Local Student To Open For Country Singer Tomorrow Night

One local young lady is ready for a bigger stage to perform her music.

15-year-old Jenna Carson is one of the opening acts for Country Singer Mike Biggar tomorrow night at the St. Stephen High School.

Jenna's Mom, Stacey Carson tells Tide News she's been playing guitar since she was 7, and resembles another big-time songstress -- Taylor Swift. Carson says her daughter is "kinda country, kinda alternative" and sounds like Swift.

Carson also says her daughter has performed at the Ganong Nature Park Fall Fair and at Chocolate-Fest in St. Stephen.

Jenna will be performing one of her own original songs, titled "Butterflies"  at the concert, and country duo "Dashboard" will also be opening.
Tickets are $10, and are still available at Stuart's Gifts in St. Stephen. Kids 12 and under get in free of charge. The concert will begin at 7:30pm.

Boudreau: Pensioners Being "Forced" To Accept Shared Risk

A heated exchange in Question Period today between Shediac—Cap-Pelé MLA Victor Boudreau and Finance Minister Blaine Higgs over whether the Shared Risk model is the only option for the public service pension plan.

Higgs responded that there have been actuarial reports done from the get-go and they've done their due diligence--but Boudreau argues there's been a lack of transparency and the model has been "forced" on the retirees and current pensioners.

Boudreau says if there is an actuarial plan on the Shared Risk model, the finance minister should table it in the legislature.

Party Leaders Butt Heads Over Shale Gas

Premier David Alward and Provincial Liberal leader Brian Gallant clashing over shale gas.

 Gallant says the Conservatives are jumping ahead too fast without giving enoough consideration to the effect on human health and the environment. 

He points to a document from the Environmental Protection Agency in the U.S. which talks about the potential hazards to human health of fracking. He charges the Alward Government decided to press ahead without giving due consideration to human health, the environment and royalties.

The Premier dismisses the Liberals as "the moratorium party", accusing them of having no plan for growing the provincial economy.

Demolition Starting On Simm's Factory

The Simm's brush factory in announced back in the summer it would be closing down its Saint John operations and laying off 35 employees--and now JDI has confirmed the iconic glass building itself will be demolished in the new year. 

Mary Keith of JDI explains demolition has already begun on the wooden building that is behind the iconic glass-fronted factory on Simm's Corner--and by the new year, the factory itself will be levelled and the site used for heavy industrial purposes.

Keith says they're looking at all the options when it comes to traffic calming on Simm's Corner, but the solution won't necessarily involve a divestiture of any of that land.

Simms has been a family business since it was founded in 1866. 

The glass building was built in 1912.

Shared Risk Pension Model Called "Irresponsible"

" Policy development on the fly".........That's what provincial government retirees are calling the shared risk pension model and have their own expert criticising what's being proposed. 

The Pension Coalition calls Bernard Dussault one of the original architects who reformed the Canada Pension Plan as well as being actuary for the Professional Institute of the Public Service of Canada. 

Dussault is denouncing the shared risk model as irresponsible because it lacks the standard actuarial projections on how much it will wind up costing along with what the short, medium and long term financial effects will be on the provincial pension plan itself.