Inverness County Council

CHNE hosted a panel discussion on Inverness County's latest council meeting with a focus on the northern part of the county. The guests were Chief Administrative Officer Keith MacDonald, District 1 Councillor Alfred Poirier (Cheticamp/Pleasant Bay/Meat Cove) and District 2 Councillor Laurie Cranton (Margaree/St. Joseph). 

The municipality has been hosting community connection meetings that bring together different groups within each community and assisting them in their collaboration. One of the first communities to participate was Chéticamp, with two meetings already under its belt. Many areas important to community well-being were covered such as social assistance, help for seniors, emergency response and more.  

One of the results of the meetings was the creation of a bridge program to help seniors after “Meals on Wheels” (MOW) was interrupted. The meals were usually prepared at the Foyer Père Fiset, the seniors’ home in Chéticamp, and delivered to seniors in the area at a low cost. When the pandemic hit, the Foyer was closed to the public and the program interrupted. Groups such as the Conseil des arts, L’Acabie, the Kinsmen, Community Matters and many other residents were involved in bringing it back for at least 30 days while they seek to re-instate MOW permanently. 

In Margaree, Councillor Cranton and his wife set up a “Neighbours Helping Neighbours” group that now has more than 300 users. The municipality is encouraging and looking to assist more groups like that in other communities across the county.

Another issue council has been working on is lack of broadband and cell phone connectivity in the county. The problem has been particularly concerning during the pandemic. “In fact, the area that I live in right here,” Councillor Cranton said, “[cellphone service] doesn’t exist. And there are a number of areas throughout the municipality. In times like this, you really see how much you really need to rely on those systems and services to be able to manage all these things, … communication between residents and government and between families, residents and seniors. We began having all our meetings using Zoom, like we are today, but there have been times when I’ve been on my computer here and it just cuts off because I’ve lost service at certain times of day when everyone is using it. And right now, everybody is using the system most of the time.”

Councillor Poirier said that Pleasant Bay is also strongly affected by the lack of service. 

The provincial government announced it will be investing in the needed infrastructure though a program called “Develop Nova Scotia” in two areas of the county: Chéticamp and Inverness. CAO MacDonald said that the program is now open to a second round of proposals to help more areas. “We’ll be submitting proposals to the province,” he said. “We’ve reached out to the service providers to make them aware that residents of the municipality want them to tackle the gap areas. But as a municipal unit, we can only do so much and people are struggling … with their service, or don’t have service. We need them to be more vocal in a strategic way about those issues they’re experiencing.” He encourages residents to make complaints directly with the province.

Council has also been working on a project proposal through The Cape Breton Food Hub to develop local food distribution models. The project will seek funding from the federal government.

Councillor Poirier talked about the wastewater outfall pipe at the Chéticamp treatment plant. The pipe was damaged by age and storms, and people often complain about the resulting foul smell. “I’ve had numerous calls, especially businesses around the plant," Councillor Poirier said. "So, what I did is bring it up to council and they took it seriously … The CAO and the staff and the proper personnel looked into it … and hopefully we’ll be able to move ahead with it if it’s approved by council later on.” The municipality is currently calculating how much the repairs would cost.

Watch the panel discussion here to get more details about the latest council meeting.