Encroaching development

How was project that destroys wetland approved?

I am writing in search of an answer to a question regarding the ongoing development at Tracadie Beach by Tim Banks. I have called my local MLA (Bloyce Thompson) with my concerns early in the summer and was told multiple times by his secretary that I would receive a reply from him. I am still waiting for that phone call.

Mr. Banks, as part of Blackbush at Old Tracadie Harbour, is constructing what is to be a fish plant adjacent (west) to the existing beach parking lot. The fish plant is being built on the same spot where a previous fish plant was built and subsequently burned back in the 1930’s.

I live very close to Tracadie Beach and walk my dog there frequently. During those walks I came to wonder how was this development project ever approved? The site of the fish plant is directly in one of our Island’s most sensitive habitats, a marsh. As stated before, I knew there was a building on the site prior, so what is the big deal? It became a big deal when shale was distributed past the original foundation boundaries and filled in some of the marsh.

Adding to the environmental degradation of the area (and much worse in my opinion), is the newly constructed road running parallel to the existing one. For the construction of this road, a much larger wetland had to be drained. I can recall many times my dog and I used to stop and admire the plethora of wildlife that used to inhabit that marsh on our way to and from the beach; key word used to.

To be fair to Hon. Bloyce Thompson, I did hear back from his secretary. I was told that the project was approved by the previous government. Despite being approved by another administration, we still have laws in place which, in essence, say that if a wetland is destroyed during development, there must be remediation of a wetland by the developer in another area. Why then is this not being enforced? Luke Peters, Millcove, P.E.I.