The NDP leader says the lateness of the Alward government quarterly financial report is another broken promise.
Dominic Cardy tells CHSJ News we know why they are late adding Minister Higgs was even writing op-ed articles about it a few years back.
He says the departments wouldn't give Higgs the figures he needed to get the updates out.
Cardy says that mean Blaine Higgs has been taught not to talk about the incompetence and lack of discipline inside the government over the last two years.
Cardy says the projected deficit is a sign of how the government failed to put forward a vision that would change the province.
He says that task will be left to the next government to make sure we can fix problems like seeing our population drop and high unemployment.
One man taken to hospital after a workplace accident this morning.
City fire crews responding to Thomas Construction in the Industrial park on Grandview Avenue where a man had fallen off a piece of equipment.
He was taken to hospital to be checked out and is expected to be ok.
Worksafe NB is looking into what happened.
Law and order are important to any community--and the new law courts at Peel Plaza reflect that, according to dignitaries gathering for the facility's grand opening.
In his first official duty as the new Justice Minister, Troy Lifford praising the new law courts as a vast improvement over the old situation at city hall.
The mayor, premier, lieutenant governor and various MLAs were on hand. The law courts have been in use for some time already but the ribbon cutting ceremony officially marked its opening to the public.
The city has scheduled an update Monday on the investigation into sexual abuse perpetrated years ago by then City Police officer Ken Estabrooks, amid reports of many more victims have come forward. There are also rumblings a potential class-action lawsuit.
Common Council has approved an additional $100,000 to continue the investigation. There may have been more than 40 victims of the abuse.
Estabrooks was never charged in 1975 even though he confessed. Estabrooks resigned from the police department but was transferred to City Works. Charges were finally laid in 1998 and Estabrooks, who died in 2005, was convicted in 1999 and sentenced to six years in prison. The Police Commission released a report, calling the 1975 investigation "unprofessional" which allowed a serious sex offender to go unpunished.
Yesterday at around 11pm an inmate was assaulted in the maximum-security jail in Renous. The victim had to be taken to an outside hospital.
The Mounties are investigating and they know who committed the assault.
The victim is in stable condition. Jail officials say they taking what they call "appropriate" measures to keep incidents like this from happening.
Mike Biggar is a name in country star most folks in Saint John will recognize.
Biggar's been breaking into the mainstream music scene will his collaborations with Chris Cummings and he tells CHSJ News he's excited to release his new album Feels Like Now.
Biggar is an ECMA and New Brunswick Music Award winner.
He's performing tonight on the Mexi's patio with Chris Cummings and a full band to launch the new record.
The show starts at 9pm at Mexi's on Princess Street in Saint John.
For more info, click here
Premier David Alward says he has confidence the National Energy Board will be able to adequately evaluate the environmental risks associated with building a pipeline to Saint John.
David Thompson of the Conservation Council tells CHSJ News a lot of people were turned off by their treatment when the National Energy Board held hearings in the city a few years ago on the natural gas pipeline through Rockwood Park.
Thompson says the rules apparently have changed since then and a lot of people who might want to have something to say and take part could be shut out from participating because they won't be given standing.
A grassroots energy summit will be held in the city next week with the theme that shale gas, oil pipelines and nuclear energy represent the past and not the future. One of the speakers will be Maude Barlow of the Council of Canadians.
The Alward government providing a long overdue fiscal update with first quarter results projecting a deficit of nearly 500 million dollars.
Finance Minister Blaine Higgs joined by the Premier and MLA Glenn Savoie for the announcement at the Delta today as the Saint John caucus wraps up its summer retreat.
Higgs says if government had not confronted spending the revenue challenges they have been facing would be much worse.
In 2011 and 2012, Higgs says they saw year over year expenses decrease for the first time in 11 years adding in the last two years they have seen spending only grow by a half a per cent compared to the 10 year average of 4.2 per cent.
Premier Alward says historically departments have been way over budget with their early quarterly results and now they are seeing departments below budget and within 1 per cent representing a huge shift.
The Premier also revealing to the gathered media that the fall session of the Legislature will begin early on November 5th.
Next May will mark the 100th anniversary of the sinking of the Empress of Ireland.
It's happened in the St. Lawrence River and more than a 1000 passengers on the ship died.
The New Brunswick Museum hosting a travelling showcase on the ship which includes video of the underwater wreck.
Pascale St. Amand tells CHSJ News the exhibit is moving on to Halifax at 5 today.
She says she has had many visitors from cruise ships and they are a bit scared by the tragedy but most people are surprised they have not heard of the Empress before.
St. Amand says the exhibit includes a video that depicts how the Storstad hit the Empress sinking her. She add the sinking is significant as World War 1 broke out a short time later.
The stray cat population in Saint John has exploded and one foster mom wants to see changes to help the situation.
25 year old Missy Hebert has 10 cats in a one bedroom apartment most of which are rescues and she is also caring for two sick foster kittens.
She says stray can be found in every neighborhood of the city and as it gets colder people are concerned about the animals being outside and they may also be injured or pregnant.
Hebert tells CHSJ News the City created a problem when they changed the animal control by-law and cut funding.
She says with that move they decided cats are worthless by throwing them out of the city's by-law adding the local shelter has no legal responsibility to help cats unless its on death's door and there is no other option but to euthanize it.
Hebert would like to see a low cost spay and neuter program put in place and believes there needs to be more education on the true cost of pet ownership.
She says that free kitten someone gave you will need shots that average $100 and a neuter or spay that can run between $200 to $400.
Residents of the Baxter Road and Old Westmoreland Road area are going to be happy to hear about this one.
An illegal dump site on Worden Drive could be shut down in a matter of weeks, after which time it's hoped the province will help clean up the site. Common Councillor David Merrithew tells CHSJ News he wants everyone to know even though the operator was charging tipping fees he had no right to let people dump there.
Merrithew says he had never seen an illegal dump site this bad--and it looked like a lot of the materials were industrial waste. He says he'd like to see the people who dumped on the site penalized as well.
Just days after the province came out with their healthcare blueprint, the province's doctors releasing a companion piece called Care First.
The New Brunswick Medical Society says their document is built around the four pillars of primary care renewal, wait time reduction, healthy living and front line work input.
Medical Society President Dr. Robert Desjardins tells CHSJ News they advocate a new program called 'Choose Wisely' which aims to improve decision-making by medical profession in areas like testing.
He says the program will support a certain kind of standardization in testing but it only works with education and in co-operation with the government.
Desjardins says in the US, the standardization of testing has saved over 25 per cent in hospital laboratory costs.
The Medical Society is also calling on New Brunswickers to be more responsible for their own health adding just talking about it is not enough. He says their must be some legislation by the government to force hospitals and schools to serve better food in their own cafeterias.
The city has taken members of the caucus on a tour of the city aimed at demonstrating Saint John's key role as the economic powerhouse of the region, according to Mayor Mel Norton.
Norton says the city was especially keen to show off the role of the Port in the economic life of New Brunswick.
An iconic Saint John tourist attraction is officially on the market.
Marc Gosselin and his wife started running the Reversing Falls Jet Boat 19 years ago and now they say it's time for them to move on to some new ventures. Gosselin tells CHSJ News it's unclear what the future will hold for the Jet Boat, but already they've received some inquiries.
Gosselin says he's not in his thirties anymore and as time goes on he doesn't think they'd be able to keep providing the same quality of service.
The "For Sale" sign is currently hanging on the operation and they're entertaining offers.
It's time to make some major changes to the boardwalk area including Market Slip and Loyalist Plaza.
With that goal in mind, Saint John Waterfront Development will host three public consultations with one beginning next week.
General Manager Kent MacIntyre says the sky is the limit adding they want as many ideas as possible from people who use the space every day and in every season
The first consultation is coming up next Thursday, October 3rd in the Mary Oland theatre at the museum.
It begins at 6 and includes a reception and interactive presentation.
To contribute your idea, click here
With poll numbers in the doldrums, Premier David Alward and his M-L-A's are holding a caucus retreat in the city with a year to go before the provincial election.
The Premier is rejecting criticism about not demanding more liability protection from the risks to the environment with Trans Canada's proposed pipeline to Saint John.
Alward says he has full confidence in Trans Canada based on its history. He adds the proposal will be scrutinised by the National Energy Board which will evaluate the risks and the provincial Environment Department will have input.
Another price break for those of you who have to fill up after the weekly setting.
The price of self serve regular falling by almost 3 cents a litre to $1.23.8 in the city and diesel also a bit lower by about three cents at $1.34.7.
The maximum price of heating oil is down to $1.16 a litre while propane is a bit more expensive with a maximum price of $1.07.7 a litre.
More than 2600 people in this province got a diagnosis of heart disease between 2009 and 2010.
That startling stat from a provincial report on heart health.
More than 21,000 men and over 13,000 women are living with the disease.
Almost 1800 people in the province went to hospital for the first time with heart failure over those two years.
The rate of new cases of heart disease is steadily decreasing over the last decade and more people with heart disease are living longer.
With growing senior populations and the increase in rates of diabetes and adult obesity, the evidence doesn't show whether or not the decline in new cases and deaths due to heart disease will continue.
Just another promise he made to get elected. That's what one Liberal Health Critic is calling the Alward government's failure to get the Saint John Regional Hospital a 3T MRI.
Donald Arsenault tells CHSJ News that was a commitment Premier David Alward made to the community and is now just another addition to a long list of broken promises. He says he wants to know where Alward stands on the issue now.
The city's medical professionals seem to want the 3T version, while the Horizon Health Network has come out against it. Arsenault says they'll see what position Health Minister Ted Flemming takes and go from there.
Watch out for those Bullwinkles and Bambis as you drive around the city.
City police putting out a warning about the potential for deer/moose collisions this time of year.
Drivers are asked to be vigilant when driving as deer are coming closer to roadways from the woods this time of year.
The police asking drivers to heed the warning signs in areas where moose and deer are regularly spotted, to drive defensively and be aware of your surroundings.
