Cape Breton Residents Rally As Isle Madame Bridge Removal Begins

PORT ROYAL - Residents of western Isle Madame are mobilizing their resources to stop the planned removal of a bridge that has been inactive for the past seven years. 

Nova Scotia's Department of Public Works (DPW) started sending heavy machinery to the site of the Port Royal Bridge in late February, in preparation for a removal process that is expected to start in earnest next week and wrap up by mid-April. 

The province shut down the bridge to vehicle traffic in 2017, setting up a detour along nearby MacEachern Road that took hundreds of residents of Port Royal, St. Mary's and Janvrin's Island 1.3 kilometres out of their way before they reached Highway 206 in West Arichat. 

In the final week of the 2021 provincial election, then-Premier and Liberal Leader Iain Rankin arrived at the bridge site to announce $2 million of provincial funding to repair the bridge and provide upgrades to MacEachern Road. However, this funding was contingent on the re-election of Rankin's Liberal government, which was defeated by Tim Houston's Progressive Conservatives one week after the Port Royal announcement.

The confirmation of the bridge's pending removal resulted in 200 people joining a Facebook page set up to stop the DPW activity. A D'Escousse resident and former Halifax Regional Municipality (HRM) councillor, Mat Whitman, appeared at the February 25 regular monthly meeting of Richmond Municipal Council to urge the municipality to act quickly on the issue. 

While Warden Amanda Mombourquette and her fellow councillors voted unanimously to send a letter to DPW officials, the warden noted that control of the bridge is ultimately in the hands of the DPW. 

Also on this week's Roundtable:

2:38 - Members of the Public Service Alliance of Canada (PSAC) held protests in Port Hawkesbury and Sydney on February 28 to mark the eighth anniversary of the error-plagued Phoenix payroll system for federal government employees. 

19:47 - The executive director of the Richmond County Inshore Fishermen's Association, Christine Babin, and the Manager of Energy Engagement for the Nova Scotia Fisheries Alliance, Kris Vascatto, joined LJI journalist Adam Cooke for a panel discussion on the potential negative impacts of wind energy development on local fishing grounds. 

48:36 - Port Hawkesbury Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton and Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette are both hopeful that their respective councils can finalize an agenda for a joint public meeting of the two municipalities within the coming days. 

54:38 - Richmond Municipal Council has issued a request for purchase (RFP) for a former school building in Evanston that has sat idle since it last held classes in 2014. However, municipal officials are hopeful that whoever purchases the former West Richmond Education Centre will develop low-income housing within the facility.