A Messy Drive Home Tonight

Environment Canada calling for up to 17 centimetres of snow for Greater Saint John.There are delays and cancellations at the Saint John airport.
Meterologist Claude Cote tells CHSJ News the temperature remained below freezing so we are getting more snow than initially expected.
He says they have issued a snowfall warning for Saint John but inland areas like Rothesay and Quispamsis could get up to 20 centimetres.  Cote says by about 8 tonight, the snow will change over to rain.  
It may be best to call ahead to check on the status of your flight.
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Blaney Gets An Earful About Government's Wetlands Policy

The Environment Minister hosting the first meeting in her listening tour in Saint John on the government's wetlands conservation policy and she got an earful.


It was standing room only with developers, farmers and landowners from Musquash to Belleisle Creek and Sussex telling Margaret Ann Blaney how the government wetland mapping system is hurting them and will in turn hurt the province.
Landowner Scott Robinson is tired of hearing how it's supposed to help buyers, sellers and planners.

Environment Minister Margaret Ann Blaney will not commit to rescinding their Wetland mapping system if it proves that's what everyone wants to see happen.
She says she is not prejudging the process with 9 stops on the tour and she will report back by mid-March.
One speaker called the government's policy an insult to rural New Brunswick while another says the mapping has rendered four of his lots unsellable--a potential loss of $50,000.

Rothesay Residents Will Be Asked To Help Fundy St. Andrews Aquarium

A transformation is taking place in St. Andrews with the folks at the Huntsman Aquarium into the home stretch of creating the Fundy Discovery Aquarium.

Spokesperson Muriel Jarvis tells CHSJ News the new aquarium will be almost 20 thousand square feet and three times larger than what it's replacing and there will be more than just marine life on display. Visitors will be able to see a thirty foot display showing how the Bay of Fundy tides work.

7.5 million of the project's 8 million dollar cost has been raised so far. People in St. Stephen, St. Andrews and Rothesay will be contacted to see if they're willing to make individual contributions.

It's hoped the new facility will open up in time for the long weekend in July.

Black History Society Wants the Black Experience In New Brunswick To Be Taught

As Black History Month draws to a close, the New Brunswick Black History Society is looking for a grant to research and publish a blook on the black experience in the Province.

The Society's David Peters tells CHSJ News blacks may have come to the province as free Loyalists but that doesn't mean they had an easy time of it.

Peters says they faced alot of discrimination starting with being denounced in the 1785 charter. He argues that story should be taught in schools around the province.

Over the next year, the Black History Society will be reaching out to people, families and institutions for diaries, documentation, photos and stories about the black experience.

Moore Focusing On Recovery Not Election

Fundy Royal MP Rob Moore says he's unconcerned with the rumblings of a possible federal election on the horizon.
Moore tells CHSJ News he interested in doing the work of the federal government to promote economic recovery.
Liberal Leader Michael Ignatieff says an election will a battle over the middle class - but - Moore says the middle class is more interested in getting our economy back on track than going to the polls.

Deputy Mayor Wants To Prevent Legal Fight Between City And Rothesay

As the city prepares a lawsuit against the town of Rothesay over a water dispute, Deputy Mayor Stephen Chase wants some dialogue to forestall legal action from going ahead.

Chase will be making a resolution at tonight's council meeting for members of the Saint John Water Utility Committee to meet with representatives from Rothesay before a lawsuit becomes official.

The city plans to sue Rothesay for disconnecting a water pipe that ran from Rothesay Road into Kennebecasis Park and Hastings Cove because of concerns over the quality and the number of boil water orders that have been issued.

The city is warning that 90 Saint John businesses and homeowners in the Rothesay Road area may have to boil their water indefinitely.

Common Council Told City Is Making Great Strides On Treating Sewage

There's light at the end of the tunnel..........That's the message to be given to Common Council tonight from the head of Municipal Operations as the city strives to eventually see all wastewater that's collected being treated.

Paul Groody says people will, nevertheless, have to be careful about what they're dumping down the sewers.

Construction of the eastern wastewater treatment facility is 85 per cent complete and should be done by this July.

Groody considers this to be the centrepiece of harbour cleanup and he maintains Saint John is ahead of Moncton and Halifax when it comes to wastewater treatment.

Environment Minister To Hear Concerns Over Wetlands Beginning Today

Environment Minister Margaret Ann Blaney calls it her listening tour about government policy on wetlands and it will get underway this morning at the Lily Lake Pavilion.

Blaney has been hearing concerns from developers, mayors, planning commissions, farmers and land owners about future restrictions on development. 

She does say there seems to be alot of misunderstanding over that part of the mapping analysis about where wetlands may or may not be. She tells CHSJ News wetlands, which prevent flooding, have to be protected for the sake of the developers.

Blaney says government policy stipulates there be 4 per cent of the province made up of wetlands but the controversy has arisen over the mapping analysis of where wetlands may or may not be.