PORT HAWKESBURY - Town councillors here have approved Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton's participation in a major renewable energy conference taking place in the Danish capital of Copenhagen later this month. 

Council's latest regular monthly meeting at the Port Hawkesbury Civic Centre saw unanimous approval to spend a minimum of $3,000 and a maximum of $5,000 to assist with the mayor's travel costs as she joins Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette at WindEurope 2023, which runs from April 23-29. The two municipal leaders are co-chairs of the Strait Area Offshore Wind Task Force, which received an invitation from the Nova Scotia government to visit the Copenhagen conference as part of an official provincial delegation. 

Mombourquette and Chisholm-Beaton will be joined by Martin Thomsen, who serves as the Innovation and Economic Development Officer for Port Hawkesbury and Richmond County on behalf of the Cape Breton Partnership (CBP). The organization is footing half the bill for Thomsen to attend WindEurope 2023, while Richmond and Port Hawkesbury will each contribute $750 to cover the remainder of these costs. 

At the same time, the town and the county are also asking Nova Scotia Public Works Minister Kim Masland to authorize the revival of a reservoir that once served the main water supply for the town and for industrial customers in the nearly Point Tupper Industrial Park. A letter co-signed by Mombourquette and Chisholm-Beaton suggests that the Little River Reservoir - launched in 1968 but decommissioned in 1991 - is needed to help the Landrie Lake water supply accommodate the burgeoning green hydrogen and green ammonia production sector in Point Tupper, which is also expected to be a key component of the local delegation to WindEurope 2023. 

Also on this week's Roundtable: 

27:09 - Cape Breton-Canso MP Mike Kelloway discusses his government's newly-introduced budget, and expresses hope that its key elements - including a new national dental plan, inflation relief for Canadian families, and renewable-energy tax credits - will help ensure its passage in the House of Commons later this spring. 

44:16 - Richmond Warden Amanda Mombourquette explains her desire to see more food trucks setting up shop in communities and at events across the county as the weather gets warmer. 

52:53 - Port Hawkesbury Mayor Brenda Chisholm-Beaton updates the progress of talks between the town, the Counties of Richmond and Inverness and the Town of Mulgrave in terms of sharing in the cost of a by-law enforcement officer to serve all four municipal units.