Port of Saint John In Talks Again With AV Group

The Port of Saint John and the AV Group have renewed discussions focused on examining options for moving a significant part of AV Nackawic's production to markets in India and the Far East through the Port of Saint John.

The two groups had been engaged in discussions up until this past spring. But the port made some critical comments of the groups logistic strategy which strained the talks. 

The Port has since apologized and talks have resume.

Shippagan Man Faces Sexual Assault Charges

A 27 year old man from Shippagan making an appearance in court today for sex-related charges.

Jean-Claude Savoie is facing a variety of assault charges, including sexual assault with a weapon, as well as uttering threats and pointing a firearm.

The incident is alleged to have occurred sometime between 2003 and 2006 against a woman.

A plea has yet to be entered and Savoie has been remanded to Dorchester Penitentiary until a bail hearing on November 1st.

Art Sale Will Establish Bursaries For Students

The Peter Buckland Gallery will be hosting a viewing and sale of the art collection of the late Barbara Ring -- the money will be used to establish memorial bursaries for visual arts graduates from Saint John High School and Harbourview High School.

Stephen Ring is Barbara's son and he tells CHSJ News artists going on to post-secondary education can always use a leg-up financially and it's great way to honour the memory of his parents.
 
The bursaries will be available in 2012.

The event takes place tonight at the Peter Buckland Gallery from 5pm until 8pm.

For more information, click here.

Saint John Board Of Trade Happy With "Business Friendly" Placement

The Saint John Board of Trade is pleased with the city's ranking of 50 on a recent study about the 100 most business friendly cities in Canada.

BOT President Imelda Gilman tells CHSJ News while it's great that we made the list, there is still work to be done before we can shoot up the ranks, such as having a competitive tax environment, less red tape, and a solid regulatory framework.

She says another key factor in developing a business-friendly environment is to the ability to attract a skilled workforce.

Spinoffs Expected In New Brunswick From Shipbuilding Contract In Halifax

Even though Saint John will not be building any of the new navy ships, there will be spinoffs from the awarding of a 25 billion dollar contract to Irving Shipbuilding.

Mary Keith of J-D Irving tells CHSJ News there's already a supply chain in place and that will grow but there won't be any actual shipbuilding being done in Saint John. 

In 2009 and 2010, Irving Shipbuilding worked with 115 suppliers in this province. More than thirty of those suppliers had contracts worth over $100,000, and eight at more than $1 million. 

According to the Saint John Board of Trade, For every $1,000 in real GDP generated from shipbuilding inside Nova Scotia by this contract, another $491 is expected be spent in other regions across Canada, $20 of which will be spent in the other Atlantic provinces.

The Conference Board of Canada estimates for every thousand dollars spent on shipbuilding in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick's economy will benefit by just over 11 dollars which would mean New Brunswick would enjoy something like 275 million dollars of new gross domestic product over the next three decades.

Watermain Break Captures Van

There has been a water main break in front of 227 Queen Street. 

The road caved in on the water works van. As they tried to tow it out two lines snapped from a tow truck so they got the flat bed and the van went even further. 

After about an hour they finally got the van out.




(Photo Courtesy of Ashley Dow)

K-V Chamber of Commerce Honours The Top Businesses In The Valley

The best in business in the Kennebecasis Valley have been honoured by the K-V Chamber of Commerce.

Cochrane's Country Market was named Business of the Year......The award for Community Impact was given to K-V Outreach........V-I-P Drycleaners received the Young Entrepreneur of the Year award.

The Emerging Business award went to the Studio Dance School run by Stephanie Grace and the Q-Plex got a special merit award.

Gas Prices Still On The Rise

Another increase in the price of gas following the weekly setting.

Self serve regular is up to $1.26.9 around town. That's a rise of under a cent a litre.

Diesel is also more expensive by an even 3 cents a litre at $1.34.9. 

Heating Oil has gone up to $1.17.7 with propane listed at $1.16.7 a litre.

Conservation Council Generally Supportive Of New Energy Plan

The Executive-Director of the New Brunswick Conservation Council, David Coon likes most of the energy blueprint especially the effort to get people to start using wood pellets for their heating instead of oil and electricity and the commitment to the Climate Action plan for 2020.
 

But Coon is less enthused about the reliance on nuclear power from Point Lepreau which he predicts will be a financial albatross around the government's neck.
 

Coon is also nervous there isn't more mention of Efficiency NB which he says has had a good track record.