth can now re-discover the sense of community that had been difficult to maintain while the TransCanada was running right through it.

There is now a concerted effort among North Shore communities to develop our tourism potential. In 1998, the Cumberland Regional Economic Development Association helped fund a Tourism Development Study that examined strengths and possibilities for the communities of Tidnish, Pugwash, Wallace, Malagash, and Wentworth. Very positive and constructive ideas have come from this study, and these communities are working toward significant future development. These places have chosen to accept the challenges of the future and are ambitiously seeking to develop their area in ways that suit both the individual communities and the larger area. A four-lane highway does not figure in these developments. We cannot change the past, but we can influence the future in very positive, constructive ways.

The Cobequid Pass is a fine highway doing exactly what it was intended to – move volumes of traffic efficiently and safely. The communities most affected by the highway are looking forward to, and working positively toward, future development. Let's all do that.

Dianne Powell
Wentworth, N.S.

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Nova Scotia's "Silver Fox"

When he approached the podium to make a modest speech accepting that award, it marked a milestone in a long road that began in the difficult years of the Great Depression in the tiny Lunenburg County community of Barss Corner. As a boy, he and his family moved from there to Bridgewater, where his father directed logging operations for Mersey Paper, which had established its pulp mill in nearby Liverpool just as the Depression was getting underway. After graduating from high school at Acadia University's Horton Academy in the Annapolis Valley, Harold went on in the 1950s to study engineering in Halifax at what was then known as the Nova Scotia Technical College (later known as the Technical University of Nova Scotia, and now known as DalTech).From there, it was off to the University of Toronto for a graduate course in what was a relatively new discipline at the time: Town and Regional Planning. "The course," Harold remembers, "was offered by the university's School of Architecture, which – like Horton Academy – no longer exists."

After graduation, Harold spent some time doing community planning work in Alberta, and then spent more than a year in Britain, working with the London County Council. "That was a great experience," Harold recalls. "Back then, in the early ‘60s, the Council was known as a sort of ‘finishing school' for town planners, and was a world leader in town planning. So I learned a lot there."

After this overseas experience, Harold returned to Nova Scotia, where he worked on the Halifax Housing Survey, which identified areas for expansion in the metropolitan area. "We pointed to the Cole Harbour and Sackville areas as ripe for growth," he remembers of that project. "It was basically a matter of geology: those were the areas where there was the most topsoil above the bedrock and, of course, that makes building houses cheaper than in places where lots of blasting is necessary."

In the mid-‘60s, Harold was appointed Director of Community Planning for the province's Department of Municipal Affairs. "There were two of us in the Division at that time, applying theories of community planning while implementing the province's recently enacted Town Planning Act," he says. "We began developing zoning and subdivision regulations at a time when such things were in their infancy, and we tried as much as possible to assure that there was public participation in the process."

While Harold was with Municipal Affairs, people in Sherbrooke on the Eastern Shore came to the Department with complaints that a tank leak at a local gas station was contaminating the village's groundwater. When he visited the community to investigate, Harold was amazed to find, intact, the architecture of a pristine 1860s community. Harold knew about a village restoration project called Upper Canada Village that had taken place over the previous decade in Ontario, and so he proposed a similar, though more modest, project for Sherbrooke. "The big difference between the two," recalls Harold, "was that for Upper Canada Village they had to have period buildings brought in from villages slated to be flooded to create the St. Lawrence Seaway. But here in this small community, all these buildings were already there, just waiting to be seen as an asset. The government's investment in the restoration had to be protected by piped water for firefighting, and this brought potable water back to the community. Sherbrooke is a case where adversity can sometimes sponsor opportunity." Today, thousands of tourists are drawn to Sherbrooke Village every year.

"During the time I worked at Municipal Affairs," Harold reflects, "I learned to have a great respect for local government. While they can sometimes have very arbitrary boundaries, municipal governments are the most grassroots of all democratic institutions, and local government has a long history and strong tradition in Nova Scotia. In order for CED to work, it's important for local governments to be involved in the process."

Another important development of the early 1960s was the establishment by the Conservative Stanfield government of a Voluntary Economic Planning Board (now known simply as Voluntary Planning). "Though not many people know, even today, about its work, Voluntary Planning [now a branch of the provincial Economic Development and Tourism Department] has become a very important institution," Harold believes. "It's made up of more than 400 very active and knowledgeable people across all the economic sectors, and it provides wonderful opportunities for networking and exchanging ideas."

After about two years with Municipal Affairs, Harold left to set up shop as a private planning consultant. "By the late ‘60s, I had become really interested in how CED could become a central concern of community planning," he remembers. He was soon working with others to put together a fifteen-year development plan for PEI. "We were convinced of the importance of recognizing the connection between social and economic conditions, and, for the PEI project, we looked at issues ranging from power supply, to post-secondary education, to justice, to economic development. It was an incredible experience."

In 1970, Harold worked with the province's Economic Development Secretariat to prepare a comprehensive economic development plan for Nova Scotia. "Not all of it was ever implemented," he recalls, "but the plan included some community development components, and there were funds set aside for the public to participate in the planning process, to allow them to develop their own ideas and contributions".

Harold also found time during the 1970s to help develop a community development plan for the Town of Bridgewater. "Working with the Town and its Industrial Commission," Harold remembers, "we had to change our thinking – and the enabling legislation – from that of an Industrial Commission to that of a Development Commission. That meant getting involved in broader areas such as housing and tourism. In the end, we accomplished two things: firstly, we developed a sensible growth pattern for the town, and, secondly, some 300 acres the Development Commission acquired within the town's boundary continue to support a local housing industry that brings both investment and jobs." Today, Bridgewater's Industrial Park, which includes several concerns, including major employer Michelin Tire, stands as a legacy of Harold's work in that community.

The next decade, the 1980s, saw Harold help plant the seeds that would eventually lead to the province-wide system of Regional Development Authorities that is in place today. "Employment and Immigration [known today as Human Resources Development Canada] came up with a program called Community Futures: it was well thought out and did some excellent work," says Harold. "It got local governments involved with both the province and Ottawa in the process of community planning. Local people didn't have to put up any money, but they were given real input into the process. I was involved in a Community Futures program in Cumberland County and that work eventually facilitated the evolution of what we know today as the Cumberland Regional Economic Development Authority."

Harold also got involved during the 1980s in development work in Colchester County, efforts that helped pave the way for what is today that county's RDA. "We were successful," Harold reflects, "in large part because it began as a project jointly sponsored and funded by three area municipalities, and also because we kept our administrative costs low. I remember we had cheap plastic patio chairs in our offices on Prince Street in Truro. We were quite proud of those plastic chairs, I tell you! Then, a few years later, the municipalities received provincial and ACOA support and were able to plow more money into programs. One such program, for example, enabled many people, through computer-managed learning centres, to get their high-school equivalency certificates and then, in many cases, go on to further training in the province's community college system at little or no charge to themselves. These were remarkable results," he says, "and I'm quite proud of them. It just saddens me a bit to see that today, it can cost a fair bit of money to attend community college. I remember my full tuition at DalTech in the late ‘50s was $250! Today's students are leaving school with far too much debt on their shoulders."

Ron Simpson served for several years in the 1980s and early ‘90s as Director of Community Planning in the provincial Department of Municipal Affairs, and he remembers something of the contributions Harold has made to development policy in the province: "Harold was always out on the cutting edge, always in the front line, of CED." Adds Dave Keefe, who has worked for the province as a community planner for many years and who has seen the results of Harold's work: "He's known for certain things, but there are other accomplishments he's achieved that he doesn't get enough credit for. For instance, the establishment of the Annapolis Royal Historic Gardens in the early ‘80s had a lot to do with Harold's work, and his work in Louisbourg, well, it changed the whole waterfront, even the social fabric of the town. It wasn't unusual when Harold was doing his work in Louisbourg, to see him sitting at a local restaurant and there would be a line-up of local people waiting to ask his advice on every aspect of what was, or might be, happening in town. A lot of us got to calling him ‘The Silver Fox.'"

For the past couple of years Harold has been semi-retired, and he spends a lot of time doing marine painting, at which he is quite talented. He displays a painting he recently completed of the replica of John Cabot's vessel, the Matthew, obviously struggling through rough seas and winds. "I see this image as something of an analogy for communities struggling to get by in the modern age," he says. "They built a replica of the Matthew a couple years ago to commemorate the 500th anniversary of Cabot's voyage, and, although it looked like a fifteenth-century vessel, behind its exterior it was equipped with the latest navigational and communications technology. And if that hadn't been there, the replica might never have made it through the weather it encountered crossing the Atlantic. And it's the same with small communities here: the adoption of communications technology will enable many of them to survive. They might not look a lot different, but if they're going to survive, they will have to be more creative in the way they work. And I think that most of them will make it."

The imagery and the analogy both make a great deal of common sense. And there's no doubt that many communities across the province that make it to safe and secure haven in the coming years will owe a great deal of the credit for their successful voyage to that "Silver Fox," Harold Verge.

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Pulling Together, Sharing Opportunity

Goldboro and Drum Head are two of several small communities surrounding Country Harbour, one of the widest and deepest ice-free harbours in North America. Because of these geographic advantages, in the eighteenth century Country Harbour was considered as the location for the capital of Nova Scotia. However, it was passed over by the British colonial authorities because of its proximity to the then-French island of Cape Breton.

Goldboro is known as a "community built on gold." In the 1800s, large gold deposits attracted prospectors, miners, and wealth to the area, and the existing fishing community grew to meet the demands of the new population. The gold industry lasted until the 1940s when gold prices dropped, making it unprofitable to mine any further. During the early ‘90s, the area again suffered economically, this time because of the groundfish moratorium. People determined to stay in their home community learned to depend on forestry, and the remains of the fishing industry, for their livelihoods.

Country Harbour's proximity to Sable Island recently attracted interest from around the world and, with that attention, the community's hopes for economic recovery soared. Off the coast of Sable Island, famous for its shipwrecks and herds of wild ponies, lies one of the largest untapped deposits of natural gas in North America. This resource encouraged a consortium of companies to create the Sable Offshore Energy Project (SOEP). The project intends to extract the natural gas and transport it through an underwater pipeline to a processing and separation plant in Goldboro. The processed gas will then be transported by the Maritimes and Northeast Pipeline to markets throughout the Maritimes and the northeastern United States. SOEP is expected to cost over $2.5 billion.

For local residents, the long wait for offshore petroleum development to arrive on their shores is over. When the SOEP announced that Goldboro would be the landfall site for its multi-billion dollar natural gas project – the largest industrial project in Nova Scotia's history – people like nearby Drum Head resident, Carl Guptill, got busy.

Guptill was among the first local people to attend community meetings held by representatives from Sable Offshore Energy Inc., meetings that resulted in the establishment of a Fisheries and Aquaculture Liaison Committee (a partnership of SOEP and local fishermen). People in local communities near the site of the future gas plant agreed to form a local organization to respond to the SOEP's arrival.

"We saw diving companies anchor off our wharf, doing diving work for Sable," Guptill says. "We asked ourselves, ‘Why can't we do that?'"

And so Bayview Marine Services Cooperative Ltd., an organization of residents from the small communities near the gas plant site, was formed. Its members work on many different aspects of SOEP, from environmental monitoring and marine diving to janitorial and security work. The co-op bids on contracts up for tender, refers members seeking work to other SOEP subcontractors, and refers non-members to services provided locally by members. "Some people joined up just to give us support. They weren't looking for work – they just liked the idea," says Guptill, who became the co-op's General Manager.

The co-op asked for organizational help from St. Francis Xavier University's Enterprise Development Centre (XEDC). In partnership with staff from the St. F. X. Extension Department, a project team was put together and a skills inventory of co-op members was conducted. To start, the team helped train office staff in administration procedures, contract development, and tendering processes. As well, a needs assessment was conducted among co-op members. The co-op, with the help of the project team, held a very successful founding General Meeting in June 1998, where an eight-member Board of Directors was elected. The team then advised the new Board, and co-op management, on policy matters, and helped with the development of accounting and office management systems. A business plan was also developed.

Bayview Marine Services Co-op now has over 200 members, almost all of them in Guysborough County. Membership is $10 per share and is open to anyone, but preference is first given to people from the communities nearest the Sable gas plant site, and then to those from other Guysborough County communities. Due to the hard work put in by its staff, the co-op turned a profit in its very first year and, according to current Office Manager John Cleary, 55 of its members received work. While the larger part of the co-op's revenue is marine- related, Carl Guptill emphasizes that striking a balance of land-based and marine-based activities is key to the co-op's success.

The co-op has helped local people learn organizational, decision-making, management, financial, and cooperative skills. SOEP has proven to be a catalyst that has brought the small communities in the area together to work collectively. And, it is transforming the local economy from a resource-based to an industrial-based one. The communities' ability to articulate a long-term vision, in light of prevailing circumstances and the current pace of change in the construction phase of SOEP, makes strategic planning and community work crucial. A year and a half into operations, co-op members are optimistic about the future.

"In ten years, I'd like to see a bigger community here that might have a store, a pharmacy, and a banking machine, but still be small, and something that tourists would want to come to," says Janet Rose Burke, the co-op's Vice- Chair.

In an area adversely affected by economic challenges, SOEP represents a significant opportunity, and a significant change, to the local economy. By creating their own business together, members of Bayview Marine Services Co-op are also making opportunities for themselves.

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Coastal Communities News is published bi-monthly by the Coastal Communities Network, a non-profit society registered in the province of Nova Scotia.

Coastal Communities News is made possible by the generous efforts of many volunteers, and by financial contributions from Human Resources Development Canada, and by donations and in-kind contributions from the Nova Scotia Department of Education and Culture, as well as from member groups and organizations.

We welcome all articles and submissions, from individuals and groups, with content in keeping with the role and nature of this magazine. We reserve the right to edit all submissions. Except where additional credit has been given, all articles are prepared by the Editor and Editorial Board.

The Coastal Communities Network is a volunteer association of organizations whose mission is to provide a forum to encourage dialogue, share information, and create strategies and actions that promote the survival and development of Nova Scotia's coastal and rural communities.

CCN is made up of organizations rooted in Nova Scotia's coastal and rural communities, and it is the diversity of its membership that gives it strength. Your organization, and your community, can help CCN determine its direction and strengthen its voice still further. Join the Coastal Communities Network today.

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