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A number of Conception Bay Centre communities have signed mutual aid agreements in the past year to improve fire protection services in the area.

“Our Municipal Fire Protection and Emergency Services Mutual Aid Agreement establishes a formal arrangement between neighbouring municipalities and fire departments in the Conception Bay Central area to aid one another during fires and other emergencies,” said Avondale’s Assistant Fire Chief Tom Gushue. “It’s purpose is to give each community access to more firefighters, apparatus, equipment, and other emergency resources when its own resources are insufficient or when the neighbouring department has specialized resources that are needed.”

Gushue said the agreement outlines a clear operating procedure for requesting and responding to a mutual aid incident.

“The fire chief of the municipality where the emergency occurs determines when mutual aid is needed and makes the request for required resources from another fire department,” said Gushue. “The responding department then advises what personnel and equipment are responding and their estimated arrival time. The requesting fire chief normally remains in place as incident commander; each department retains responsibility for its own personnel and equipment. Either department can withdraw its resources if they are needed in its own municipality or if conditions create an unacceptable safety risk.”

Gushue said that by signing mutual aid agreements, smaller communities can avail not only of more firefighters, but of expensive equipment without each community having to purchase the equipment outright.

“In practical terms, that means a community facing a large structure fire, multiple simultaneous incidents, a shortage of available firefighters, or a situation requiring specialized equipment can quickly draw on a neighbouring department,” said Gushue. “It provides a predetermined command and communication structure, so departments are not trying to set up responsibilities for the first time during an emergency. For a rural community, the main benefit can be summarized simply: each municipality retains its own fire department and local control, while gaining access to a larger regional pool of people, equipment, and emergency-response capacity when it is genuinely needed.”

Mutual aid agreements exist between Avondale, Colliers, Conception Harbour, Harbour Main-Chapels Cove-Lakeview and Holyrood, and were formally announced this past summer during a wildfire preparedness event in Avondale.

“The Conception Bay Central region is lucky to have so many dedicated firefighters, well equipped fire departments, and supportive councils to work together for the benefit of each community,” Gushue said.

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Any St. Mary’s Bay public transit should also have smooth access to public transit that goes to town as well as transit to the other side of the Irish Loop that also ends up in St. John’s.

I know plenty of locals that would avail of public transit to the city or up the other side of the Irish Loop. As the community Postmaster, I hear of the many struggles to get to the city for medical appointments, family visits or even car repairs but also some of the older residents just have the desire to get up to Ferryland etcetera for an outing and a meal out around the bay with friends.

Additionally, the only tourists we get on this side of the Irish Loop are rich ones who can afford to hire a driver or rent a car. I maintain a Facebook group with 17,000 members as a tourist page for St. Vincent’s-St. Stephen’s-Peter’s River and have received many questions over the 12 years running this popular group about getting there on public transit. Most global tourists rely on public transit when they travel so are disappointed when they can’t get to a notable destination like our renowned whale watching beach. The province even has a separate page for our beach on their tourism site but no options to get there except by car rental.

And, with the new direct seasonal flight routes to three European destinations this is also an opportunity to secure a new market for European and world travelers that require public transit as their transportation mode when traveling. I met many tourists this season using these direct routes to detour to our Loop for a few days on their way to or from other Canadian destinations. If we add public transit on the entire Loop I suspect we would get many more.

So having a public transit run on the entire Irish Loop that had St. John’s as the anchor hub would benefit both St. Mary’s Bay locals and more budget minded tourists and could also encourage business development – especially those tourist operators who seek to provide niche experiences for travel influencers to ‘discover.’

I’m not sure what need there exists for rural transit only between North Harbour to Peter’s River. There’s only one inadequately staffed medical facility on the route and only one grocery store. There’s not even a coffee shop or restaurant.

In the short term I think the only possible consideration for public transit would be in the context of covering the entire Loop with St. John’s being the start and end point.

Orla Hegarty

Resident of St. Stephen’s since 2013

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I am writing to say how much I appreciate receiving every edition of The Shoreline. I enjoy the articles about the various communities in our region. I especially enjoy Ivan Morgan’s column and love being able to hold an actual newspaper and do the crosswords and sudoku.

We feel very fortunate that in this day when newspapers are disappearing, we can still look forward to receiving The Shoreline.

Best regards,

Sheilah Mackinnon Drover

St. John’s

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Imagine being a parent and not knowing whether you’ll be able to feed your child tomorrow. For millions of families in Sudan, this is not a distant fear. It is their reality.

Nearly 20 million people in Sudan are experiencing acute hunger, and an estimated 825,000 children under five are expected to suffer from severe acute malnutrition in 2026. These are not just statistics. They represent children whose futures are at risk and parents doing everything they can to keep their families alive.

War has already forced families from their homes, and cuts to international aid are making an unbearable situation even worse. Food assistance and essential healthcare services are being reduced when they are needed most.

As Canada prepares its 2026 federal budget, we have a responsibility to act. I urge our government to stop cutting international aid and protect funding for lifesaving nutrition and humanitarian assistance.

No parent should have to watch their child go hungry when the world has the ability to help.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Olivia Snook

St. John’s, NL

The post No child should go hungry because of budget cuts appeared first on The Shoreline News.

I am concerned about what is happening in Conception Bay South and many other municipalities.

Every year, more wilderness disappears. Entire hillsides are being stripped bare, forests are being clear-cut, natural landscapes are being levelled, and even wetlands are being filled and covered with subdivisions.

At what point do we stop and ask ourselves if this is really what we want for our towns?

I understand that people need places to live and that some development will happen. I do not believe that every available piece of land needs to become a subdivision, or that we should continue building at the expense of the natural environments that make the towns in Newfoundland a desirable place to live.

We seem to have accepted the idea that a growing population and more development are always signs of success. More homes do not only mean the loss of natural habitats, they also mean more traffic, more water systems, increased pressure on schools and healthcare, and other essential infrastructure.

Do our towns have the capacity to support this level of growth?

Growth is not free, and it is not necessarily progress. More development is not always better, and sometimes, the right decision is to slow down. This is something our elected MHAs and council members need to seriously consider. 

A wooded lot has value even if no house is ever built there. Forests help manage rainwater, protect wildlife, maintain natural drainage, and provide green space for residents. Once these areas are cleared and built on, we cannot put them back.

The CBS Municipal Plan speaks about protecting the environment and preserving the character of Conception Bay South. It is becoming increasingly difficult to see how those goals align with what is happening on the ground.

If we continue this way, what will be left of the town we are trying to protect?

CBS does not need to become another heavily developed suburb to be successful. Many people chose to live here because of its open spaces, wooded areas, rural feel, and connection to nature. Those qualities are part of what makes this community special. It would be a mistake to sacrifice them in the name of growth, only to discover that we have lost the very things that made people want to live here. We need to stop treating every development proposal as an opportunity that must be pursued. Sometimes a proposal may be profitable, but that does not mean it is in the best interests of the town or its residents.

Our Provincial government and town councils have an obligation to take a much stronger approach to protecting what remains of our natural environment. This should include meaningful changes to planning and development regulations, including: 1) increasing minimum lot sizes to curb density and excessive land destruction; 2) mandating the retention of natural environments and prohibiting clear-cutting; 3) protecting wetlands, wooded areas, hillsides, existing farmed land; 4) legally protecting substantial green spaces and natural buffers from future development; and most importantly 5) reviewing the cumulative effects of development across C.B.S. and other municipalities, rather than looking at each application in isolation and ignoring the bigger picture.

These protections need to be meaningful and enforceable. Simply referring to environmental stewardship in a plan is not enough if the rules still allow the natural features of our town to disappear.

There should be room within town limits for land to remain undeveloped. There should be room for trees to grow, for wildlife to live, and for residents to enjoy the natural surroundings that still exist. We should not have to wait until these things are almost entirely gone before deciding that they were worth protecting.

I recognize that slowing development may mean fewer subdivisions, fewer houses, and less growth than some would like to see. I am willing to accept that trade-off. I would rather see CBS grow more slowly and retain its character than watch it become increasingly built up, with each remaining natural area eventually viewed as the next development opportunity.

Council still has an opportunity to change direction, but that opportunity will not last forever. Once a forest is cleared and a subdivision is built, once every small, farmed plot is paved, once too many of our wetlands are filled, these decisions cannot easily be undone.

The success of towns like Conception Bay South should not be measured by how many houses we can fit onto the land. It should be measured by what we have managed to preserve.

Joni Mitchell had the foresight to highlight this problem over 50 years ago. “Don’t it always seem to go, That you don’t know what you’ve got ’til it’s gone. They paved paradise, Put up a parking lot.”

We still have a paradise worth protecting and I hope we will act while there is still time before it’s gone.

Lukas Stritt

C. B. S.

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When governments want to bury bad news, hoping it will go unnoticed or quickly fade away they sometimes schedule media releases for Friday afternoon. In the trade it’s called the Friday News Dump.

At 1:35 p.m. on Friday October 16 the Wakeham government took a dump.

The morning editorial meeting was long over in local newsrooms. Reporters were working on their assignments. Edit suites were busy. At best some editor was going to write what is called a Rip and Read story or just take the press release and regurgitate it.

That is the moment Craig Pardy’s Department of Finance chose to release the Public Accounts for 2025/26, the record of revenues and expenditures for the previous fiscal year.

The Press Release

First, the government patted itself on the back for filing the 2025-26 balance sheet two weeks before the statutory deadline. The media release claims it reflects the Provincial government’s commitment to “transparency and timely fiscal reporting.”

Then, in an object lesson of burying bad news, Craig Pardy’s media release first tells us the 2025/26 deficit was only $5.8 million more than forecast. Whew! Not bad, the voter says.

Then, the voter is told revenue was up. Offshore oil royalties? $350 million more than the previous year. Personal and business tax revenue exceeded their forecasts. Wow! The government collected $420 million more than it had forecast.

The Missing Bit

The media release claims the Government “continued to strengthen” the province’s “long-term financial position.” but nowhere does it say anything about the total deficit for the 2025/26 fiscal year.

The question the media release dumped on Friday avoids is this: if the government collected $420 million more than it forecast, then why isn’t there a surplus north of $400 million? Why is there still a deficit even if it is only $5.8 million more than forecast?

The answer is the Government expenditures overshot their forecasts and that wasn’t in the media release on Friday.  

The media release says the government “continued to invest in key priorities” like the $744 million the government spent on capital acquisitions like “health care facilities, schools and other public infrastructure.”  

That could be interpreted to mean the cost of brick-and-mortar investments came in higher than projected? Well, anybody who is building anything these days know prices have gone up, but the media release didn’t say capital costs overshot estimates. The release only says capital costs were $744 million. 

The Devil in the Details

 The answer to the question of where the Wakeham government spent more than it forecast is found in a table titled “Key Financial Highlights” in the Public Accounts document. “Salaries and employee benefits” overshot their estimate by $108 million. “Operating costs” overshot the budget estimate by $73 million. “Professional services” overshot the budget estimate by $90 million.

Then add another $161 million overshoot on the expense side for what Mr. Pardy’s department calls “Other” expenses and the additional $420 million in revenue highlighted in Friday’s media release is wiped out. 

Transparency?

Finance Minister Craig Pardy was not available to answer questions on the Friday when the media release was dumped. Instead, the release contained a statement attributed to Mr. Pardy with words like ‘responsible decisions,” “continued success,” “balanced approach,” “priorities that matter,” and “transparency.” 

Think Tony Wakeham’s breaking of the referendum campaign promise is a one-off? Think his government is committed to “transparency?”

Tony Wakeham’s first year in power is marked by blowing $400 million past the expenditure forecast in his first budget and that fact is missing from the media release accompanying the release of the 2025/26 public accounts. 

Was Tony’s a good dump? It looks like it. There was no mention of the release of the Public Accounts the following Saturday or Sunday on the CBC, NTV, VOCM, or the Telegram internet sites.  The business news service, allnewfoundlandlabrador.com was the only exception. It published an update to its Friday edition, and the update remained its lead story throughout the following weekend.  (Editor’s note; Roger Bill’s son Alex Bill is the Editor of the provincial business news service allnewfoundlandlabrador.com)

The Friday News Dump isn’t a new technique and maybe calling it ‘cynical’ is overstating a practice that politicians often resort to. In some ways it’s hard not to give it some grudging respect. 

For example, what if Tony Wakeham had told Craig Pardy to release the Public Accounts the previous Friday, the Friday before the three-day Thanksgiving holiday weekend and really bury it?  Well, it wouldn’t top breaking the Referendum campaign promise, but in the world of media pros and reporters it would have been a memorable move.

The post Wakeham, Pardy, and a Friday News Dump appeared first on The Shoreline News.

Work in Progress

MHAs are being told by a House of Assembly report that they deserve a $22,000 a year raise, up from the base of $95,000 they now make. Not to mention a yaffle of other perks.

The temptation is to make this an easy column. I could fill it with cheap shots like: they have the fewest number of sitting days in Canada (23 compared with Quebec’s 79); they have driven our deficit higher and higher for decades, not even beginning to deal with our provincial debt; that a whole bunch of them foisted Muskrat Falls on us (now all happily retired with very generous pensions); that the current crowd are cheerfully going back on a referendum they promised us. I could go on.

I also thought about running some of the comments made by people who come to the food bank where I volunteer. I wrote a lot of them down. Trust me, they are classic.

But I feel I owe it to the many poorly paid town councils across this province to showcase what they do, and for the most part do well, for very little pay. A compare and contrast, if you will.

If you are a regular Shoreline person you read a lot about municipal issues. Matters dealt with by elected counsellors – your neighbours and friends. These people make tough decisions every day that affect you personally, that shape your community, that provide the services your municipal taxes pay for.

Most of these people aren’t paid very well. They are not there for the cash, but because they are community minded, and want to give back to their neighbours.

The author of the House report, a career bureaucrat who works for the House, wrote “fair and reasonable compensation will assist in ensuring that people with diverse backgrounds and experiences are encouraged to seek public office.” The idea is a raise is healthy for democracy.

Poppycock.

Were I a town counsellor I would be insulted by this. How many of them are in it for the money?  Pay shouldn’t be the motivation for serving in the House. It sure isn’t in most municipalities.

Should MHAs be paid? Sure. Should the pay be reasonable? Again, sure. But that goes for everyone – pensioners, people on income support, people on disability funding.

MHAs want to be paid fairly so they can decide the rest of us are not. Is that too harsh? Ask a pensioner, a homeless person, a person looking for housing, a person waiting hours, weeks, months or years for medical care, or anyone else hung out to dry by shoddy government services. All victims of decisions made by MHAs.

I volunteer at a place that has many incredible volunteers. People from all walks of life who volunteer because they believe in what they are doing. They want to help, not make money.

I am not saying MHAs should work for free, I am saying that pay should not be their primary motivator.

Danny Williams never took a salary. Not a penny. I admired that. Still do. He was there because he wanted to give back. We aren’t all fabulously wealthy, but the idea is the same.  

The Province puts a cap on what town councillors can pay themselves. The Province passed legislation that forbids towns from running deficits. They have to live within their means and face the voter to explain their decisions. If only our MHAs had to take a page from the book they impose on municipalities.

If anyone – anyone – else performed as poorly as the last few governments, would they be  candidates for a raise? Is the House of Assembly so rarefied that they are above judgement? How useless do they have to be before the electorate does something about it? Like what? Here’s a hint, not give them a raise.

I think there is a brilliant opportunity for leadership in the House. Premier Andrew Furey denied a raise two years ago. What a chance to make a point. What a chance to win over voters. Imagine if opposition MHAs refused the raise, said they were paid enough, demanded the House be open longer. Demand they work more. Demand that promises made are kept.

Do you think the crowd that broke their promise about a referendum is going to care what we think about their raise?

Ivan Morgan can be reached at ivan.morgan@gmail.com

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Farrell’s Excavating has won the contract to provide back up snow clearing services in CBS this winter.

The Kelligrews-based company will be paid $175,000 to be on standby to provide snow clearing equipment and workers to supplement the Town’s unionized operators.

That amount buys the Town 500 standby hours. For anything needed beyond that, Farrell’s will be paid $348 per hour per loader.

The Town didn’t call a tender for the service, but instead made a limited call out to four companies requesting that they bid for the work. The Town told the companies it was willing to buy up to 100 standby hours for every machine that could be made available, up to a maximum of five loaders.

Farrell’s was the only company whose bid included the availability of five loaders, and also bid the lowest amount per machine, at $348 per hour.

Black Diamond Construction offered to make one loader available for $400 per hour. Modern Paving said it could provide two loaders for $450 an hour each. And Eric Taylor Ltd., of Foxtrap, offered to provide three loaders on standby at $495 per hour each. 

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