Six-Year-Old Battles Huntington's Disease

The family of Gabriel Arseneault is asking for your help -- the six-year old has been diagnosed with Huntington's Disease and is the youngest person in the Maritimes to be diagnosed with the illness.

The family is planning a fundraiser for him in June in Titusville and a trust fund has been set up with ScotiaBank.

Tristin Arseneault is Garbriel's mother and she tells CHSJ News the money will go towards his future medical expenses.

She says one of her goals is keep things as normal as possible for her son.

For information on how to donate to the fund or about the fundraiser, click here.

Perth-Andover Flood Update

The flood waters have receded, but there's still a long way to go before life in Perth Andover is back to normal. That from the village's Chief Administrative Officer, Dan Dionne. 

Dionne tells CHSJ News there's a lot of activity in the community right now as people clear up the debris and work to repair the damage.

Dionne says while he's very satisfied with the government's response to the natural disaster, there hasn't yet been an accurate assessment of the financial toll on the village--and the citizens affected by the flood are looking for answers.

PotashCorp Donates Half-A-Million Dollars To Medical Program

PotashCorp making a 500-thousand dollar donation to Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick.

The money will be used to attract and support a Research Chair in Occupational Medicine.

General Manager of PotashCorp Stewart Brown tells CHSJ News donating to medical causes is very important as the welfare of his employees depends on having a top-notch healtcare system.

He adds everybody in the region will benefit from improved healthcare as well.

The money goes towards Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick's 15 million dollar fundraising campaign.

The campaign has raised about 12 and a half million dollars so far.

Fundraising Chair Lynn Irving says morel major major announcements are expected in the coming months.

Study Says SJ Is a Great Place for Business

Saint John comes out well in a study of how competitive the city is when it comes to the cost of doing business.



The KPMG report gives Saint John a score of 92.5 out of 100 which is even better than Moncton get. Christine Comeau of Enterprise Saint John tells CHSJ this puts the city on the map because the study covered all of North America.


She says this is a form of external validation: someone who;s not from the community looking in on us and giving us a gold star.
According to to the report, Saint John is on a par with the four largest American metropolitan areas and 8 percentage points below the U.S. baseline.

Premier Getting Support On Shale Gas Development

It's expected the Alward Government will be releasing its regulations to govern shale gas exploration in the province in the coming weeks. 

It's also expected to promptvigourous, even emotional, debate. 

Kevin Lacey, the Atlantic Director of the Canadian Taxpayers Federation is applauding the Premier for pressing ahead in the face of opposition because shale gas development holds the potential of solving alot of New Brunswick's economic problems. 

Lacey also sees alot of opportunies for Saint John in energy and points to all the talk about building a western pipeline to the Irving Oil refinery.

Port Hosts Emergency Planning Session

Being prepared is the reason for a recent marine contingency planning session hosted by the Port of Saint John.

President & CEO Jim Quinn tells CHSJ News the participants had many questions so much so that the event ran long.

He says there lots of questions for City Fire Chief Kevin Clifford and for representatives from the Port and Canaport LNG.

Quinn says the event is important to make sure as the players change everyone still has a clear understanding of their role in an emergency.

Common Councillor Says You Have To Eat An Elephant One Bite At A Time

It appears how the city's pension board is governed will be looked at by Common Council at some point in the future. 

There have been questions raised at the defamation trial of former Common Councillor John Ferguson whether there are too many trustees who are receiving or will be getting pensions from the city and does that vested judgement cloud their decisionmaking. 

Common Councillor Peter McGuire tells CHSJ News there will be plenty of time to do that but getting pension reform approved by the provincial government is the big priority right now because it will free up money that can be put into muncipal services rather than just the pension plan.