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CTV News
01-08-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Customers, businesses react to first day of reduced ferry and bridge tolls
Friday marked the first day that fares are half the price they used to be for the ferry service between North Sydney, N.S. and Newfoundland. For one couple getting on the boat, the timing couldn't have been better. 'We're moving to Newfoundland from Ontario,' said Susan Deary, who was travelling with her husband Douglas Best. While everyday passengers get to take advantage of the 50 per cent price reduction on Marine Atlantic ferries, it doesn't apply to commercial traffic - instead, truckers' rates are being frozen going forward. 'We already prepaid for it, and we actually got a refund on my Visa,' Deary said. 'I think it's fantastic.' However, Northside area councillor, Gordon MacDonald, said while the lower cost is great for travelers - himself included - he would like to see more done to direct visitors into the communities that are immediately off the ferry, rather than those areas getting bypassed as soon as vehicles hit the highway. 'There's things that need to be changed in order for our area - North Sydney, Sydney Mines - to be able to gain the benefits from all these tourists coming in,' MacDonald said. 'Maybe like, have a taxi company service them for a couple of hours while they're there. To go to the Atlantic Memorial Park, the Fossil Centre, Munro Park, those areas within District 1 and 2.' Friday also marked the first day that the ferry between Nova Scotia and P.E.I. is half-price. The Confederation Bridge toll is now $20, from a previous $50.25. The owner of Copper Bottom Brewing in Montague, P.E.I., near the Wood Islands ferry, said a lot of Island businesses stand to benefit. 'We're really impacted by the ferry schedule - like, even the times when the ferries weren't running, we noticed a really big difference,' said brewery co-owner Ashley Condon. 'I think we're seeing more people travelling in general, so I think this will just be even more motivation to come to P.E.I. in the earlier springtime and maybe into the fall.' Riders of the Newfoundland ferry shared a similar sentiment about what this might mean for visitorship to The Rock. 'And people will now be able to go to Newfoundland more often,' Deary said. Unlike the Newfoundland ferry, the P.E.I. ferry rate reductions apply to all traffic - including truckers.
Times
15-07-2025
- Politics
- Times
Political knockabout is over — we're not ready for what's coming
T hey say all's fair in love and war, but is the same true in politics? This question has been on my mind ever since the SNP launched a very personal attack on Ian Murray, the secretary of state for Scotland in Sir Keir Starmer's cabinet. On Sunday the SNP sent out a press release headed: The Hypocrisy File: Ian Murray's broken promises revealed. Murray, it said, had 'swapped his principles for power'. There then followed a somewhat hysterical quote from the SNP's Gordon MacDonald saying it was 'disgraceful' that Murray had 'abandoned almost every principle he once claimed to champion'. If you have never heard of MacDonald, who is MSP for Edinburgh Pentlands, do not fret. The former accountant is leaving Holyrood next May after 15 years of a parliamentary career in which the SNP's capacious front bench never found room for him. MacDonald himself may not warrant much of our attention but the choice of language used to attack Murray should, I think, give us pause.
CTV News
14-07-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Cape Breton Regional Municipality to ask province for help with abandoned buildings after fire
The former Morrison School in Glace Bay, N.S., was destroyed by fire on July 10, 2025. Last Thursday's fire at the long-abandoned Morrison High School in Glace Bay, N.S., threatened homes in the nearby area. Residents, firefighters and elected officials said the thought the fire was bound to happen. 'These are becoming an issue in the community,' said councillor Gordon MacDonald of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM). On the Northside, which includes MacDonald's District 1, a number of fires have been set at the former North Sydney post office. MacDonald estimates it would cost about $1 million to get rid of the building. 'And they're left to cash-strapped municipalities like us who don't have the resources to be able to tear them down because we don't have the budget available for the high cost of doing it,' MacDonald said. A spokesperson for CBRM told CTV Atlantic that abandoned buildings will be a significant item on the agenda at Tuesday evening's council meeting and the municipality will likely ask the provincial government for help with the issue. 'I think the province should definitely sit down as part of negotiations with the CBRM and look at the issue', said Derek Mombourquette, interim leader of Nova Scotia's Liberal party and MLA for Sydney-Membertou. Mombourquette said CBRM's case might be unique because it has so many derelict buildings - roughly 400 of them. 'The sheer size of it compared to other municipalities around the province, I would argue it probably has a more significant case of this,' Mombourquette said. MacDonald says they also have to consider buildings that aren't empty yet but soon will be. 'We're going to have the North Sydney hospital - the Northside General Hospital - coming up,' he said. 'That's going to be abandoned in the near future, and people have to start planning what is the next step for a building like that?' Tuesday's council meeting begins at 6 p.m. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
The National
04-07-2025
- Business
- The National
UK Government hindering Scotland's economy, says SNP
Experts said spiralling costs, uncertainty over trade tariffs imposed by the United States, and a rise in employer National Insurance Contributions imposed by the Labour UK Government have all hampered Scotland's economy. Economics experts at the Strathclyde University-based think tank Fraser of Allander Institute have now downgraded their forecasts for growth. READ MORE: I'm an SNP MP. This is why we abstained on proscribing Palestine Action The think tank now expects economic growth of 0.8% in 2025 and 1.0% in 2026 – which is a slight downgrade from its April forecasts of 0.9% and 1.1%. It noted Scottish real GDP grew 0.4% in the first quarter of 2025, compared to 0.7% in the UK as a whole. Last year, Chancellor Rachel Reeves announced in her autumn budget that employers' NICs would rise from 13.8% to 15%, while the threshold at which firms would start paying also increased. At the time, business leaders described the policy changes as a 'life or death' hike for microbusinesses and SMEs. The SNP said they have long warned that the current UK fiscal system is unfit for Scotland's economic needs, and with independence, Scotland would be able to build an economic model with full fiscal powers, which works for the country. SNP MSP Gordon MacDonald said Scottish businesses need a government which works with them and not 'against them'. (Image: Archive) He said: 'These findings should ring alarm bells in Westminster. Scotland's businesses are resilient - but their ability to invest, grow and employ is being strangled by a Westminster government entirely out of touch with the needs of our economy. 'Scottish businesses need a government that works with them, not against them. While the UK government refuses to reform immigration to match our labour needs, and hikes taxes on employers trying to stay afloat, the SNP is doing everything we can with one hand tied behind our backs. 'Only with the full powers of independence, over tax, immigration, trade and energy, we could chart a fairer, more sustainable path for Scottish growth. 'Until then, the SNP will continue to press Westminster to reverse damaging policies like the employers national insurance hike and to develop a migration and trade policy that supports, rather than sabotages, Scottish jobs and businesses'. Looking at the latest data, the think tank found that Scotland's economic growth had 'remained slow', with rises in the first months of 2025 having been 'partially offset' by decreases in March and April. Speaking as its latest quarterly economic commentary was published, institute director Professor Mairi Spowage said: 'After a strong start to the year, the Scottish economy has faltered in March and April and is essentially the same size in real terms as it was six months ago. 'Unfortunately, the wider business environment and global events are still taking a toll on businesses and consumers, which is having a dampening effect on spending and business investment.' The report said: 'The slowdown in growth this year is largely due to higher global uncertainty, particularly from the announcement of tariffs in the US and elsewhere. 'With the CPI (Consumer Prices Index) rate at 3.4% in May 2025 after staying below 3% throughout 2024, an uptick in inflation has also played a role.'
CTV News
16-06-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Free housing unit design plans rolled out in Cape Breton Regional Municipality
It was an open house of sorts on Monday on a new form of housing being proposed for the Cape Breton Regional Municipality (CBRM). Fifteen designs, ranging from single units to a six unit multi-plex are now being offered to residents through the federal Housing Accelerator Fund. The designs were on display on Monday outside City Hall in Sydney. Darlene Leblanc, a resident from Gabarus, N.S., said she liked what she saw for the most part, but wondered whether the proposed housing units would work as well for rural living as they might in urban areas. 'Because they want to be able to incorporate the sewage and water, whereas where I'm in a rural area I wanted to get more information on rural,' Leblanc said. 'Because I would have to have a well and septic put in.' The CBRM said the plans are free and were designed to meet local building codes. A spokesperson for CBRM, Jenna MacQueen, added they have also been fast-tracked in hopes people might be able to start building sooner in a city that has been told it needs at least 1,000 new housing units by next year. 'We're hopeful that this will actually help address some of the housing issues people have experienced in the CBRM,' MacQueen said. 'We're hearing of a lot of people who want maybe an accessory dwelling unit in their backyard, but they don't know how much a plan could cost or even where to begin and we're helping to remove that barrier for people.' Northside-area Coun. Gordon MacDonald was also hopeful these types of units might help when it comes to the municipality's housing shortage, even though he had questions at first about how the proposed new units might fit into existing streets and subdivisions. 'Well, I guess initially when any kind of design comes forward you're kind of concerned about how it's going to fit into the neighbourhoods, but these designs are laid out and they look great,' MacDonald said after viewing the designs. 'Most neighbourhoods, they would fit right in.' Leblanc said while she needs more information first, there is another option that might be worth considering for herself. 'Maybe I want to sell a chunk of my land and build a couple of those on it, have a road going and see if it would be worth my while,' she said. The CBRM says more public engagement sessions - as part of its Housing Strategy - are coming up Wednesday and Thursday in Sydney, North Sydney and Glace Bay. For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
