Savour In The Garden Makes Top 100 Restaurants In Canada

One of the Top 100 restaurants in Canada is in our own backyard -- or should we say Garden?

Savour in the Garden, managed by Chef Alex Haun in St. Andrews coming in at #72.

The competition by Vacay.ca considers the quality of the food, service, presentation, creativity, wine list, and front-house performance as just a few of the factors in the judging process.

A respected roster of chefs, food industry professionals, connoisseurs, and travel and food writers were used as judges. The #1 restaurant in Canada is yet to be announced.

Savour in the Garden is located at Kingsbrae Garden.

Federation Of Labour Predicts Injured Workers Will Lose Out

The New Brunswick Federation of Labour is warning changes to how appeals by injured workers are heard will make it harder for them to get compensation. 

Instead of a three person panel which includes a labour representative, the appeal will be heard by a lawyer.

Lawrence McKay of the Federation's Occupational Health, Safety and Environment Committee tells Tide News the Workers Compensation Board has found itself on the losing end of appeals which means its policies have been contravening the Act. He suspects these changes are mean't to change the outcomes.
 
McKay predicts the changes will make appealing compensation decisions more expensive and could be beyond the reach of injured workers who are not unionised.

A Depressing Report On Housing

If you want to buy a home, you'll have a wide array of choices at a good price. 

Canada Mortgage and Housing is predicting housing starts will decline both this year and in 2015 in Saint John, Moncton and Fredericton. Slow demand for housing being caused by weak economic and employment growth. 

A downward trend is also expected this year and next in the resale market with new listings at historically high levels.

The vacancy rate for rentals will stay high.

NDP Calling For Crackdown On Impaired Drivers

NDP Fredericton North candidate Brian Duplessis is calling for a crack-down on drug use among drivers. Duplessis says it's especially important given the trend toward legalizing marijuana.

The NDP also wants tougher penalties for repeat impaired drivers, including automatic license suspensions for failed tests, mandatory alcohol interlocks for any drunk driving conviction, and stiffer fines the more convictions you have.

According to a MADD study, one-third of young Canadians think driving stoned is safer than driving drunk.

River Watch Ends

Another sign that we're marching--slowly, but surely--toward summer.

The New Brunswick government has announced it's wrapping up its River Watch operations, which allowed New Brunswickers to call a hotline or check the website for updated flood conditions.

Water levels have now fallen well below flood stage and are expected to keep going down.

The spring freshet caused major flooding in Sussex, but fortunately, it wasn't as bad as expected in Perth Andover and elsewhere.

Prowler Steals NB Government Laptop In Rothesay

A suburban car prowler managed to make off with some pricey electronics--but not for long.

Sergeant Jay Henderson explains they got a call from a citizen with a description of the 24 year old who was checking cars on the Rothesay Road.

When they pulled him over near Ashburn Road, he was found to have an Government of NB-issue laptop and an iPhone, both of which are believed to have been stolen.

He was also found to be wanted on a province-wide warrant. he'll be appearing in court later this afternoon.

Big Lotto Win In Sussex

If you happened to buy a ticket in Sussex for last night's Lotto 649 draw, you could be 7 million dollars richer. 

Atlantic Lottery is telling us a ticket sold in Sussex for last night's draw is worth that much.

Decision Not Expected This Year On New Plant In City

A decision is not expected until sometime next year from Repsol on whether it will proceed with building a $2 billion plant at Canaport L-N-G to export natural gas to Europe. 

Bloomberg News is reporting Repsol, which is the largest energy company in Spain, is at least giving consideration to the possibility because of unease in Europe over its dependence on Russian natural gas after the upheavel and violence in the Ukraine. 

Premier David Alward has told Tide News when he met with more than 20 ambassadors from the European Union, they were primarily asking him about exporting energy from Saint John.

Canaport LNG has reportedly been underutilised as a facility to import liquified natural gas.

Protection Of Musquash Estuary Expanded

More forests and habitat for moose, deer, and bear is going to be protected in the Musquash area west of Saint John.

The Nature Conservancy of Canada has purchased 4 new sites for conservation around the Musquash Estuary totalling 435 hectares. Saint John MP Rodney Weston tells Tide News just because an area is protected doesn't mean that people can't fish there or use it for other activities.

The funds came from Canada's Natural Areas Conservation Program. The forests around the Musquash Estuary contain old stands of red spruce and cedar, as well as being a habitat for various wildlife species.