HALIFAX, TUESDAY, APRIL 19, 2022
COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE ON SUPPLY
4:04 P.M.
CHAIR
Angela Simmonds
THE CHAIR: The Committee of the Whole on Supply will come to order.
The honourable Deputy Government House Leader.
JOHN WHITE: Madam Chair, would you please call Resolution E36.
Resolution E36 - Resolved, that a sum not exceeding $606,960,000 be granted to the Lieutenant Governor to defray expenses in respect of the Department of Public Works, pursuant to the Estimate.
THE CHAIR: I now invite the Minister of Public Works to make opening comments and introduce her staff in committee, for up to an hour.
HON. KIM MASLAND: Thank you, Madam Chair, and good afternoon. Thank you for the opportunity to talk about the work that we do at the Department of Public Works on behalf of Nova Scotians today in Estimates.
Today I have the following staff with me: Mark Peachey, Acting Chief Engineer, Highway Programs; Gerard Jessome, Chief Executive of Engineering, Building and Infrastructure; and Brent Pero, Executive Director, Financial Advisory Services.
I would like to start by saying how proud I am to be the Minister of Public Works, surrounded by incredible, competent, dedicated, dynamic and passionate staff. Whether it is in the fields with our highways maintenance and operations, front line service delivery in the districts, Registry of Motor Vehicles, inspection and safety, engineering and construction, corporate services, building project services, real property and building services, policy and planning, financial and capital planning, communications, human resources, our operations call centre, and so much more, I can confidently say that Nova Scotians are well served by those who work in Public Works.
As you know, our government renamed several departments to reflect government’s vision for better health care, universal mental health services, dignity for seniors, rebuilding the economy and more better-paying jobs. We were one of the departments renamed when the former Department of Transportation and Active Transit and the Infrastructure portion of the former Department of Infrastructure and Housing, merged to form the new Department of Public Works.
Quality roadways and buildings support the ability of Nova Scotians to thrive in their communities and across the province. The mandate of the Department of Public Works is to collaborate with other government departments, the private sector, and stakeholders to address Nova Scotians’ transportation and infrastructure needs.
As you know, I, like other ministers, was also given a mandate letter in September with a number of definable goals to achieve - I am pleased to say that a number of those goals have already been achieved. Well maintained, good quality roads are essential for rural communities - 35 per cent of our provincial roads are gravel roads and many Nova Scotians travel every day on gravel roads in their communities. As a rural MLA, I understand the importance of rebuilding and maintaining our gravel roads. These roads are the ones that Nova Scotians travel on daily to go to work, to school, attend medical appointments, and visit with family and friends.
I want to reassure you that as minister, I am committed to ensuring our gravel roads are safe. That’s why last September I was pleased to announce a doubling in funding for the Gravel Road Capital Program from $20 million to $40 million per year. This was one of the first announcements I made as minister, and I was so very pleased to respond to Nova Scotians’ request for investment in our gravel roads.
This program is a proactive approach that will rebuild roads to improve the structure and drainage. This will result in longer-lasting driving surfaces and make regular road maintenance easier.
The list of gravel road projects is contained in our Five-Year Highway Improvement Plan. The Gravel Road Capital Program is not an application-based program. Department staff evaluate and prioritize the gravel roads that need the work the most. Along with traffic volume, the criteria include potholes; loss of gravel in soft areas; ditches; culverts; overgrown brush; and drainage pipes.
I was also pleased last Fall to announce a doubling of the funding for the Rural Impact Mitigation Program from $11 million to $22 million. As members know, the RIM program supports road maintenance improvements, which include pavement patching, shoulder gravel, gravel patching, brush clearing, ditching, guard rail replacement, and shoreline protection.
These two new investments will help Nova Scotians get where they’re going safely and efficiently through improvements of our network of more than 8,400 kilometres of gravel roads.
Last December I was also pleased to announce the elimination of tolls on the Cobequid Pass for Nova Scotia-registered vehicles. On the morning of December 16, 2021, the MLA for Cumberland South and I were among the last Nova Scotians to pay a toll to drive on the Cobequid Pass. It was a great day for Nova Scotians, and a great day to be the Minister of Public Works.
Another proud moment as minister was to finally be the government to address the concerns of paying tolls for folks living in Cumberland County and beyond. The removal of the tolls is going very smoothly, and Nova Scotians are expressing a great deal of interest in getting a free transponder to enable quicker and more efficient movement through the toll gates. I actually drove through the pass on Easter weekend, and it was just incredible. I just pulled up with my transponder and went through very easily.
The department will construct two new rest areas with parking and basic facilities, one eastbound and one westbound, near the existing Cobequid Pass toll plaza. That preliminary work will begin this year.
As I said earlier, our department carries out the mandate to ensure that we deliver safe, quality roads and highways for Nova Scotians. Anyone travelling the highways and roads like I do, going back and forth from Liverpool, knows just how critical good roads are to the people and the businesses of Nova Scotia. Our department’s more than 2,000 employees are committed to the delivery of safe roads that help keep people connected and the economy moving.
During my travels, I have had the opportunity to see the service provided by our Public Works employees, from plowing and salting in the Winter to filling potholes in the Spring, and I can see the results of their hard work. Over the past seven months, we have faced a tough Fall and Winter with extreme weather conditions ranging from heavy rainfall to sudden swings in temperature to hurricane-like winds that challenge Nova Scotians and our department’s road crews. The extreme weather washed out numerous roads and bridges, leaving some communities completely cut off, and washed away salt and sand from our roads, making it extremely challenging to prevent icy conditions.
[4:15 p.m.]
I would like to take this opportunity to thank our road crews for their hard work and commitment, and for working tirelessly around the clock to help ensure that our roads are safe for all Nova Scotians.
Given the severity of recent storms, the Department of Public Works is certainly taking into consideration the impact of climate change. Our planning is done through a climate change lens. We have a strong capital plan and we have been steadily upgrading and improving infrastructure across the province. All new projects are designed and constructed with climate change readiness in mind. We’re also working to ensure that we have spare culverts and pre-built temporary bridges on hand to react to severe storms and storm surges when they impact our existing infrastructure.
I would like to now talk a bit about the Chignecto Isthmus study. Concern about climate change and its impact is also behind our recent release of the Chignecto Isthmus Climate Change Adaptation Comprehensive Engineering and Feasibility Study. The study is to identify potential options to protect the transportation infrastructure on the Chignecto Isthmus from the impacts of climate change.
Work on the study began in 2018. It is a collaboration between New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, and the federal government, to ensure this vital economic link and trade corridor between both provinces remains protected. We now have three well-considered options for protecting the critical transportation infrastructure on the Chignecto Isthmus, as well as the agricultural land and, most importantly, local communities. This study will help guide our decisions.
The options outlined in the study are raising the existing dikes, building new dikes, or raising the existing dikes and installing steel sheet pile walls at select locations. Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will decide on a course of action after discussing these options with the federal government. The cost of each option ranges from $190 million to more than $300 million.
As you can see, we are a very busy department, and I’ve only begun to talk about all the various projects our department has under way. We do all of this work with an overall operating budget of almost $607 million in 2022-23. The operating portion of our budget is used for the day-to-day operations of the department such as snow and ice control, highway and bridge maintenance, field operations, fleet amortization, ferry operations, vehicle compliance, engineering and construction services, administration, professional services, employee benefits, road improvement maintenance work, and smaller highway and building projects.
In January we released the Province’s Five-Year Highway Improvement Plan for 2022-2023. It’s the 13th year our department has unveiled our five-year plan for building, repairing, and maintaining our roads, highways, and bridges. The plan includes the work that our department plans to pursue annually over the next five years.
Sharing this plan lets Nova Scotians know about the improvements being made in their communities and when they can expect the work to be done. It also helps give Nova Scotian companies a better opportunity to prepare for the more than 150 highway improvement projects planned in the coming year. Our department continues an ambitious spending program this coming roadbuilding season, one of the largest in provincial history.
That means families and communities across Nova Scotia will have improved access to health care, schools, highways, and public infrastructure. This investment will build and maintain 24,000 kilometres of roads that span four regional districts, from Yarmouth to Amherst to the northern shores of Cape Breton. Our network also includes more than 4,200 bridges and nine subsidized provincial ferries. This level of investment is to the great benefit of not only public safety but also to our economy. The roadbuilding industry in Nova Scotia is a large source of jobs, creating more than 5,000 direct and 2,500 indirect positions every year. You can count on us to continue building quality roads and highways, even through these challenging COVID-19 times.
I am also pleased to note the additional $30 million for bridge replacement and rehabilitation announced in the Province’s recent capital plan. This new investment doubles the allocation for bridge replacement and rehabilitation to $60 million annually. There will be a lot of work on Nova Scotia’s bridges this year. Before the recent announcement, we were already planning to build 12 new bridges and replace 18 bridges. The additional $30 million will enable us to do even more.
Last year, our department paved about 455 kilometres of roads and highways, and we laid 730,000 tons of asphalt. Tenders were issued for 179 highway and roadwork projects. This year, the progress continues with more than 150 scheduled.
We are also investing $220 million in design work, road improvement, and rehabilitation. That number includes equipment purchases and ferries, $101.9 million in asphalt work, $40 million for renewed gravel roads, and more than $59 million to replace and rehabilitate bridges. With funds added for major construction, such as twinning our 100-Series highways and work on Highway No. 104, the total anticipated spending for 2022-23 is approximately $507.8 million.
I’ll now talk a little bit about our twinning projects. The 100-Series Highways are the backbone of our transportation system, carrying people and goods from one end of our province to the other. That is why our department continues to be committed to ongoing highway twinning projects, including Highway No. 101, Highway No. 103, Highway No. 104, and Highway No. 107, the Sackville-Bedford-Burnside Connector. Here’s a quick update on these projects.
Highway No. 101: The Highway No. 101 twinning project through the Windsor area from Three Mile Plains at Exit No. 5 to west of Falmouth at Exit No. 7, is also well underway. The 9.5-kilometre twinning project includes the Windsor Causeway. Due to the complexity of the aboiteau project on the Windsor Causeway, the environmental approval process has been longer than anticipated, and it is still ongoing. Pending approval of the aboiteau, our department expects to be construction-ready this Summer. Work is proceeding for a smooth and safe transition of the highway through the causeway. This project is scheduled to be completed in 2024.
The Highway No. 102 Aerotech Connector: Construction began this Spring on the Highway No. 102 Aerotech Connector project. The project includes a new connector road between Trunk No. 2 and Highway No. 102 at Exit No. 5A, roundabouts, and two other structures. This project will allow direct access to Highway No. 102 from Wellington and surrounding areas, providing improved connectivity of the provincial highway network. The project is expected to be completed by late Summer 2023.
I’ll now move on to the Highway No. 102 Lantz interchange. Speaking of Highway No. 102, I am very pleased to say that in late December, we opened the new Lantz interchange. The new interchange will help reduce traffic congestion and provide a safer commute for Nova Scotians. This was a $28-million project, with the provincial and the federal governments each contributing $14 million.
Highway No. 103: The Highway No. 103 twinning project will make it safer and easier for local residents, tourists, and commercial drivers travelling on this key transportation route along our South Shore. Work is ongoing for the subgrade and bridge structures, and we are aiming to have the paving completed and the twinned section opened in June 2023.
The Highway No. 103 Bridgewater interchange - the project will provide improved access to the highway and support future growth of the Bridgewater Business Park. The Highway No. 103 Bridgewater interchange is a multiple-year project, and it is a complex project which is scheduled to be completed during the 2023-2024 fiscal year.
Highway No. 104 – the twinning of Sutherlands River to Antigonish continues to be a priority as it will improve safety and efficiency along that stretch of highway. In the Summer of 2020, we officially broke ground on the Highway No. 104 twinning project from Sutherlands River to Antigonish.
Our P3 partner, Dexter Nova Alliance, will continue that work this year. This alliance will deliver a safer and more efficient highway years earlier than a traditional build. The project includes 28 kilometres of a new two-lane highway and 10 kilometres of a new four-lane twinned highway. There are two new interchanges and about 24 bridges. Construction is well under way and ongoing. The project is on track and expected to be completed before the end of 2023. The project includes 28 kilometres of new two-lane, twinned highway and 10 kilometres of a new four-lane, twinned highway. There are two new interchanges and about 24 bridges – I think I got a repeat there.
Dexter Nova Alliance will also operate and maintain the highway for 20 years, following substantial completion of the project and to standards set by the Province.
Highway No. 107 - Sackville-Bedford-Burnside Connector. This new four-lane highway will more directly connect Burnside Industrial Park and surrounding communities with our major provincial highway network, including Highway No. 102, Highway No. 107, and Highway No. 118. This connector will result in improved safety, reduced travel times, and the more efficient movement of people and goods through the provincial highway system. Construction is ongoing for the subgrade and bridge structures.
The new Akerley Boulevard interchange in Burnside was opened in Summer 2021. This project is currently on track to be completed in the Fall of 2023.
The department will continue to invest in safety improvements of highways not being twinned. That work involves improving at-grade intersections, adding passing lanes, climbing lanes, and turning lanes, as well as roundabouts.
Speaking of roundabouts, along with our investment in the 100-Series Highways we are also investing in safe and efficient roundabouts to help keep our roads safe for the public. Work will continue this year on multi-year construction of roundabouts and upgrades along Kings Road in Sydney. Work to convert the Port Hastings rotary to a roundabout started in 2021 and, as part of the ongoing commitment to improve sections of un-twinned highways, will continue this season.
I’ll now move on to talk about our provincial ferries. Over the past year our provincial ferries have provided transportation to one million people and 600,000 vehicles in eight locations across the province - Country Harbour, Englishtown, Grand Passage, LaHave, Little Narrows, Petit Passage, Pictou Island, and Tancook Island.
Since the Department of Public Works was last in Estimates, last year, we have launched the new Country Harbour ferry, the Theodore O’Hara, and will launch the new Little Narrows ferry in Victoria County later this Spring. We will have more to say about the name of the new ferry soon.
Both ferries are being replaced by new 15-car cable ferries, increasing passenger capacity, and improving overall operational efficiency. The new ferries will make daily travel more reliable and comfortable for area residents and visitors, allowing them to travel to and from our region’s top destinations and attractions safely and efficiently.
[4:30 p.m.]
Residents of Little and Big Tancook Islands will also benefit from a new car ferry. The new 18-car ferry will provide shorter, more frequent trips, and allow transport trucks and emergency response vehicles to access the islands. There are also provisions for people to walk on and bike on as we have seating capacity and bicycle storage on the new vessel, too. The new vessel will replace the existing 40-year-old foot passenger ferry.
The Tancook Island ferry departure route is also changing to accommodate a car ferry. The landing will move to Blandford, Lunenburg County from Chester. Travel time on the new route will drop from 50 to 30 minutes. The number of daily crossings will increase from four to about 10. Construction of a new Tancook ferry is underway with an estimated completion date of Fall 2023.
Now to talk about public infrastructure. Our department continues to be responsible for the more than 2,400 government structures and their associated properties. Buildings include provincial museums, justice centres, and government offices. Our department is responsible for the daily operations and maintenance to ensure a safe, secure, effective, and efficient work environment for the building tenants.
The operational budget is more than $40 million which is up $5.1 million from the last fiscal year. There is an additional $15.6 million for capital resulting in over $56 million for tangible capital assets.
Now to talk about our health care infrastructure projects. Our employees are also responsible for managing the delivery of provincial buildings such as schools and hospitals. Government continues to work closely with the Nova Scotia Health Authority on the province’s largest health care project to date: The QEII New Generation project.
The QEII New Generation project is the largest health care investment project in Nova Scotia’s history. The QEII New Generation project continues to make exciting progress.
Earlier this year, the Dartmouth General Hospital reached a major milestone with the completion of the expansion and renovations. The Dartmouth General is now a bright, modern care facility with new operating rooms, expanded in-patient and outpatient capacity, diagnostic imaging, and renal dialysis capacity. There is better way-finding state of the art technology for better patient outcomes, increased privacy, and spaces for families to gather and to be together.
Construction continues at the Bayers Lake QEII Community Outpatient Centre and the building will be weathertight this Spring. This outpatient care centre is located at the juncture of two major provincial highways, cutting travel shorter for Nova Scotians who need to come to Halifax for care. Its services will include primary care, several different types of clinics, eye care, rehabilitation services, renal dialysis, and others.
At the QEII Halifax Infirmary campus, work continues to establish Atlantic Canada’s first hybrid operating room, a special surgical theatre with advanced medical imaging equipment. There, care team members use imaging equipment to insert scopes through small incisions to operate on patients. These procedures are less invasive, which means they’re safer, and the patient recovers faster. This operating room will open this Spring.
Finally, the expansion of the QEII Halifax Infirmary campus is getting closer to construction. The expansion of the QEII Halifax Infirmary campus will include more operating rooms, more inpatient beds, a new outpatient centre, and a new cancer centre, among other improvements.
The CBRM Health Care Redevelopment project is a very exciting project. This project will transform the delivery of health care in CBRM and will improve Cape Bretoners’ access to health care. This project will help address challenges with aging infrastructure, recruiting and retaining health care professionals, and ensuring the appropriate care is delivered in the appropriate environment for patients and staff. New modern facilities will provide space for the use of modern technologies, meet current and future standards, support patient-centred care, and sustain health services right across CBRM.
At the Cape Breton Regional Hospital expansion project site, structural steel is underway for the energy centre, structural steel is expected to begin on the cancer centre later this Spring or early Summer, and the foundation for the clinical service building is expected to begin late Summer or early Fall 2022. At the New Waterford hub project site, construction is scheduled to begin this Spring, starting with the Breton Education Centre school. The recreation facilities are completed and include a new artificial turf field, walking track, tennis courts, grass soccer pitch, as well as new outbuildings.
Early site preparation for the Northside General Hospital project is nearly completed, with foundation work expected this Summer, starting with the laundry centre.
The Glace Bay Hospital additions and renovation design development is nearing completion.
There’s incredible, exciting work happening in Cape Breton.
Now, a bit of an update on the Traffic Safety Act: It has been a busy year, with public consultations for the draft regulations of the Traffic Safety Act. The TSA was passed unanimously in Fall 2018. It will replace the outdated Motor Vehicle Act, which was written in the early 1920s. The TSA is designed as a framework, setting broad policy and regulatory authority to quickly address changing technologies and future road safety needs. Since the last major revision in 1989, the Motor Vehicle Act has been amended more than 62 times.
We have been taking a phased approach for public feedback on proposed regulations. Since the department was last in Estimates, we have held our final two input sessions on the Traffic Safety Act, seeking feedback on the following subject areas: proposed regulations that will define the offences and mandatory suspensions under the Act and the proposed regulations on weights and dimensions of all vehicles, including trucks, buses, trailers, and other vehicles. Those final two feedback sessions conclude the final phase of public input into draft regulations.
To date, the department has received more than 1,800 comments on the draft regulations. A special thank you to all Nova Scotians who took the time to provide feedback. The Traffic Safety Act, once in effect, will be more concise than the current Motor Vehicle Act. It will enable government to quickly address the more technical and day-to-day issues that arise in the evolving environment of transportation and road safety, moving technical detail to regulation and allowing more flexibility and responsiveness to emerging issues.
Next, we will work on completing the final versions of the regulations. The Act will come into effect after the regulations are finalized, and the new Registry of Motor Vehicles.
Now to move on to active transit. We are working with communities to encourage investment in active transportation infrastructure that provides clean alternatives, promotes a good quality of life, and contributes to our climate change goals. Since 2012, we have invested over $9.2 million and 256 projects across the province to support and advance community-based clean energy and transportation initiatives through the Low Carbon Communities and Connect2 programs. These investments continue to create green jobs across the province while improving the environment and our communities.
Our work growing Nova Scotia’s Blue Route continues. To date, we have opened 480 kilometres of Blue Route - 152 kilometres on the road and 328 kilometres on trails. I’m all excited to say that we plan to open 35 more kilometres of the Blue Route this year. I’ll look forward to saying more about that later this year. I would also note that our department is the lead on government’s commitment to develop a new active transportation strategy by 2023.
Now to talk about community transportation. Community transportation is very important. Again, as a rural MLA, and even before becoming an MLA, I have seen first-hand the importance of accessible, affordable community transportation, and I will continue to be a strong advocate for inclusive transportation in our province. I am so pleased that we are investing $7 million to develop, support, and grow community transportation across the province, especially in our rural areas.
We will be providing the 21 community transportation services that provide door-to-door service in rural Nova Scotia with $1.9 million in operating funding through the Community Transportation Assistance Program. These operators, along with the municipally owned accessible transit services, will be eligible to receive funding through the Accessible Transportation Assistance Program to purchase accessible vehicles. This is an $840,000 program.
Staff will work with our partners in the sector, along with our First Nation communities, municipalities, and not-for-profit groups to identify areas of investment to help build a sustainable, integrated, and connected network throughout the province. These investments will help ensure that Nova Scotians have access to reliable and affordable transportation options so that they are able to attend essential services like jobs, medical appointments, food shopping, training opportunities, or events in their communities.
Our funding supports community transportation in a number of ways. It supports the potential development of community transportation by funding studies in communities such as the Municipality of the District of St. Mary’s and the Municipality of the District of Lunenburg, to determine whether there is a demand for community transit, which can lead to the development of a service.
It also supports existing community transportation providers like last year, when we provided more than $617,000 to help our providers buy 15 new vehicles to keep their fleets upgraded or to grow their fleet. We will continue to work with fellow departments and stakeholders to promote and encourage active and community transportation to transform how we move both people and goods throughout the province, with the ultimate goal of improving the quality of lives.
I’ll now move on to Boat Harbour. We are committed to returning Boat Harbour to its original state, as a tidal estuary. It’s a commitment to the people of Pictou Landing First Nation and Pictou County and we intend to keep it. We are partnering and consulting with Pictou Landing First Nation, other levels of government, industry, regulators, and academic researchers to make sure human health and the environment will be protected in all stages of this project. Our goal is to begin the cleanup procurement in 2022 or 2023, subject to federal environmental assessment approval process.
The 2015 Boat Harbour Act legislated that the Boat Harbour effluent treatment facility would close by January 31, 2020. The facility stopped receiving pulp mill effluent prior to January 31, 2020; $310 million has been set aside for the project. The federal government is contributing $100 million. We will continue to work closely with the Pictou Landing First Nation, with local residents, with the federal and provincial regulators, with technical advisors and scientists to effectively address the needs of the site.
[4:45 p.m.]
Now onto Nova Scotia Lands. Of course, I should also talk about the work being done at Nova Scotia Lands, our Crown corporation. Nova Scotia Lands’ mandate is to assess and, where necessary, remediate provincially owned properties with the objective of returning these lands to reusable condition, with no substantive environmental or safety concerns. It also has an asset management focus on government-owned lands.
Nova Scotia Lands is responsible for assets which include: Harbourside Commercial Park, Open Hearth Park, Port Mersey Commercial Park, Trenton Commercial Park, Boat Harbour Effluent Treatment Facility, the Harrietsfield Landfill Remediation site, and Pictou wharf.
The Halifax Dartmouth Bridge Commission, or as it is now referred to, Halifax Harbour Bridges, is a commission and public utility which reports through my office. Tolls collected by the commission are used for the operation and maintenance of the two bridges. Halifax’s two harbour bridges are critical pieces of Nova Scotia’s transportation network. Halifax Harbour Bridges is proposing to do $280 million worth of work over the next 10 years to extend the life of the MacKay Bridge, and to keep the Macdonald Bridge operating at peak efficiency.
The recent toll increase saw the price for passenger vehicles using the MACPASS increase from 80 cents to $1.00 and for passenger vehicles using cash, go from $1.00 to $1.25. This will allow Halifax Harbour Bridges to fund a 10-year capital plan and continue to provide safe, efficient, and reliable cross-harbour transportation for the next decade. It is the first toll increase in a decade.
Now moving on to the Nova Scotia Maine ferry service. As we all know, the Nova Scotia Maine ferry service was unable to operate in 2020 and 2021, due to the Canada-U.S. border being closed to non-essential travel in March 2020, due to the COVID-19 global pandemic. This year this service will once again be able to operate and for the first time it will link our new port of call in Bar Harbor, Maine, with Yarmouth. The high-speed ferry service is scheduled to resume in May and conclude in October. A great deal has been invested in the Yarmouth ferry. Both parties have a contractual obligation to make sure the service produces the greatest possible benefit for our province. We are hopeful for a good season for the ferry service, and we wish the operator success in 2022.
Finally, I would like to talk about the Joint Regional Transportation Agency. I continue to be very excited about the planning and collaboration of this group. I have always believed that when you collaborate and when you plan, you are successful. The department has been working very hard in setting up this agency to ensure its success.
Improving the flow of people and goods in and out of HRM is critical to the residents of Halifax Regional Municipality and to all Nova Scotians. That’s why the Province has established a Joint Regional Transportation Agency with Halifax Regional Municipality to review roads, ferries, and public transit to ensure that the transportation system is set up for growth.
The agency’s advisory committee has been put together and has had its first meeting on March 15th. The department has named an interim CEO for the agency and is in the process of looking for a permanent CEO.
In the next few months, we expect to have the Joint Regional Transportation Agency fully up and running. The recent budget allocated $2 million for the agency, which will be used to hire three staff and for consultants to help with the work to develop the master transportation plan for HRM to guide its work.
I could talk for hours on the incredible work that happens each day at Public Works; work that touches every department in government and touches the lives of every Nova Scotian. Our commitment, our investment in our province, will help our province grow, prosper, and thrive. With that, I’ll be happy to take questions.
THE CHAIR: According to the practice that has developed in this Legislature, the Opposition caucuses take turns asking questions for approximately one hour each. I will note that this initial question period may be just about an hour or maybe a little bit less.
During a caucus’s turn, the members within a caucus may take turns examining the minister, but only the minister may answer questions. Caucuses are also expected to share time with the independent member. We will begin with the Official Opposition.
The honourable member for Clare.
RONNIE LEBLANC: Some of my questions are quite local, so I don’t expect the minister to know the exact details of the questions, but I’m going to have some questions that are more policy related, so maybe I’ll just start with a bit of the preamble. It’s around K-class roads.
I’ve been meeting with a group of residents who are having difficulties accessing their property. They’ve written a letter to your department, and the warden of the Municipality of Clare has also written a letter to your department requesting that the Frank Comeau Road, which is a K-class road about 0.8 kilometres long - it abuts Maza Road which is a road that is maintained by Public Works - but is virtually at times unpassable, so residents have been forced to do work themselves on the K-class road.
What I’m looking for maybe, if it’s possible, is to go through what the policy or the procedure is to look at a K-class road in terms of its reclassification if traffic patterns have changed.
KIM MASLAND: K-class roads seem to be something that we hear lots about. As you would know, our policy for K-class roads is that we do not maintain K-class roads, nor do we put any type of funding towards that maintenance or upgrade. But there is a provision that if someone is a resident of that road, if they’re interested in putting some work into that road, they can apply to the department for funding, up to $5,000 to put towards improvements or maintenance on that road.
RONNIE LEBLANC: Just to be extremely clear - there’s no policy or procedure where there would be an evaluation of traffic on that road to re-evaluate the classification of it? It seems, as people build homes everywhere and traffic increases, at some point, K-Class roads should - there should be a mechanism or procedure where there can be an evaluation around the reclassification. Is it absolute - there’s no way to get that situation rectified?
KIM MASLAND: To be clear, there is no provision right now. What I would say to the honourable member is that certainly this is something that I will make sure that we look into and discuss here at the department.
RONNIE LEBLANC: That takes care of a few of my questions, actually. It is important that it be looked at. I think there’s a bit of confusion. The letter was sent to your department, and then your department reached out to the area manager and spoke with her. There was never a clear indication through correspondence with the residents that there was no opportunity for that to be looked at. I’ll certainly communicate that to the residents and try to set up a meeting with the area manager.
Another question, if I may - this one is very, very local, I would say. In Mavillette at the beach, in 2018 there was a bridge on the John Doucette Road. The original bridge was 70 years old and the original bridge at 4.5 metres in span, compared to the new bridge, it is 29 metres in span. Since the installation of this bridge, there has been considerable erosion of the beach; the marsh attached or associated with the beach, has become salinized to the point where wildlife has stopped going there. Some of the wells in the area, from what I’ve been told, need a filtration system to be able to drink.
A number of letters have gone back and forth to Public Works. A letter dated October 20, 2021, from a concerned resident - they received a letter from Public Works, I should say. The letter stated that at this time the Department of Public Works consultation team do not consider the bridge on John Doucette Road as a cause for concern for either the Mavillette marsh or the beach. It is further stated that our team will consider further assessment of the beach erosion and sedimentation this year and subsequent years.
I know there has been back and forth between different departments, the Department of Environment and Climate Change, the Department of Natural Resources and Renewals, and the Department of Public Works because Public Works was responsible for the bridge replacement. I’m not really expecting an answer today because as I say, it’s specific to the Municipality of Clare, the riding of Clare.
[5:00 p.m.]
The questions I would have are: Has an initial assessment been conducted since the letter was sent on October 20, 2021? If not, when do you anticipate those assessments to take place?
KIM MASLAND: To the member, thank you for the question. I am aware that when you met with our chief engineer back in December that this was something you had brought up. Certainly, we’ll look further into this to see if the assessment has been done.
When the replacement was done from the 4.5 metres to the 29 metres, all of that replacement was done with a climate change lens, and we have to construct our bridges to the National Building Code of Canada that is provided to us. That’s why we would have had to build the way we did. I’ve just spoken to our chief engineer and he’ll look further into that for you.
RONNIE LEBLANC: I appreciate the minister looking into it. As I say, it’s complex and a lot of residents are very concerned in my area, so I bring that question on behalf of the residents in Mavillette.
The other questions I have are around biomass and public buildings. Maybe I’ll just read a bit of context. On February 3, 2020, a news release came out from Lands and Forestry entitled Public Buildings Converting to Wood Heat, stating that:
“. . . six public buildings have been chosen as the first ones to convert from older, fossil fuel heating systems to new, efficient wood chip heating systems. A tender has been issued to five pre-qualified vendors for the design, construction and operation of modern biomass boilers that use wood chips from private woodlots.
The sites are:
· Hants East Rural High School
· Milford, Hants Co.
· Perennia Park Atlantic Centre for Agri-Innovation, Bible Hill
· the Bridgewater Provincial Court, Bridgewater
· Centre of Geographic Sciences, Lawrencetown, Annapolis Co. Memorial High School
· Sydney Mines
· Riverview High School, Sydney.”
The news release clearly stated that these five make up the first phase of a long-term effort to develop a new market for modern wood heat and, eventually, district heating. Could the minister give an update on Phase 2?
KIM MASLAND: Thank you to the honourable member for the question. You are right. Phase 1 was led by the Department of Natural Resources and Renewables and we offered the technical assistance to the department.
What I will say to the member is that at the Department of Public Works we are always looking for opportunities to expand and use new and innovative ways of heating our buildings. There are two wood chip boilers in Cape Breton - one at the Cape Breton Regional Hospital and the other at North Sydney.
There are significant savings in these systems and that’s one of the things that we have found. We have very good examples of significant savings. I can say this, coming from the South Shore, we have tremendous opportunities to utilize local wood chips, which is very important to many of our local communities where forestry can be the main driver of the economy.
RONNIE LEBLANC: Speaking to a number of private woodlot owners, from my understanding, in Phase 2, the Department of Public Works, or the government, was supposed to identify 100 public buildings that could be converted. I’m just curious if that work is being worked on as we speak.
Have any buildings been identified, even though maybe you’re not at liberty to mention them specifically?
KIM MASLAND: What I can say is that we do have a team engaged here at Public Works. We will continue to work with those objectives. It’s actually something that I’m very excited about, as minister.
RONNIE LEBLANC: I guess with my questions what I’m trying to get at - because that’s what the local woodlot owners have a bit of worry about, is that maybe Phase 2 hasn’t been a priority. To try to assure people who work in the forest industry that something is coming in the near future, can the minister say that this continues to be a priority for the Department of Public Works?
KIM MASLAND: I want to reassure the honourable member that this is a priority for me as minister. Here at Public Works, we will continue to look at retrofitting existing boilers and looking at new builds, making sure that if it works well in the area, if there’s a good local supply, then certainly that is something that we’re going to look at.
[5:15 p.m.]
Again, coming from the South Shore with a very strong forestry economy, I understand the importance. To be quite honest, this technology works very well. It’s efficient, it’s green, and it does what it’s set out to do.
No worries. You have my commitment that it will remain a priority.
RONNIE LEBLANC: I really appreciate that answer. That’s very encouraging.
The last question I have is on behalf of some residents in a local association regarding the Off-Highway Vehicles, OHV, pilot project. They asked me if I could ask the minister if that would become permanent, and if that is the plan, when can they expect to see that project become permanent? It has been very successful. It does create some economic development for rural communities. A lot of off-highway vehicles do organize travel around rural Nova Scotia, and it can be quite beneficial for a lot of restaurants and hotels. That’s my last question, and I look forward to the answer.
KIM MASLAND: I’m not surprised to get this question. I know that in the short time I have been minister, I have had several MLAs come to me and say, can we please have a pilot project? Can we be one of the locations? I would like to have one of those myself.
What I can tell the member is absolutely the pilot project of the OHVs has been very successful. We extended the pilot project; that shows the success of this. Before we can actually permanently make change, we are required to evaluate the pilot project itself.
But again, it has been very successful. We have had tremendous feedback. What I can say is that we will continue here at Public Works to work very closely with the OHV community, the association, to look at permanent change. We also will work very closely with the Department of Natural Resources and Renewals, which is a very important component of this project.
THE CHAIR: The honourable member for Clayton Park West.
RAFAH DICOSTANZO: I hope that the minister and I both learn together about the process that I’m looking for, to get some information on the history of what is happening in Clayton Park West when it comes to schools.
Since I have become an MLA, I know that my riding has been struggling with overcrowded schools. I had four schools in my riding. Now I’m down to three. I have a high school, which is Halifax West High School; Park West School, which is Grade P to Grade 9; and Rockingham Elementary school, which is an elementary school and has French immersion as well. I’m down to those three schools, and they are - and I’m not exaggerating by any means - bursting.
Rockingham was built for 300 students. They have over 600 right now, and they’re taking all the new development at Rockingham South, and those apartment buildings are not finished. It will be easily 1,000 students just from that new development.
I’m trying to understand, how did we get here with this overcrowding? How does the process work? If you can educate me. When I spoke to my councillors, they told me that the information, when there is a development, goes to the provincial government right away. How does the communication happen between the city when they approve new development? Does it go to Public Works? Does it go to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development? How is that decision - if you can just explain the process to me, if you don’t mind, please.
KIM MASLAND: I know this is something that she is very passionate about and very concerned about. We have had a few conversations. We’ve been asked a question in Question Period and we’ve also had the opportunity to talk on the phone and will be arranging a meeting. I committed to the honourable member that I would arrange a meeting with her and the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development and me and the department to talk about school site selections and all of that.
As far as my department goes, what we do is we provide technical information about a site. Basically, the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development would come to us at Public Works, they would tell us the criteria, the priority of building a new school, the needs, and we would go start to do some technical information about a site and provide that back.
I will say to the member that there is $165 million in the budget for 2022-23 for schools but again, as far as our department, we would take our lead from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, which will again explain to us what their needs are and then we would look at a site and take that information back to the department.
I think this is a question really that could be answered by the Minister of Education and Early Childhood Development. I hope that when we can finally get in a room together - I committed, once the House rose, that we would arrange a meeting and sit down and talk about that.
RAFAH DICOSTANZO: I thank the minister, and I’m honestly looking forward to that conversation. I just wanted to understand this system and how maybe we’ve done things not the right way, and how can we do them better, so that we are not in this situation where we’re putting out fires and we plan for the future.
My riding, Fairview, Rockingham - it’s incredible what is happening there, if you just drive by and see the number of cranes and the number of apartment buildings, it’s amazing. It’s fantastic. But this didn’t happen five to 10 years ago. It started maybe seven years ago. Have we changed our planning for the future, or are we still doing things the same way as we did before?
For example, I want to know, Rockingham South. There are 20 apartment buildings. They are gorgeous. They’re amazing - a number of units that are being filled by so many newcomers, so many people from across Canada. They’re all families, and they all need schools.
When that decision was made - the development started, I believe, six years ago - when did the information arrive at Public Works that you need - does it go to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development first, then to Public Works? When are you notified that there is a huge development of 7,000 or 10,000 units? When do you know that? When does your department get that information?
KIM MASLAND: Education and Early Childhood Development has a five-year plan that they use to guide building schools, repairing schools, whatever it is that they need to make sure that they have quality infrastructure for our students to go to, for our children to attend. Education is the lead on this file.
Education would be making the decisions and would have the information on what the future projected enrolment would be in an area. They would then, when they have that information, bring that information to us and ask us to then go look for a site. We then would provide the technical information on the site, provide that back to Education, and then, of course, depending on their decision, we would assist with the building of the infrastructure.
RAFAH DICOSTANZO: Thank you, minister. Maybe if I can be a bit more specific.
Let’s say this new development of 7,000 to 10,000 people in Rockingham South - they started building six years ago, so the information must have reached your department and the Education and Early Childhood Development Department seven to eight years ago. I heard in 2020 that sites had been selected.
When was your department notified by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development about a school in Clayton Park West, that you needed to look for a site? When did that process start, if you don’t mind?
KIM MASLAND: What I can say to the member is that I’ve only been the minister of this department for approximately seven months now. This would have been on the school capital plan back when the member’s government was in power.
[5:30 p.m.]
What I will commit to the member is that I will look for the specific date that it came to the department, and I will let the member know that when we have our meeting once the House rises.
I will also say to the member that we continue to work with the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, which again is the lead on building a new school, for possible site locations. We have worked at several and we have taken that information back to the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development and we’ll continue to work with them until a decision has been made.
RAFAH DICOSTANZO: I thank the minister. Honestly, I’m really looking forward to that meeting.
What I’m trying to understand today is more about the process of the government and the city and how they talk to each other in planning, whatever we’ve done in the past and how we can learn from it so that it doesn’t happen in the future. We are stuck in a situation because we have not planned properly, and the city throws the hot potato at the province and the province does the same, throws it back. It doesn’t matter.
What is important is we’re stuck with huge, overpopulated schools and we’re increasing the number of apartment buildings in the same area. We’re just fast-tracking another 10 beautiful buildings right at the Sobeys location, the old Canadian Tire. Where will those people go?
I’m trying to understand how we can plan it better. There is a school being announced for Clayton Park West and I was told - and I was excited in January 2020 - that the department has gone through the selection. I know they’ve done their due diligence in trying to find a piece of land. There is hardly any land left in Clayton Park West.
The list they gave me, there were two best options and one of them was the piece of land that the city has marked as “park” which the city owns and the second option was a piece of land behind Kent, in Bayers Lake. For me, to put children, who are especially in elementary school, in Bayers Lake, behind Kent, was not a good option at all. They would all be bused. The option for the piece of land the city owns is right next to Park West School, next to a trail, in a residential area with lots of sidewalks, where kids can walk to school.
We already have a huge problem with parking during the time of dropping-off kids and picking them up. We literally are at a point where an accident is about to happen in one of those schools, that’s what I hear from the parents. There’s not enough control and too many cars.
I’m working on a project to see if we can get some of the parents to start walking their kids to school instead of driving them. What is important I am now told - that in January 2020 that was the best location for the school - now, because of the survey and what has happened since, well that may not be the best option. We may be able to build on the same location at Park West.
How is that planning going to happen and are we planning for today’s number or in three to five years’ numbers, where we know there are apartment buildings that are not finished. How do you plan for the numbers that are coming? Where do you get the site, whether we can build on the same?
I also had a meeting in December with the department and I asked, I said what about Rockingham? I had no idea that all the Rockingham South apartments are ending up at Rockingham.
So that school was built in 1922, a two-room school, and apparently renovated in 1975, but a maximum of 300 students; it has 600 right now.
Where is the planning and who does that? Isn’t it the Public Works that needs to figure out what happens to that school and Park West? When will the actual site selection - I know you guys are responsible for the site selection - how is that going to work for Clayton Park West? If somebody can - more about the planning, what do you have as plans for the next three to five years, please?
KIM MASLAND: I will be the first to acknowledge that growth in our communities, especially in HRM, is off the charts. It’s something that we have never experienced, and it’s fabulous. It’s wonderful to see all of these people coming and choosing to live in our communities.
Planning is done by the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development, and Public Works responds to the requests of that department. Their request would be ignited by enrollment that they presently have, and future projected enrollment, but we take our direction for looking for site selection for a new school from the Department of Education and Early Childhood Development. I will tell the member that I don’t think there’s anyone who is looking more forward to this meeting than I am as a minister, so we can finally clarify the processes.
The process was set up by the member’s government, and I will always be a minister who will look forward to ways to improve processes if they’re not working. Again, I look forward to that meeting, because I think a lot of questions, once we have both the Minister of Education and myself in the room, we’ll be able to answer a lot of those at that time.
RAFAH DICOSTANZO: Honestly, I’m looking forward to it, and I’m going to invite you for lunch and drive you to show you this amazing development in my riding.
THE CHAIR: Order. Time has ended. It is now 5:43 p.m. and the House is set to adjourn at 6:00 p.m.
The honourable Deputy Government House Leader.
JOHN WHITE: Chair, I move that the committee do now rise and report progress and beg leave to sit again at a future date.
THE CHAIR: All those in favour? Contrary minded? Thank you.
The motion is carried.
The committee will now rise and report to the House.
[The committee adjourned at 5:44 p.m.]
