RIchmond MLA Puts Roads and Physician Recruitment Atop Budget Wish List

Provincial and municipal politics go hand-in-hand on this week's edition of TELILE 24/7, as we speak to Cape Breton MLAs Trevor Boudreau and Fred Tilley while sorting through several items from Richmond Municipal Council's latest Committee of the Whole meeting. 

The municipal discussions begin at 1:31 with the latest stage of an effort to add new charging stations for electric vehicles in different parts of Richmond County. Municipal councillors had already asked county staff to probe the price and logistics of setting up such charging stations at Point Michaud Beach, the Richmond Arena in Louisdale, and Centre La Picasse in Petit de Grat. However, municipal councillors are now mulling a fourth option in Arichat, potentially at the Richmond Municipal Building itself. 

At 11:25, TELILE 24/7 host Adam Cooke catches up with Richmond MLA Trevor Boudreau. With his PC government colleagues currently gearing up for their first budget, Boudreau is hoping that physician recruitment and road repair will take centre stage. However, he is also hoping for continued dialogue on support for sectors that have suffered financially due to pandemic-related restrictions in Nova Scotia. Boudreau, a chiropractor by trade, says he felt that financial pinch in his own business and is hoping to address deficiencies in such sectors as hair salons and barber shops. 

We return to the Richmond council table at 28:01, as Strait-Richmond Housing Matters Coalition spokesperson Celeste Gotell addresses the March 7 Committee of the Whole meeting. Gotell and her colleagues are currently lobbying Richmond County, the Town of Port Hawkesbury and Richmond MLA Trevor Boudreau for funding support to establish an independent position that would help the coalition advance its affordable-housing agenda for the Strait Area. 

Winter storm management is up for discussion at 41:25, as we feature footage from two recent Richmond County council meetings regarding the potential for the county's Emergency Management Commission to provide standard forms to gather data from communities that have experienced power outages, road blockades, and the need to set up welcoming centres or shelters to cope with poor winter weather. The initial discussion from the February 28 regular meeting of council is followed by an exchange from the March 7 Committee of the Whole meeting involving Claire Doyle, a representative of the Seniors Take Action Coalition, along with Warden Amanda Mombourquette and Chief Administrative Officer Don Marchand. 

We return to the provincial political scene at 53:24 to wrap up the show, as Northside-Westmount MLA Fred Tilley explains his discussion to abandon his own campaign for the Nova Scotia Liberal Party leadership and instead throw his support behind fellow first-term MLA Angela Simmonds.