NDP wants funding of Chignecto isthmus dikes

Legislation calls for $50 million over five years

The provincial NDP caucus feels the province has a responsibility to fix the beleaguered dike system near Amherst.

Party leader Gary Burrill said his party introduced legislation Wednesday calling on the provincial government to spend $10 million a year for five years to improve the dikes in the Isthmus of Chignecto.

“This would give the province an investment on the table it can use as a basis to leverage other funds from New Brunswick and the federal government to get up to a level that we know is needed to undertake that project,” Burrill said.

Climate change mitigation is a key philosophy for the provincial New Democrats. Burrill said it’s something his party has talked about for years and while it affects everyone, one way or another, it impacts Nova Scotia in particular because so much of its population is settled close to the coastline.

“Of all the places in Nova Scotia where climate change mitigation is important, and there’s lots of them, there’s none where it’s any more important than on the Tantramar Marsh region, if even just for economic reasons,” Burrill said. “The total trade across that area is $50 million a day. We have our whole economy resting on an infrastructure investment … that has not been adequately tended to since the marshland infrastructure projects of the 1950s.”

Burrill’s comments come while provincial and municipal officials on both sides of the provincial border await word on if a feasibility study will be funded by Transport Canada. It also comes as the Municipality of Cumberland has hired CBCL to study what will be needed to raise the dikes that protect Advocate Harbour.

NDP environment spokes- person Lenore Zann said Nova Scotia must be a leader in protecting its people and businesses from rising sea levels.

“Nova Scotia is surrounded by the ocean, so we must act decisively to mitigate rising sea levels. This includes maintaining the Chignecto Isthmus which links Nova Scotia to the rest of Canada,” Zann said. “As sea levels rise our province needs to act to ensure the dikes are well maintained.”

Burrill said there needs to be a provincial program that supports municipalities in their efforts to mitigate rising sea levels and it goes beyond the isthmus to include other communities along the Bay of Fundy.

“In King’s County, there is a lot of land that’s protected by dikes and municipalities there are very aware of the problem but haven’t got the financial means to do what they need to do,” Burrill said. “There needs to be a comprehensive provincial program to address those concerns.”