Latest news with #Halman
CTV News
23-05-2025
- Business
- CTV News
Nova Scotia makes changes to temporary food permits
The government of Nova Scotia has made changes to temporary food permits, ahead of the summer season. The changes will help make the application process quicker and easier for food vendors, a news release said. The changes include: all information on temporary food permits now available in one online location the application form reduced by half and simplified to make it quicker and easier to complete clearer rules on who needs a permit an expanded list of exempted foods not needing a permit rewritten in plain language; available in English, French, Arabic, Chinese and Hindi one application that can be used to apply for temporary food permits for multiple events hosted by the same vendor or organization in the same calendar year; in the past, a separate application was required for every event. Temporary food permits are required under Nova Scotia's Food Safety Regulations for food prepared or served to the public for 14 days or less within a 60-day period per location, such as at a community festival or fair. The department issued more than 900 permits in 2024, with around half of them being for one-day events. 'Across Nova Scotia, food brings people together,' said Timothy Halman, minister of environment and climate change. 'Festivals, fairs and other community events with food are also important fundraisers for community organizations and are usually run by volunteers. These changes support better client service and more efficient delivery of government services so that community groups don't have to spend unnecessary hours on paperwork, while still giving the public confidence that the food served is safe.' For more Nova Scotia news, visit our dedicated provincial page
National Observer
08-05-2025
- Business
- National Observer
Nova Scotia to speed up environmental reviews for clean energy projects
The Nova Scotia government is accelerating the environmental review process for a number of clean energy projects to meet its climate goals and get off coal by 2030. Under changes announced Thursday, large biomass, biogas and clean fuel projects have been changed to Class 1 from Class 2, meaning they can be approved within 50 days. The more rigorous Class 2 assessment, which can take more than two years, is now reserved for projects such as pulp mills, cement plants, incinerators and large energy plants. The government is also classifying small modular reactor projects, previously not covered by regulations, as Class 1, a designation that had previously been reserved for renewable projects involving wind, tidal and solar energy, as well as for biofuels, mines, quarries and alterations to large wetlands. Environment Minister Tim Halman says the province has committed to reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050. 'Without the ability to build faster we will not be able to meet our climate change and energy security commitments,' said Halman. 'These changes are intended to speed up our transition to clean energy, fight global climate change and support sustainable development.' Under the changes, small wood biomass projects will now be exempt from the environmental review process and will be managed through the Environment Department's industrial approval process. Meanwhile, the province is extending the Class 1 consultation period for members of the public and Mi'kmaq communities by 10 days, for a total of 40 days, while the entire assessment period remains at 50 days. As well, companies will also have to provide a 'plain language' summary of a proposed project's benefits and impacts, and the government will include new 'plain language' guidance for companies on the environmental review process, which will include climate change as a factor to be considered before a minister approves a project. 'It's a clarified Class 1 system,' said Halman. 'A clear process that will protect the environment and build up the economy.' The changes come after Premier Tim Houston signalled his intent earlier this year to increase the potential of the province's natural resources. In March, his government passed legislation to lift a moratorium on fracking and a ban on uranium mining and exploration. Officials on Thursday did not say whether potential shale gas fracking projects would be assessed under a Class 1 or Class 2 process. In a followup email, the Environment department said companies interested in such drilling would need to get permission from the Department of Energy and then approval through the province's industrial review process. The new classifications were welcomed by Todd Burgess, executive director of the industry group Forest Nova Scotia. 'Simplifying regulation is going to be very good for the forest sector, it will help us grow and create more jobs long term in rural Nova Scotia,' Burgess told reporters. However, Karen McKendry, senior wilderness outreach co-ordinator for the Halifax-based Ecology Action Centre, said that while more cleaner energy projects are needed, the changes to the review process 'aren't meaningfully helpful in getting us there.' 'One of the major problems with the process already that they didn't change today was around transparency,' said McKendry, who noted that the government held consultations in 2023 on changes needed to environment reviews. She said many participants in the consultations called on the government to take public comment seriously and for the minister to provide a rationale for environmental approval decisions. McKendry said that simply adding 10 days to the Class 1 consultation period will do little. 'I think for communities that will be 10 more days of shouting into the void,' she said.
CBC
15-04-2025
- Politics
- CBC
N.S. moves forward with plan to force municipalities to protect coastlines
The Nova Scotia government is offering municipalities a blueprint on how they can protect the province's 13,000 kilometres of coastline. Environment Minister Tim Halman on Tuesday announced a new website link with examples of bylaws and other regulations municipalities can use to prevent coastal erosion. It's a controversial measure — the Progressive Conservatives have refused to put into force a 2019 law adopted by the previous Liberal government that would have required the provincial government to manage coastal protection. Instead, the Tories want the province's municipalities to draft their own bylaws that define where coastal regulations would apply, set minimum building elevations, and create buffer zones to protect infrastructure from erosion. Halman also announced more than $1.3 million for the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities to hire a climate change policy analyst and help its 49 members create their own bylaws. The Progressive Conservatives promised to offer examples of bylaws when they announced their coastal protection strategy in February 2024 and confirmed they would not proclaim the Liberals' 2019 Coastal Protection Act.
CBC
31-01-2025
- Politics
- CBC
N.S. cabinet ministers support more talk about natural resources, but struggle to identify impediments
Environment Minister Tim Halman says that if Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston wants to lift the ban on uranium mining in the province, it's his job as environmental regulator to set the table for the change. Reporters asked Halman on Thursday if a change could be coming. "Stay tuned," he said. "If the premier is signalling that, as a regulator I have a responsibility to make sure my team is ready to regulate that safely, ethically and also to make sure that we protect the environment and protect human health." Halman said he's not aware of any proponents who have pushed for the ban to be lifted, however. He was one of three cabinet ministers on Thursday who could not point to a specific natural resource development project that's been prevented from going ahead as a result of the province's current regulatory climate. Still, last week the premier announced that he wanted to pursue more natural resource development and extraction in an effort to increase economic development in the province and strengthen Nova Scotia's economy as it faces challenges such as looming tariffs from the United States and plateauing population growth. The premier has argued that in order to do that, it's time to wrestle control back from special interest groups and a small vocal minority of the population he said have put the "no" in Nova Scotia in an effort to stifle natural resources development. But like Halman, Natural Resources Minister Tory Rushton and Energy Minister Trevor Boudreau also struggled to provide concrete examples of opportunities the province has missed out on to date. Boudreau said officials in his department are "hearing a buzz" that Nova Scotia is open for business since the premier's pronouncement. Houston said he is open to reconsidering all bans that exist in the province, including the moratorium on fracking for onshore natural gas and the ban on uranium mining. It's OK for people to have concerns about potential development, Boudreau told reporters, but he said conversations need to happen to see if things can be done in a safe way. "We owe it to Nova Scotians to have these conversations, to look at it," he said. "Nova Scotians, along with the government, will decide is this the right path for us. We believe that we have to look at all of that. And whether it's fracking, whether it's offshore wind, whether it's tidal — all of those things." A former Liberal government passed legislation to ban fracking, although regulations were never completed and the bill was never proclaimed. Houston told the legislature in 2021 that he would maintain the ban for the duration of his tenure. Rushton said he wants to talk to the proponents behind several potential lithium developments to get a sense of whether anything about the provincial regulatory system has slowed their plans. "Are there hurdles? I don't know of any right now, but I want to talk to the companies to find out," he told reporters. Having conversations about natural resource development does not mean projects are destined to go ahead, said Rushton. "We're not going to jeopardize somebody's drinking water … to do development," he said. "It has to be in an environmentally safe and prudent manner." Opposition leaders criticized the fact that Houston waited until after the recent provincial election to put such an emphasis on the pursuit of natural resource development. NDP Leader Claudia Chender said the premier is positioning the idea as a way to contend with looming tariffs but any new development would be years away and wouldn't provide immediate help to those who will need it. The natural resources sector should be supported and helped to grow, Chender told reporters, but she questioned Houston's approach of "lashing out at perceived enemies." "I'm not quite sure what this strategy is all about other than, I guess, to demonize some little non-profits in the province that are, I think, doing pretty good work." Interim Liberal Leader Derek Mombourquette, a former minister of energy and mines, said he recalls from his time as minister concerns from some people about whether the province was considered open for business. But he said what ultimately determines whether a venture goes ahead is if a company thinks it's economically viable. He pointed to the Little Narrows quarry in Victoria County that was relaunched in 2023 after a market shift created new demand. "A lot of this is based on private investment decisions," he said. Halman disputed suggestions by the opposition that the Tories are surprising the public with their policy directive. He said the party's election platform, which included a paragraph about "smart development" of energy and natural resources sectors, along with the development of a critical mineral strategy, show the PC's transparency on the issue.
