Medicare Coverage Extended For Travellers

Going travelling this summer? You can now leave the province for as long as 212 days and still be covered by medicare when you get back. Currently, the maximum number of days was 182.

The extension is for vacation and visiting purposes...not business travel. Contact medicare with your dates of travel to maintain coverage.

Out-of-country costs aren't covered, except for emergencies, at a maximum of $100 per day.

Saint John Medical School To Mark Milestone

A milestone being marked tomorrow when the Class of 2014 from the medical school at U-N-B Saint John celebrates the completion of four years of undergraduate studies at the Marco Polo Cruise Terminal tomorrow. 

The Regional Director of Research for Horizon Health, Barry Strack tells CHSJ News Horizon Health and Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick have been working with eachother almost from day 1.


Horizon Health has over 600 active research studies with 200 of those sponsored by the pharmaceutical industry.
 
The Associate Dean of Dalhousie Medicine New Brunswick, Dr. John Steeves says it can now be said the medical education program in New Brunswick has been fully implemented.

Finance Minister Defends Pension Reform As Necessary

The Alward Government is pointing to pension reform and the shared risk model as one of its accomplishments. 

The Liberals are accusing the government of not doing enough consultation which is a charge being rejected by Provincial Finance Minister Blaine Higgs.
 
Higgs is accusing the Liberals of trying to exploit this issue for votes with the provincial election in late September even though the cost would be borne by taxpayers.

Higgs argues something had to be done because pensions were in jeopardy and he accuses the Liberals of looking through the rear view mirror.

Another Big Theft Of Copper In City

If you're building anywhere in the city or own a home that's under construction, you might want to keep close tabs on it.

Another copper theft has been reported at two vacant homes in the city.

The call came in around noon to two homes on Saddlebrook Court. Police can't pinpoint when it happened other than that it was probably sometime in the last year.

The forensic unit came and processed the scenes where a large amount of copper electrical wire was stolen.

Health Minister Says Any Loss Of Federal Money Is No Big Deal

Any hope that New Brunswick will be getting more money from the Harper Government because of next year's federal budget surplus have been dashed by the Prime Minister who says he prefers to cut taxes. 

Provincial Health Minister Ted Flemming says there's a surplus in health of 44 million dollars which would be far above any reduction from Ottawa. The worst case scenario would be a loss of 18 million federal dollars.
 
The Conservatives have been hammering away at the Opposition Liberals, accusing them of financial mismanagement when they were in power and leaving the Alward Government with a huge deficit to deal with.

Conservation Plan Aims To Connect City Folk With Nature

How do you connect city-dwelling Canadians with nature?   The Harper Government will spend over 9 million bucks over the next 5 years figuring that out.
 
It's all part of a Conservation plan announced near Fredericton and the Nature Conservancy of Canada President John Lounds was there. 

He says the Feds are investing over $252 million dollars over the next 5 years in many aspects of conservation including 
funding for marine and coastal conservation, creating a national inventory of conserved areas in Canada and $50 million to restore wetlands.

It also includes $3 million dollars over three years to Earth Rangers to expand their family-oriented conservation programming.

Lounds says he's pretty pumped about the plan and can't wait to get working on it.

Mindcare NB Doles Out Funding To 14 Organizations

With the planning, organizing and promoting the events behind them, Mindcare New Brunswick staff get the fun of handing out money to deserving local groups.

Over $133,000 in funding was handed out at the Regional hospital to 14 different organizations.

They include the Kids Have Stress Too program of the Canadian Mental Health Association, Interaction School of Performing Arts and the New Brunswick Association of Social Workers.

The money was raised through events like Skate to Care and the Regional Hospital Foundation's Hospital Home Lottery.

Police Seeking Saint John Man

RCMP seeking your help fniding 27-year-old Corey Hoss Melvin of Saint John. He's charged with fraud, obstruction, drug possession, theft and more.

Police believe Melvin may be in either the Saint John area or Halifax. He is described as white, 5'10 , 220lbs with brown hair and eyes.

The RCMP is asking anyone with any information to contact the Riverview RCMP Detachment at 506-387-2222 or anonymously through Crime Stoppers at www.crimenb.ca or 1-800-222-TIPS (8477).

You're Paying A Lot More Tax To Fill Up

Federal and provincial taxes on gas in the last five years are costing drivers in the province 25 per cent more to fill up. 

That calculation coming from the Canadian Taxpayers Federation whose Atlantic Director, Kevin Lacey estimates is around 7.8 cents a litre.
 
Lacey tells CHSJ News just five years ago, the price of gas in Saint John was under a dollar a litre. 

Since the Harper Government is crowing about a federal budget surplus next year, Lacey says its time to get rid of the 1.5 cent a litre deficit elimination tax which was brough in back in 1995.

Woman Awoken By Intruder In Millidgeville

A woman received a rude awakening around 10:30pm last night on Birchdale Crescent in Millidgeville.

Sergeant Jay Henderson explains the woman was sleeping when she heard the doorbell ring. She didn't answer it--but then heard noises coming from downstairs.

She went downstairs to find a small man wearing a brown jacket with a receding hairline standing there.

He took off out of a patio door. Police searched the Cedarwood subdivsion but didn't find him. The Forensic Unit has processed the scene.

Retired General Says Situation In Ukraine Is Scary

25 European Union ambassadors were asking Premier David Alward about the opportunity of getting energy exported from Saint John. 

The Premier says it's because of the unrest happening in the Ukraine and the aggressive posture adopted by Russian President Vladimir Putin. 

Retired General Rick Hillier, who made an appearance at the Boys and Girls Club, says they should be worried as he calls the situation in the Ukraine "frightening" because when people start getting killed then the genie is out of the bottle and  no one knows where this is going.

New Anti-Poverty Initiatives To Be Announced

Stay tuned........Premier David Alward says he'll be announcing in a matter of days phase two of the strategy to combat poverty after consultations that have taken place over the past year. 

Phase One happened under the previous Liberal government after a wide ranging roundtable discussion a few years ago in Market Square when Shawn Graham was Premier and Alward was Opposition Leader. 

Saint John Portland M-L-A Trevor Holder tells CHSJ News he's proud of what he has done in public office to tackle poverty and that's why he fought so hard to get the new "Y" built in Crescent Valley which the Premier predicts will change that part of the city for a lifetime.

Thibodeau & Hooper Facing Drugs & Weapons Charges

Two East Side men in their twenties are facing a rather lengthy list of drugs and weapons charges.

24 year old Justin James Thibodeau and 23 year old David Gordon Hooper of Courtenay Avenue are charged with possession of 600 grams of marijuana, hash, and Percocet for the purpose of trafficking. The drugs are valued at over $10,000.

They're accused as well of having cash obtained by crime, and having a loaded sawed off 12-gauge shotgun.

Hooper pleaded not guilty to all the charges and will appear in court on July 2 to set a trial date. Thibodeau's bail hearing is set for tomorrow morning at 9:30. 

An 18 year old woman will also be appearing in court on drug and weapons charges.

Premier Defends Financial Incentives As A Smart Investment

NDP Leader Dominic Cardy does not like the Alward's government repeated use of payroll rebates and forgivable loans to boost job creation.

Premier David Alward tells CHSJ News he can have his own opinion.

Alward question what Cardy will do adding these are smart investments in the neighbourhood of $600,000 by the time it's all finished.

Alward says this announcement means more people will have good jobs allowing them to stay here.    He considers it high value and low risk.

Charges Laid In West Side Violence

Two men appearing in provincial court to be charged after an altercation that turned deadly on the West Side Tuesday night.
 
Anthony Beckingham of Sea Street is charged with assault with a weapon after a 61 year old man was run over at Lancaster and Tower Streets. His case has been adjourned without plea until June 23rd.
 
Fred Cormier Junior also appearing in court to be charged with second degree murder in the death of 23 year old Spencer Eldridge. His case was also set over without plea until June 2nd. In the meantime, he will remain locked up. 

A funeral service will be held Saturday morning at 10:00 for Eldridge at Brenan's Bay View funeral home on Manawagonish Road.

Dealermine To Add 135 Jobs in Saint John

The workforce at Dealermine in Saint John will be increasing.

At the Diamond Jubilee Cruise Terminal, 

Premier David Alward announcing Dealermine will add 135 jobs to it's Port City operation.

Dealermine gets a payroll rebate from the province of up to $290,000 and a forgivable loan of $150,000 if they create and maintain 135 full time jobs by March 2017.

Dealermine provides customer relations solutions to auto dealerships in North America.

Premier Says Europe Is Interested In Energy From Saint John

Provincial Tourism, Culture and Heritage Minister Trevor Holder winning the Conservative party nomination in Saint John Portland unopposed. 

Holder tells CHSJ News voters will have a simple choice to make on September 22nd between the guys who spent money like a drunken sailor, tried to put the locks on U-N-B Saint John and attempted to sell NB Power or the Conservatives who have reduced the provincial debt and have a plan to revitalise the economy.
 
Premier David Alward says he met recently with 25 ambassadors from the European Union and energy exports from Saint John were foremost in their thoughts because of what's happening in the Ukraine and Russia. He adds India wants to quintuple the imports of natural gas over the next six years.
 
Meantime, Bill Oliver of Kiersteadville will run for the Conservatives in Kings Centre. He most recently worked as Executive Assistant to Provincial Finance Minister Blaine Higgs.

Work Begins On New Elementary School In Quispamsis

 A brand new elementary school is going up in Quispamsis for 350 students and will include 14 classrooms, a music room, performing arts room and a media library centre.

Zoe Watson of Anglophone South school district tells CHSJ News educators will also be excited about office space for professionals who might visit the school.

She says our schools were built in a time when visiting professionals didn't come into schools but now it could be social workers, speech language pathologists and physiotherapists.

The new school is set to open in September 2015.      Work is starting on a new regulation-sized soccer field for Quispamsis Middle School because the land where the new school will be built is where the QMS field is located now.

New Program Aims To Keep Seniors Home Longer

No one wants to see mom or dad go into a nursing home or hospital and a new program called Home First is designed to keep seniors at home longer.

The idea behind the program is to make hospital admissions, lengthy stays and transfers from hospitals to residential facilities more last resorts rather than common practice as they are now.

The plan is based on feedback from seniors and health care professionals.

The province is investing 7.2 million in the first year of the program.

To learn more about the program, click here

Extra Two Weeks To Report Flood Damage

If you were impacted by the spring flooding, you now have an extra two weeks to report property damage to the province. 

Flood damage is estimated at more than 14 million dollars with most of that in the Sussex area.

According to the Public Safety Minister Bruce Northrup, they have decided to extend the deadline until May 30 because over seven-hundred people have already filed reports over the past month and they are getting new reports every day.

You can report flood damage by calling Service New Brunswick 1-888-298-8555, or online by clicking here.