Updated Municipal Plan More Accommodating To Airport's Future Needs

The new municipal plan now contains flexibility for the Saint John Airport regarding future business development on airport land.

The Saint John Airport had fears that the new municipal plan would pigeon-hole it to only aeronautical-type development.

PlanSJ's Jacqueline Hamilton says some of the language has been reworked to give the airport more options.
 
She says if an opportunity arose, the airport would have to submit a business case and an updated land use plan that doesn't conflict with the overall vision of the municipal plan.

Adequate Childcare Can Help Battle Poverty

Providing adequate childcare is one, tried and true, way of elevating people out of poverty, mostly women.

That's a smart way of spending taxpayer dollars according to Christine Saulnier of the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives who co-authored a report on the cost of poverty in our province.

She says the local economy would get a boost because that's where most of the money being earned would be spent.



Saulnier adds another smart way to spend money to reduce poverty is on public transit.

Police Officers Not Allowed To Pay More Into Pension Plan

"A political hot potato"..........That's what the city's pension plan and the attempt to put it on a sounder financial footing have turned into according to the President of the Saint John Police Association.

Jamie Hachey tells CHSJ News his members have not been allowed to contribute more of their own money into the plan.

He warns if the city wants further cuts in the pension plan, over and above those already made, then wages will have to be renegotiated.

Hachey also questions how the province could reject so quickly the city's proposed changes after changing its actuary in mid stream

Mayor Unsure What Will Be Done About The Deer

Quispamsis Mayor Murray Driscoll is not sure what kind of solutions will be hashed out at tonight's public Deer Committee meeting.
 
He tells CHSJ News it will be up to community as to what the solution will be.
 
Driscoll says allowing crossbow hunting may be a viable solution given the loosened restrictions on the weapon.

The meeting gets underway at 7pm tonight at KV High school.

Food Warning For Ham Sold In New Brunswick

A warning from the Canadian Food Inspection Agency for you not to chow down on Compliments brand Sensations Old-Style Smoked Ham because it could be contaminated with listeria and make you sick. 

The ham is sold in 175 gram packages with a best before date of Nov. 13th, 2011 and has been distributed in this province but, so far at any rate, there haven't been any reports of people getting sick.       

Food contaminated with listeria may not look or smell spoiled, but it can cause listeriosis which can result in high fever, severe headache, neck stiffness and nausea, with pregnant women, the elderly and people who have weakened immune systems particularly at risk.

Provincial NDP Leader Says The Premier Has Not Acted On Key Energy Recommendations

Provincial NDP Leader Dominic Cardy is taking Premier Alward to task on what he calls a broken campaign promise.

Cardy tells CHSJ News the Alward government has not acted on any of the over 50 recommendations by the New Brunswick Energy Commission.

He says the Energy and Utilities Board is still lacking the ability to call for hearings on any price hike by NB Power.

Currently, only hikes of more than 3 percent are evaluated. 
He says given the lack of action on this report and others, the government is lacking in long-term goals.