Only Minor Injury After Big Rig Goes In Ditch On Highway 1

Only a minor injury to the driver of a big rig going off the road this morning on Highway 1.

RCMP tell Tide News just before 6am, the driver heading westbound near the Frye Road, initially got distracted and travelled left making contact with the guardrail -- before swerving right, and into the ditch.

Police say the truck/tractor unit was damaged extensively, but the trailer portion remained upright with only minor damage.

Commercial Vehicle Enforcement on the scene for investigation.

Liberals Want Daycare Inspection Results Made Public

The Opposition Liberals are calling on the Alward government to make the inspection records of public daycares public. Liberal Leader Brian Gallant says this government is perceived to be one of the least transparent in recent history, and often when information is requested it either isn't provided or heavily redacted.

Gallant stated in the provincial legislature, we have a process in place to publicize restaurant inspections, so we should have the same for facilities that care for kids. Early Childhood Development Minister Marie-Claude Blaise responded by saying the information is already available on a need-to-know basis and the government is working on it with stakeholders.

Gallant says he doesn't see why any sensitive or confidential information could be blacked out, and the reports posted online.

Alward Says Gallant Is Not Being Honest

He's not honest with the people of New Brunswick.

Premier David Alward is responding to word that Liberal leader Brian Gallant is saying his message in Saint John on shale gas was misrepresented in the media.

Alward says Gallant is playing politics adding it does a huge disservice to the province and the people of New Brunswick deserve more from the leader of the opposition.

Alward describes shale gas as a huge opportunity with the potential for a $20 billion dollar investment in the province.

Gallant said the Liberal party advocates pressing pause on the industry right now until we know about its impact on water and the environment.

Bell Aliant To Build $25M Data Centre

The Premier calls it a good news announcement.

Bell Aliant announcing a 25 million dollar data centre will be built in Millidgeville creating 50 jobs between construction and operation.

Bell Aliant CEO Karen Sheriff says businesses needs reliable and secure data services and the company is making the infrastructure changes to meet that need.

She explains the concept of big data saying most companies have large data sets with increasing numbers of customers and internal data.

When asked when the facility will be built, Sheriff said soon.
The new data centre will go up on land the company already owns.

The province is contributing $5 million dollars to the project.

Who Would Clean Up After Shale Gas Blowout, And Other Questions

Opponents of fracking have an outdated idea of what it actually means: that, from Stantec VP John Adams at Saint John common council, hoping to dispel what he calls common myths about the process of fracking and shale gas in general.

Adams says shale gas could represent a huge economic boost for this region: for one, companies need 420 people working in 150 different jobs to complete and produce gas at each well. If you have 200 wells per year, Adams stated, that could represent as many 2,600 direct jobs per year.

Nonetheless, Adams admitted he's been in the oil and gas industry for decades and he's seen some large companies do horrific things. He cited the example of Nigeria, in which pools of oil were simple left standing on the ground, as one region in which the actions of certain corporations were "horrific". That being said, Adams claimed companies are currently "a thousand times better than they were 30 years ago" and are now getting their act together.

Further, Adams says it's important to get the major oil and gas players on board because if there is a blow-out and something goes wrong, you want to have someone with deep pockets to clean it up and not the taxpayers.