The Alward Government plans to double the percentage of protected wilderness in the province.
That
might sound like a good thing to most people but not to the leader of
the Provincial Green Party David Coon who tells Tide News there's less
to this than meets the eye.
Coon
argues the areas that will be protected are those where companies have
been restricted to select cutting which is more expensive than clear
cutting which he claims is continuing on an unimaginable scale.
He
claims New Brunswick is facing a crisis when it comes to protecting
habitat and the province is caving in to pressure from the forestry
industry.
After
getting the green light from Fredericton for a pilot project, the
founder of a parking app has set his sights on Saint John.
Phillip
Curley is a student at UNB and the CEO of Hot Spot Parking, a program
that lets you pay for on-street parking through your smartphone.
It works
like this: when you sign up for the app online, you register your phone
number, and when that number phones the Hot Spot Parking system, it
will deduct money from your existing balance.
Curley
tells Tide News he's been in talks with Uptown Saint John to set up
meetings with retailers to get them on board. Through the app, retailers
can choose to pay for their customers' parking.
The pilot project in Fredericton starts on Thursday, and Curley says he wants roll out the app in Saint John by September. He says installing the app in the city may come with an integration fee.
If you get a suspicious cheque in the mail, beware. A secret shopper scam is targeting New Brunswickers.
The
Financial and Consumer Services Commission says a 13 year-old Minto girl
received a cheque in the mail for $3,900 saying she qualified as a
secret shopper. Her parents intervened by calling police, sharing their
story on social media and reporting it to the commission.
The
commission says scams like this one have been making the rounds across
the country. At least three other people have been approached.
The
scheme starts when you get a cheque and letter from a company asking you
to spend the money at a certain store, then asks for a certified cheque
or a money transfer in return telling you that you can keep the rest of
the money as compensation.
If you've been the target of a scam, get in touch with the Financial and Consumer Services Commission by calling (866) 933-2222.
The
Mounties have identified the man killed in a crash between a coach bus
and a car on Friday as 31 year-old Jean-François Audrain.
They say
Audrain is originally from Montreal, but was living in Welsford. He was
the driver and only person in the car that collided with the bus on
Highway 7, about halfway between Saint John and Fredericton.
They're still investigating the cause of the crash, however, heavy rains are believed to have been a factor.
A carbon copy of the flood of the century is how one local MLA describes what happened in St. Stephen over the weekend.
With the devastating 2010 flood still fresh in the minds of residents, MLA for
Charlotte-The Isles Rick Doucet is calling on the Alward government to
do more when it comes to preparing for floods and helping people avoid
flood damage.
Doucet
tells Tide News he'll be re-introducing an amendment to the Emergency
Measures Act to provide better coordination of emergency measures for
those in charge of critical infrastructure in flood-prone areas.
Many
people have voiced their frustration to him about the dam in particular.
He says they want more communication coming from the operators of the dam so that
people are aware of what they're doing and when.
In an
effort to get input from residents, he's organized a public meeting on
Tuesday, Aug. 13 at 7pm at the Magaguadavic Place in St. George.
