Quebec Premier Open To Pipeline Project

Quebec Premier Pauline Marois appears to be supportive of the West to East pipeline project that would move Alberta crude east to Saint John. 

In the past, Marois has shown an openness to the idea of permitting oilsands bitumen to travel across her province, saying it could benefit Quebec because it would supply oil refineries in Montreal.
    
She says the Alberta oilsands bitumen would be cheaper than oil purchased from abroad.
    
The Parti Quebecois government will begin a formal examination of the proposal next month.

NB Power Earnings Released

Another good financial year for NB Power.........For the third consecutive year, NB Power is reporting positive financial results with net earnings of $69 million in 2012-13. 

By comparison, in 2011-12, net earnings amounted to 173 million dollars and in 2010-11, the crown corporation finished the year with net earnings of 67 million dollars. 

NB Power's debt at the end of the year rose by about $180 million to $4.7 billion.

More Bizarre and Disturbing Revelations At Snook Sentencing Hearing

Bizarre and disturbing facts continue to come to light regarding former Saint John Common Councillor Donnie Snook's crimes against children.

The facts in the 46 counts against Snook include blackmail, coercion, and attempts to secretly spy on and film kids as young 5 and 6 in the nude.

Snook admitted posing online as a girl, getting nude pictures from boys, then blackmailing them to send more--to the degree that one victim even threatened commit suicide. Snook not only did not stop, but later contacted the victim's 7 year old brother to further harass him. The court also heard Snook--a non-drinker--stocked his home with alcohol and allowed the children to drink and use drugs.

Numerous complaints were made against Snook by children and parents but no charges were laid.

The court will be hearing recommendations for sentencing on Friday. Victim impact statements will also will read, one of them by the victim himself and the results of a psychological profile will be heard.

More Radian 6 Layoffs

A new round of layoffs at Radian 6 are not good news in a province where jobs are hard to come by.

Salesforce, the company's parent company, announcing it's cutting 200 jobs to its global workforce, more than 60 in New Brunswick.

Premier David Alward was asked about it while in the City and says the information was not confirmed for him.

NDP leader Dominic Cardy says the layoffs were yet another indication that the economic development ideas of the Alward government and the Liberal opposition need to be scrapped.

Meanwhile, the premier says significant accountability mechanisms are in place between the province and any company that has received payroll rebates and he has full confidence that the companies will live up to their responsibilities under the agreement. 

Just over a year ago, Radian 6 received a $3.8-million payroll rebate offer to help create 300 full-time jobs in Fredericton and Saint John over five years.

Snook Hearing Continues With More Grim Detail

As the sentencing hearing continues, we are hearing Donnie Snook devised elaborate games & tricks to have kids undress and film them without their knowledge.

One of the victim's behaviour became so out-of-control he was placed in foster care.

One child's mother alerted police to odd behaviour on Snook's part including taking kids out until wee hours and bringing them home drunk.
 
The court heard Snook bribed his victims with money, trips and alcohol and allowed them to take drugs in his presence. 

Word spread among the kids that if you let Snook do certain things to you, you might get paid.

Taxpayers Federation Releasing Info On Sick Time By Government Workers

The Canadian Taxpayers Federation, using the Right to Information Act, to make the claim that provincial government employees take 50 per cent more sick days than the rest of us......10.7 sick days a year compared to 7.1 in the private sector last year. 

The Federation's Atlantic Director is Kevin Lacey who tells Tide News the sick days taken by just the core workers employed by the province costs about 14 million dollars. 

The Federation also revealing unionised employees ran up 60 per cent more sick time per employee than the non-unionised workers. 

As for federal government employees, Lacey says they're taking even more time off sick than their provincial counterparts.

Graphic Evidence As Snook Sentencing Hearing Contiues

It has been a disturbing day in court as Crown Prosecutor Karen Lee Lamrock presented the facts of 46 child sex abuse charges again former Saint John common councillor Donnie Snook. 

More than 14, 400 unique child sexual abuse images were found in Snook's possession along with more than 600 child porn vidoes--and only some victims have been identified. 

Former Friend Darrell Bastarache tells Tide News he expected to see more visible emotion from Snook as the court heard the evidence, stating that those in the gallery seem to be in more pain than Snook.

The court heard Snook bribed his victims with money, alcohol and trips--and claimed while he would stop sexual activity if his victims complained, some of them seemed to "enjoy" the abuse. Further, Snook admitted to having "groomed" at least one child over a period of 7 years from ages 9-14 to eventually take part in the abuse of other children. Many of the incidents are believed to have occurred when Snook's roommate was also at home, and the former church leader can be heard in the videos "shushing" the victims.

The sexual abuse images were found on a range of electronic media including a laptop, thumb drive and SD card. Some of the abuse videos were filmed with an iPad provided to Snook by the City of Saint John.

Details Being Revealed Of Former Common Councillor's Sex Crimes

We are now learning more about the evidence gathered against former Common Councillor Donnie Snook at his sentencing hearing on 46 charges of child abuse and exploitation. 

The prosecution claims there are thousands of victims. 

More than 14 thousand 400 unique child sexual abuse images were found in Snook's possession along with more than 600 videos of child pornography. 

Videotaped webcam sessions and movies were also recovered. 

There was some sadistic and fetish content but few and far between. Most of the images were of children posing alone.

Snook showed no emotion as all this was being shown.

Illegal Smokes Are More Widespread Than You Think

The Atlantic Convenience Stores Association claims the sale of Illegal tobacco remains a big problem in the province. That conclusion is based on a new study the Association commissioned.

Association President Mike Hammoud says a Montreal-based research firm collected more than 3,000 cigarette butts in June from 23 locations across the province including Sussex, Fredericton and Saint John.
    
The firm found, on average, 15.7 per cent of the butts were from contraband cigarettes. 

In Grand Falls, more than 40 per cent of the butts were contraband and the rate was almost 20 per cent at 10 school sites.

Nearly 2500 Colposcopy Patients Will Get A Letter

Nearly 2,500 patients will be notified following Horizon Health's discovery that unsterilized biopsy forceps were used at a hospital clinic for 14 years.

    The problem at a colposcopy clinic at the Miramichi Regional Hospital began in 1999 and was discovered this May.

  CEO John McGarry says the biopsy forceps were only cleaned and disinfected before being reused but sterilized at the end of the day.
 
   McGarry advises there is an extremely low risk of infection, but 2,497 patients who had these biopsies are being sent letters to advise them to have blood tests for hepatitis B, hepatitis C and HIV.

Province and Teacher's Federation Reach A New Deal

The province and the Teacher's federation have a new deal.

The new collective agreement applies to more than 9,000 teachers, supply teachers, vice-principals and principals.

The four-year deal provides for two years of zero-per-cent increases, followed by one-per-cent increases every six months.

88 Year Old St. Stephen Woman Awarded With Maritimer Of The Week

A local lady becoming CTV's latest Maritimer of the week.

A reception being held today in St. Stephen Council Chambers to honor Shirley McMahon for over 65 years of volunteering.

Tide News asked McMahon what drove her to volunteer with so many different organizations.

McMahon has been involved with Cure for Cancer, the NB Heart & Stroke Foundation, NB Kidney Foundation, local blood donor clinics, and was known as "Camp Granny" at the Waweig Youth Camp.

Country Artist Julian Austin Performing In Fundy Tonight

Charlotte County getting a special taste of country music tonight.

Julian Austin will be taking the stage at Fundy High School tonight with opening acts Gerald Rushton, Tyler Deveau, and the Devin Cooke Band.

Money raised will be put towards the Old Pentecostal Church in Blacks Harbour to be made into an archive building.

Tickets are $15, the show starts at 7.

For information on tickets, call 456-2333.

Man Tasered After Stand-Off In Baillie

A man was taken to hospital after a stand-off with police outside St. Stephen.

RCMP say they responded to a complaint of a man who threatened to harm himself with a gun at a home in Baillie on Route 3 last night.

Police say the 66-year-old man refused to drop his weapon and police tried negotiating with him for 30 minutes.

RCMP were able to disarm the man after using a taser on him.

The man was arrested, and then taken to hospital as a precaution.

Sex Offender Moved From Saint John To Halifax

Sixty-two-year-old convicted sex offender Roger Ernest Joseph Roberge has been relocated from Saint John to Halifax.

Roberge had been assessed as a high risk to re-offend in terms of both sexual and non-sexual violence. His criminal record dates back to 1969 and his major distinguishing feature is his numerous facial tattoos.

No word on the reason for the relocation. Roberge had been living in a halfway house monitored by the Saint John Police Force's Family Protection Unit.

First Wal-Mart Supercenter In NB To Open In SJ

The first-ever Walmart Supercentre in New Brunswick is going to have its grand opening ceremony tomorrow at the 450 Westmorland Road location in Saint John.

The 129,000 square foot store has been remodeled to include a new fresh grocery section. There are also more dry, fresh and frozen offerings. The store is one of 37 Supercentre projects planned across Canada.

The expansion will create 20 new jobs --and so far, nearly 450 people have applied.  The store will be having Grand Opening Block Party on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. with face-painting, live music, refreshments and samples.

Energy East Questions Answered At Open House

A college gymnasium filled with the chatter of questions about the Energy East pipeline being asked and answered.

The kiosk-style event at NBCC is one of many happening around the province. Spokesperson for TransCanada Phillipe Cannon tells TIde News they chose that style for the open house instead of a town hall-style so that the those attending could just go up to a booth and get their question answered directly instead of having to speak in front of a large group.

Cannon says the general tone in New Brunswick seems to be one of curiosity. He says the further east you go in Canada, the less familiar people are with the pipeline industry so people living here have lots of questions. He says they've been getting many questions about safety, how pipelines are built and how they work.

 These open houses are happening all over the province. If you didn't make it to this event, another meeting is being held on September 10 at the St. Alphonsus Parish Hall in Hampton, then the next day at the Legion in Chipman.

Woman Dies In Hampton Collision

A 21 year old woman from Salt Springs is dead following a crash in Hampton.

It happened just after 4 yesterday on Main Street.  

The victim's car collided with another vehicle driven by a 17 year old girl from Norton.

The teenager was injured and remains in hospital.

The Mounties tell Tide News they have determined that the victim was not wearing a seatbelt and that her vehicle was hit by an oncoming vehicle that crossed the center line.

Main Street was blocked to traffic for more than 3 hours at the scene.

NB Power LED Project Ahead Of Schedule

NB Power's project involving the installation of thousands of LED lights in streetlights in many provincial municipalities is about a month ahead of schedule.

Crews began replacing high pressure sodium bulbs with the brighter more efficient LED's this spring.

17,000 LEDs are being installed around the province in places like Riverview, Miramichi and Fredericton, St Stephen and St. George.    Moncton and Grand Manan will have them by the end of September.

Sherry Thomson of NB Power says the lights use less energy every year and a part of the utility's strategy to reduce and shift energy demand in the province.

Thomson adds when all the street lights have been replaced with the new LEDs, the province can reduce our greenhouse gas emissions by nearly 324,000 tonnes over 20 years.

Sea Dog Foundation Hosts Alumni Weekend

If you have been a fan of the Sea Dogs from the very beginning, you may enjoy an event in Saint John tomorrow.

The inaugural Wallace McCain Memorial Alumni game is taking place at Harbour Station at 130 between Sea Dogs alumni and the UNB varsity Reds alumni.
 
The new event created as a way to remember the late father of Sea Dogs CEO Scott McCain.
Wendy Corscadden of the Sea Dogs foundation tells Tide News longtime fans will be pleased with the turnout by former players.

She says many of the players who are in now in the NHL are coming back including Robert Mayer, Yann Sauve and Jonathan Huberdeau.

Following the Alumni game is a Family fun fair outside from 3 until 6 and then the Sea Dogs take to the ice in pre-season action against the Titan at 7.