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.        

High Schooler Hurt By Bus Cuts

Concerned citizens are saying bus cuts are having a negative effect on the city's most vulnerable populations--namely, seniors, disabled persons, and students.

Tevinn Richards is a Simonds High School student who lives on the West Side. He says it's literally impossible for him to get to school on time now that the bus routes have changed. He says if he were to to try and get there early, he'd have to add on an extra hour to his school day.

Richards says he's missing out on his entire homeroom period, when students can ask questions and develop a rapport with teachers--because he doesn't arrive until halfway through the next class. 

There have been a number of protests throughout the city aimed at getting Common Council to reconsider the cuts.

Farren to Re-Offer: Says Pension is City's Achilles Heel

On the heels of public criticism from Mayor Ivan Court regarding his constant questioning of pension issues, Councillor Bill Farren says he wants another chance to address what he calls the city's Achilles heel.

Councillor Farren tells CHSJ News that he is re-offering for common council, but he won't be joining the pension board---because as he puts it, its operations are currently clouded with "shenanigans."

Farren says he hopes the electorate will support him in his bid to tackle the issues and help the city move forward.

Respected Saint John Charity Turns 30

One of Saint John's most respected charities is marking a major milestone today (Sunday): Romero House is turning 30 years old. Established in 1982, the soup kitchen has served over a million meals to Saint John residents.

Founder Carolyn McNulty says they've weathered some changes over the years since they started in 1972--and they've happy to have a building now that was designed for the soup kitchen and its needs.

One thing that hasn't changed, according to McNulty, is the need for the soup kitchen in the city. She says she's had many people come in and thank the staff years later for their assistance.

There will be a celebration at Romero house today (Sunday) from 2-4pm at 647 Brunswick Drive .

Harbour Clean-Up Will Be Complete By The End Of The Year

A huge milestone is approaching for the city -- with the recent approval of the 2012 Capital Utility Budget, City Manager Pat Woods says Harbour Clean-Up will be complete by the end of the year.

Mayor Ivan Court says it took 10 years to get the funding for the project but less than 4 years to complete it.

The 2012 Utility Budget comes in at almost 20 million dollars with almost 40 million dollars in carry-over projects.

The price tag for Harbour Clean-up is about 87 million dollars.

MP Says Budget is Good News

The federal budget is in line with protecting social programs, balancing the budget, finding efficiencies in government, and boosting the economy--that from John Williamson, the MP for Southwest New Brunswick. He says the best way to achieve those mandates is to keep taxes low and debt down.

CHSJ News asked Williamson if he's heard any concerns over changes to the age requirements for Old Age Security. He tells us its such a long-range time-frame that a lot of the backlash has quieted down. The changes won't be phased in until 2023-2029--and the demographic who was most concerned were people currently on the edge of retirement.
 

Regarding another high-profile decision--to phase out the penny--Williamson said he's heard mostly positive feedback.

Drugs & Ruckus in Rothesay

A quantity of marijuana was seized after a traffic stop on the Gondola Point arterial. The Rothesay Police pulled over a man driving with a female passenger, and noticed there appeared to be marijuana laying on the floor of the car. Both were arrested and the car was searched. The woman admitted to owning the drugs and was booked for possession of a controlled substance, then released.

Police also responded to a call from the McDonald's on Hampton Road, where some young men were causing a ruckus by screaming and swearing inside the restaurant. They were trespassed from the restaurant and taken home to be dealt with by their parents.

Greater Saint John Ready For Earth Hour 2012

The global movement to create awareness about climate change is coming up tomorrow night.

Earth Hour will be observed in 135 countries worldwide as people switch off their lights for 60 minutes.

Saint John Energy's VP of Engineering and Operations Darin Lamont tells CHSJ News it's important to take part at 8:30 tonight.

Lamont says you should take part between 8:30 and 9:30pm tomorrow in order to help reduce energy consumption.


He says Saint John on average is turning off the equivalent of 36,000 lights during Earth Hour adding on Monday morning they will examine the numbers to see how it went this year.

For more info, click here

City Solicitor Testifies "Untold Hours" Were Lost In Dealing With Ferguson

City Solicitor John Nugent continuing his testimony at the defamation trial of former Common Councilor John Ferguson.

He says the board had gotten outside advice there was no conflict of interest from receiving advice from staff about the pension, even if they sat on the board.

Nugent told the court that "untold hours" were lost from dealing with Ferguson.  He adds the timing was not great as Ferguson's issues were coming at a time when council was dealing with the controversial LNG tax deal.

Testimony will continue at the Court of Queen's Bench on Tuesday.

Losier Seeks Re-Election In Grand Bay-Westfield

The longtime mayor of Grand Bay-Westfield aims to stay put.
Grace Losier is seeking her fifth term this spring.

She tells CHSJ News one of her goals if re-elected would be to have all of the assets in place in order to grow Colonel Nase Boulevard.

She says one of those goals would be a new primary school adding it's the number one priority of the District Education Council and they support their efforts to achieve that goal.

She says they are looking forward to discussions with the province about regional service delivery boards and how it will impact the town.

Intelligent Communities Forum Has High Praise For Saint John

The Co-Founder of the Intelligent Communities Forum says Saint John is well deserving of its most recent designation.


The city was recently named one of the top 7 intelligent communities.


Louis Zacharilla tells CHSJ News it's great to see such a big focus on educating children and how the city looks at it as something that is expected of everyone.

He also gives credit to the city for building an ecosystem for entrepreneurs which will lead to less reliance on federal and provincial funding.

West Side Common Councillor Running Again

The city is going through tough financial times at the moment but Common Councillor Peter McGuire says, despite that, he's running for re-election.

McGuire sits on the city's clean drinking water committee and remains hopeful that huge project will come to pass in spite of both the provincial and federal governments tightening their belts.

McGuire tells CHSJ News people on the west side have told him their number one concern is the state of the roads but they also want to see their neighbourhoods green.
 
He also says they're concerned about the city as a whole and growth on the west side. McGuire tells us he wants to see more work done on Main Street West and Fairville Boulevard.

City Solicitor Expresses Anger At Being Likened To Martha Stewart

The defamation trial of former Common Councillor John Ferguson hears how angry and outraged City Solicitor John Nugent was at what he calls sensational assertions that were left hanging without any proof being offered to back them up.

Nugent testifies his anger was ratcheted up when Ferguson compared accepting legal advice from him to Martha Stewart whom everyone knew had been charged with illegal insider stock trading.

He was already incredibly offended at Ferguson claiming senior city staff were blocking him from getting outside advice on the pension plan which Nugent maintains was not the case because that was an option given to Common Council.

Nugent also telling the jury he found it puzzling Ferguson would not identify who was giving him legal advice referring to it only as Canadian Corporate Legal Counsel.

John Ferguson Defamation Trial

Fundy Royal M-P Defends Pension Changes

Federal Finance Minister Jim Flaherty says the Harper government is looking to the future with a budget that cuts 5.2-billion dollars in annual spending, eliminates more than 19-thousand public service jobs and promises to balance the books by 2016 at the latest. 

As expected, the government will raise the eligibility age for old age security from 65 to 67 but won't begin phasing in the change until 2023. 

Fundy Royal M-P Rob Moore tells CHSJ News the change recognises the reality there will be more and more retirees down the road. Moore says right now four workers are contributing for every retiree and in 20 years that will be down to 2 people working for every person who's retired and the average life sapan of men has risen to over 80.
 
Flaherty also announcing the mint will stop producing pennies this fall  since it costs 1.6 cents to make one.

Trial Ordered For East Side Man In Motel Robbery

A trial has been ordered for an Ellerdale Street man charged with robbing the Park Plaza Motel on Rothesay Avenue February 27th.

The same motel had been robbed on February 8th. 

25 year old Corey William Landry will remain jailed until his trial on August 8th. If convicted, he faces a minimum of 3 years in prison.

The court ordered a ban on reporting of any of the evidence from the bail hearing until Landry stands trial.

City By-Laws Get Reviewed As Part Of Municipal Development

The nitty-gritty of the new municipal is now under the microscope as PlanSJ is looking for input and feedback on its zoning by-laws.

Senior planner Mark Reade tells CHSJ News the by-laws help shape the city into the vision laid out in the municipal plan.

For example, the uptown area will see an increase in its mix of use such as more ground-level retail.

He says things can always change as the municipal is a living document but expects most of the work to be finalized by early 2013.

To give your feedback to the new zoning by-laws, click here.