Kristen Villebrun and Wendy Bush hoped they wouldn't have to pray for Chedoke Creek, but four years after they first raised alarm about the water's condition, they were part of an Indigenous full moon ceremony to do just that. About 50 people showed up near Princess Point on the dark and frigid Monday evening for the monthly ceremony, which was particularly special as it focused on Chedoke Creek. The body of water that runs into Cootes Paradise had about 24 billion litres of sewage and storm water runoff leak into it due to a gate being left open.
Today, the Honourable Ginette Petitpas Taylor, Minister of Official Languages and Minister responsible for the Atlantic Canada Opportunities Agency (ACOA), the Honourable Daniel Allain, Minister of Local Government and Local Governance Reform and Her Worship Dawn Arnold, Mayor of the City of Moncton, announced a joint investment of more than $36.3 million to upgrade Moncton's municipal infrastructure and improve its climate resiliency.
The New Brunswick government could face an annual bill of around $1 million to keep water treatment going if a buyer doesn't scoop up Caribou zinc mine near Bathurst. Tom MacFarlane, the deputy minister at the Department of Natural Resources and Energy Development, offered the estimate to MLAs during a committee meeting recently in Fredericton.
The threat of flooding along the St. John River caused by melting snow and ice is over for the season, says the provincial government. On Monday, the province announced it was ending its River Watch program, which offers daily forecasts of the water levels along the St. John River, which is prone to breaking its banks every spring. "A number of factors go into [ending River Watch] but the big one is really how much snow there is [on the ground] and this late in the season, if there is any ice left [in the St. John River]," said Geoffrey Downey, spokesperson for the New Brunswick Emergency Measures Organization, which participates in the program.
