Its beginning to look like isthmus indifference.
Stephen Ellis, the Conservative MP for Cumberland-Colchester, sent off a letter to two federal cabinet ministers a week before Christmas inquiring about the indifference or inaction of the Liberal government on the Isthmus of Chignecto.
Peoples lives are in danger, peoples livelihoods are in danger, our entire economy is hanging in the balance in a time that we are already very perilous in terms of the COVID lockdown, said Ellis, a medical doctor with a military background who was elected in the Sept. 20 federal vote.
Were already in deep trouble, lets not get further in, he said.
The deep trouble that Ellis alludes to is the isthmus, a 24-kilometre-wide strip of land that runs between sub-basins of the Bay of Fundy and the Northumberland Strait, connecting Nova Scotia and New Brunswick.
In a letter copied to Omar Alghabra and Steven Guilbeault, respective federal ministers of transport, and environment and climate change, Ellis said $50 million in trade crosses the essential isthmus corridor between the two provinces.
He reminded the Liberal ministers about the communication lines, power transmission lines, the Trans-Canada highway and the Canadian National Railway line that traverse the isthmus.
The dikes that protect the isthmus were constructed by the Acadians in the 17th century and the maintenance of the dikes has been less than adequate and now their very survival is perilous and they require urgent repair, Ellis wrote.
Ellis told the ministers that a feasibility study commissioned by the federal government and the governments of the two provinces to present potential fixes for the problem was due in February but is nowhere to be found.
On behalf of the residents of Nova Scotia and especially of those in the Amherst area, I strenuously request that the study be produced post haste and acted upon expeditiously, Ellis wrote.
Canadians know all too well from the lessons of British Columbia that there is a disaster looming in Nova Scotia. I respectfully request that your department act quickly to prevent another devastating event from happening as we are aware of the profound risk that already exists at the Isthmus of Chignecto.
In an interview, Ellis said the isthmus risk is not just an Amherst story, its a Nova Scotia story.
He said the story is like many others, with no government action despite urgent appeals dating back months and years.
Nothing has happened, the dikes have been there since the 17th century, theyve been fine, Ellis said. But its what your mother would have said, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. Oftentimes, they (government) are not great at prevention, their whole idea is to respond to an emergency after it happens, to release funding for that.
Prevention costs would pale in comparison to the expense of first responding to the emergency in the event of a dike breach, then fixing or replacing the transportation, communications and utility infrastructure lost and then fixing the dike system, he said.
Lets spend less now so that we can make sure this doesnt happen, Ellis said.
Yes, its going to be expensive but there is infrastructure money thats unspent in the infrastructure bank for many years, Ellis said. Lets move quickly while we have the opportunity. Our economic and physical health depends on it.
Elliss push for the release of the feasibility study is echoed by Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin, the MLA for Cumberland North, and Amherst Mayor David Kogon.
Smith-McCrossin is well aware of the federal responsibility for the isthmus but she would like the provincial government to step up, too.
The Independent MLA tabled a private members bill that would strengthen and protect the isthmus in the fall setting of the Nova Scotia legislature and she drafted an amendment to the Progressive Conservative governments enviro-goals legislation that would similarly enshrine in law the protection of the isthmus.
If the Chignecto Isthmus were to flood due to the effects of a devastating storm, which we know is a possibility and its probably not a matter of if but when, were in big trouble here in Nova Scotia because of the break in the supply chain, because of the critical utility infrastructure that will be damaged, Smith-McCrossin said.
This needs to be made a priority.
While Ellis, Smith-McCrossin and Kogon remain in the dark about the content of the feasibility study, a source says at least three department ministers in the provincial PC government have been provided details of the yet-to-be released study.
Still, the bill Smith-McCrossintabled did not getpast first reading in the Nova Scotia legislature and the governing PCs shot down her enviro-goals amendment at Committee of the Whole House.
How can a bill on dealing with the effects of climate change not include the Chignecto Isthmus, the MLA asked.
The late Roger Bacon, a former Nova Scotia premier who as a boy helped his father reinforce the dikes near the Bacon farm property south of Amherst, told The Chronicle Herald three years ago that another study on how to stop the water from going over the dikes, was redundant
The answer to the question is build the damn dikes higher, thats the only way you are going to stop the water, the feisty 92-year-old Bacon said at the time.
I think Roger Bacon was absolutely right, Smith-McCrossin said. The dikes have to be built higher. It really isnt rocket science. Sometimes we see in government study after study after study and it just delays getting the work needed completed. We just need to get it done and it needs to be made a priority.
Kogons frustration in the delayed feasibility study is palpable.
We dont know if COVID is a factor, were not getting any information, he said.
The Amherst mayor said the feasibility study will contain at least three options for fixing the flood risk.
We have to see what options there are and then take federal money to fix it, so the next step cant happen until we get the report.
Kogon said he and the mayor of Sackville, N.B., share concerns about a feasibility study option that might not protect their communities.
If the predicted rise in sea level hits the point that theyre talking about some years down the road, then 25 to 30 per cent of the town of Amherst, and Sackville is about the same, is in the flood zone, Kogon said. We cant afford to permanently flood out a quarter to a third of our town.
If an option were to just build a bridge and have the railway tracks, power cables and the highway go over a flooded marsh, thats not an acceptable option to us. Thats why we have to know whats being considered, to lobby against that being the only option.
Kogon said the town is at risk of flooding if a major storm surge at high tide pushes water over top the dikes.
That kind of a flood, while damaging, will recede eventually. Thats one risk, the sudden flooding through a massive storm but the longer-term risk is a permanent flooding of the isthmus because of the sea levels having exceeded all the dikes.
Kogon said he is very frustrated in not having seen this report in a timely manner.
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