North River to vote on dry community status in May

A plebiscite to determine whether North River will remain a dry community will be held May 8.

The plebiscite is being held in response to an application to operate a distillery to produce and sell alcohol in North River.

The Raging Crow Distillery Inc. hopes to produce rum, gin, rye, vodka and other flavoured spirits if the plebiscite comes out in its favour.

North River is one of 105 areas within the province that are still defined by provincial legislation as “dry” communities, even though the prohibition on alcohol in Nova Scotia was lifted in 1930.

However, not all North River residents will have a chance to vote on the issue, as the plebiscite only covers areas on the east side of the North River.

All residents over the age of 19 on that side of the river, from North River through to Nuttby, as well as in Brookside, Upper Brookside and a small portion of Kemptown Road are eligible to participate.

Residents must have lived in the area for a minimum of six months.

“It is a yes or no question,” said returning officer Lorraine Dawson.

The wording of the question is simply defined as: “are you in fa- vour of the sale of liquor in your area?”

The plebiscite will be held at the Central North River Community Centre on Hiram Lynds Road on May 8 from 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. An advance poll will also be held at the centre on May 4 from noon until 8 p.m.

Voting cards will be mailed out to residents. For those who do not receive a card, however, revision dates have been set for April 26 and 27 to give those residents a chance to register. The times for those dates are from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.

Nova Scotia is the only remaining area in Canada where such plebiscites are required to change the arguably outdated provincial legislation. During the past 20 years, every plebiscite held in the province has been in favour of converting to a wet community, including in Kemptown and Masstown where plebiscites were held in 2007 in order for the Masstown Market and Scotts Bakery to become satellite NSLC operations.

In the Masstown case, only 23 people participated in the plebiscite, which passed by a margin of 21-2.

The cost of recent plebiscites has run between $10,000 and $15,000, which is paid by either the NSLC or the province’s Alcohol, Gaming, Fuel and Tobacco (AGFT) division, depending on which category the vote is held under.