Latest news with #Hatt
Hamilton Spectator
4 days ago
- Business
- Hamilton Spectator
Consulting firm outlines timeline for new water source exploration in Blacks Harbour
Englobe has presented a timeline for its work toward finding a new water source for Blacks Harbour. The company was contracted by Eastern Charlotte to start the process of looking amid ongoing water quality issues in the community that have forced several boil water orders in the past several years. In October, Eastern Charlotte Coun. Adam Hatt, who lives in Blacks Harbour, brought three containers of water to the regular meeting – one drawn from a cool purchased at a local store, one from a filtered tap, and one from an unfiltered tap. Two – the filtered and unfiltered one – showed yellow discolouration and brown sediment-filled water, the likes of which people in Blacks Harbour and Beaver Harbour have been dealing with. The water supply is owned by a private company, Connors Brothers – a fish processing and packing facility. 'Our water quality is still having issues,' Hatt said during the April regular meeting of the council. He describes being inundated with messages and calls he's taken about the water quality, and asked the council to look at a viable option to provide some financial relief for ratepayers. 'Every time a flare-up happens, somebody has washed clothes or somebody has had to spend a bunch of money to get rid of stains out of their toilet or bathtubs … just an onslaught of problems,' he said. 'I think it is only right that council looks at that. 'It's time that we do something for them.' The council unanimously support Hatt in his proposal to offer something to the ratepayers. It remains unclear what the council could. But the timeline has become a little clear following a presentation by Laura Leger. She said the municipality and Englobe are working toward securing land agreements in Zone E off Highway 176. At least one property owner has said no to possible exploration, but the company thinks further conversations could be had with each property owner. 'All the landowner agreements have been sent by mail,' she said. It would like to finalize the land agreements by the end of May. Leger added they'll look to do an environmental impact assessment (EIA) review and additional environmental studies between June and August. It will move to well drilling and pumping tests in September and December. It intends to have the final hydrogeological assessment and final EIA done between January and March 2026. 'At the end of the EIA review process, the goal is to receive approval for those wells so the town can proceed into the next phase,' she said. 'Funding approvals and hopefully a design and construction project.' Mayor John Craig, who also lives in Blacks Harbour, said every member of the council is dedicated to solving this problem for the residents and business owners in those communities. 'Everybody at this table realizes how important this is,' he said. 'What is good for Blacks Harbour is good for all of Eastern Charlotte.'
Local Sweden
23-04-2025
- Business
- Local Sweden
KEY POINTS: What changes in Sweden in May?
A change of direction for the Social Democrats, a tax deadline, public holidays, and, maybe, another Eurovision win for Sweden. What's on the agenda for Sweden in May? Advertisement Centre Party will officially vote for new leader The Centre Party will formally appoint its new leader at an EGM on May 3rd. The election committee has nominated Anna-Karin Hatt, who enjoys wide support within the party, so it looks likely that she will win. Hatt is currently the CEO of the Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF), a major organisation for people and businesses in the agriculture and forestry industry. Another one of her top-level positions since leaving politics is being the former CEO of employers' organisation Almega, a significant player in the Swedish business world. POLITICS IN SWEDEN: Why a new Centre leader might mean the end for free school reform She was among the most popular candidates to take over after Muharrem Demirok stepped down in February, but left professional politics more than ten years ago and had only a week prior to her nomination dismissed the idea that she would be returning any time soon. She took on her first role for the Centre Party in 1991 as a local politician in Hylte, a municipality in south-western Sweden with a population of just over 10,000. She was IT minister in Fredrik Reinfeldt's centre-right coalition government from 2010 to 2014. Advertisement Social Democrats to hold party congress Sweden's Social Democrats will hold their party congress at the end of May. In mid-April, ahead of the congress, the party proposed four new political goals covering topics like the economy, schools, law and order and immigration. The result of a long bottom-up process of policy renewal, the proposals, as expected, cement the party's shift to the right on immigration and law and order. Don't miss: Sweden's tax deadline Tax returns were sent out weeks ago, so you may already have declared your taxes. But if you haven't, May 2nd is the final deadline. If you're unable to file your tax return on time, then you need to apply for an extension by the May 2nd deadline. If the Tax Agency approves your extension, you'll have until June 2nd to submit it. You can apply for this extension online using your digital ID, or call the agency. Before you click submit, make sure you've not missed out on these essential deductions. Will Sweden win Eurovision… again? Another highlight of the Swedish calendar, Eurovision will take place in May in Basel. We're aware that Basel is not in Sweden (despite Sweden and Switzerland often getting mixed up), but many Swedes will be watching the contest, especially considering Sweden's entry is hotly tipped to win this year. Finnish sauna-themed comedy act Kaj were selected to represent Sweden in Eurovision at the final of Melodifestivalen this spring. Their song, Bara Bada Bastu, is the first song in Swedish the country has sent to Eurovision since 1998. Song contest experts think the song could win due to the catchy melody (anyone with children in Sweden has no doubt had it stuck in their head for weeks) and the fact that it represents a break from the kind of slick, polished pop songs Sweden usually sends. Advertisement Holidays and other dates May 1st, a day for celebrating workers' movements, has been a public holiday in Sweden since 1939. Expect to see rallies organised by left or centre-left parties and organisations, but otherwise not much happens on May 1st in Sweden – and even less this year as it falls on a Sunday, so there's no extra day off. The right-wing parties will still be busy, however, joining everyone else in celebrating Valborg and the King's birthday the day before on April 30th. The weather for both days currently looks OK, with forecasters predicting it to be overcast, with temperatures of around 15C in the south of the country and around 5-10C in the north. Ascension Day, which this year falls on May 29th, is also a public holiday in Sweden. This means Friday May 30th is a great klämdag opportunity, meaning you can book it off to give yourself a four-day weekend and only use one day of annual leave (although your Swedish colleagues probably got there ahead of you and booked it off months ago). Known as Kristi himmelfärdsdag in Swedish (or colloquially Kristi flygare – "flying Christ"), it marks the day when Christians believe Jesus ascended into heaven. But as Sweden is a relatively secular country you're unlikely to notice anything remarkable unless you're a keen churchgoer – other than getting a day off. Mother's Day in Sweden falls on the last Sunday of May, this year May 25th. It is not a public holiday.
Local Sweden
22-04-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Why a new Centre leader might mean the end for free school reform
Given the prospective new Centre Party leader Anna-Karin Hatt's background as leader of a free school company, she seems unlikely to let her party join a future push to stop private companies profiting from education, argues The Local's Nordic editor Richard Orange. Advertisement The nomination of the veteran Centre Party politician, Anna-Karin Hatt, as the sole officially sanctioned candidate to lead the party last week was one of those moments when foreign journalists like me struggle to understand how the Swedish media works. Hatt used to be the CEO for a company running free schools, Didaktus, which was reported to the Schools Inspectorate shortly after she stepped down, and also faced criticism for grade inflation, before being bought by Academedia, Sweden's biggest free school company. She was CEO of Almega, the service sector trade body to which The Local also belongs but which also contains Almega Utbildning, the trade body representing free school companies. During her tenure, some of the trade body's member companies threatened to leave it in protest at efforts to build contacts with politicians from the far-right Sweden Democrats (which, perhaps not coincidentally, began to change its position on free schools at around that time). Given that the most significant change to Centre Party policy under the outgoing leader Muharrem Demirok was a tougher stance on free school reform, you would have thought all this was important information. Free schools, and the broader issue of private companies profiting from providing welfare services is, after all, one of the central questions in Swedish politics. Well over two thirds (68 percent) of Swedish voters support stopping companies from earning money from running state-funded free schools, and that even includes a slim majority (53 percent) of those who consider themselves "somewhat to the right" politically. That no party on the right has ever come close to supporting such a ban is, researchers like Anna Tyllström at Uppsala University, argue, evidence of policy being skewed by lobbying by powerful economic interests, of parties not representing voters. Advertisement But these aspects of Hatt's CV were almost entirely missing from the Swedish media's coverage of Hatt's nomination, including The Local's, with the two public service broadcasters SVT and SR, and left-wing and liberal newspapers like DN and Aftonbladet, and the TT newswire all omitting to mention her background as a free-school CEO and lobbyist. The only exceptions were the left-wing newspaper Dagens ETC and the anti-lobbying campaign site Klägget. There is, of course, a lot more to Hatt than that. She was Sweden's IT minister for four years during the Alliance government, and her appointment will see the party once again led by a political heavyweight. In an opinion piece in Aftonbladet on Easter Saturday, Daniel Suhonen, the head of the left-wing Social Democrat think tank Katalys, mentioned that Hatt had, "like all centre-right politicians, run a free school", downplaying the significance of her background. He argued that, whatever her personal preferences may be, she will never be able get voters' backing to join the three government so-called Tidö parties and form a government with the support of the Sweden Democrats. If she were to choose to back Moderate leader Ulf Kristersson in the 2026, he predicted, the Centre Party would never get the four percent of votes needed to enter parliament. Advertisement I'm not sure he's right. Unlike Demirok, Hatt may be a skillful enough politician to bring her voters with her while remaining non-committal on whether her party will back a Moderate Party or Social Democrat prime minister. She might argue - probably rightly - that this would give the party maximum influence in the post-election negotiations. One thing that does look certain if she gets voted in as leader, though, is that the days when the Centre Party looked like it might push to limit, or even stop, free school companies from extracting profits, are over. Advertisement What else has been going on in Swedish politics? Social Democrats launch media blitz ahead of congress The Social Democrats on April 16th published the five political 'riktlinjer', meaning "guidelines" or perhaps "lines of direction" for its party congress at the end of next month. The result of a long bottom-up process of policy renewal, the proposals, as expected, cement the party's shift to the right on immigration and law and order. The party accompanied the release with a media blitz led by its two rising stars, justice spokesperson Teresa Carvalho and culture policy spokesperson Lawen Redar. The former gave a long Saturday interview with Swedish radio, in which she pledged that the party would "not lead a government that is soft on crime". The latter told the Expressen newspaper's politics podcast that Sweden Democrat leader Jimmie Åkesson was "worried" about the political positions her party was developing on immigration. Party leader Magdalena Andersson, meanwhile, let a reporter from Amelia, the biweekly women's lifestyle magazine, follow her around for a day before sitting down for a highly personal interview about her father's dementia. Party secretary Tobias Baudin then followed up with a debate article in the Expressen newspaper on Monday in which he argued that the "poor leadership" of the current government was "badly damaging Sweden". Left politician off hook for 'deeply antisemitic' cartoon Swedish prosecutors have decided not to launch an investigation into the Left Party MP Lorena Delgado Varas after she was reported by the Official Council of Swedish Jewish Communities for hate speech. Delgado Varas had shared a cartoon on X in which Israel controls the USA like a puppet, with the USA then controlling the rest of the world. The text read: 'The Zionist Jews control the world'. The council called the cartoon "deeply antisemitic". The government proposes criminalising virginity tests Sweden's government has sent a proposal to the Council on Legislation to make it a crime to carry out virginity tests, issue virginity certificates, or fail to disclose child marriage or forced marriages as part of its efforts to combat honour crimes. The law is hoped to come into force on December 1st.
Local Sweden
14-04-2025
- Politics
- Local Sweden
Who is Anna-Karin Hatt and why does her new role as Centre Party leader matter?
The Centre Party's election committee has nominated a leader to take over the reins of the struggling party. But who is Anna-Karin Hatt and why is her new role so crucial? Advertisement "Anna-Karin Hatt is the candidate who has by far received the most nominations when we've asked the various parts of the Centre Party," Anders Åkesson, chair of the party's election committee, told reporters at a press conference to announce their pick. He described Hatt as the candidate the party "wants and needs". "She is a political heavyweight with long experience from both politics and business," Swedish news agency TT quoted him as saying. Who is Anna-Karin Hatt? Hatt is currently the CEO of the Federation of Swedish Farmers (LRF), a major organisation for people and businesses in the agriculture and forestry industry. Another one of her top-level positions since leaving politics is being the former CEO of employers' organisation Almega, a significant player in the Swedish business world. "Perhaps with my experience I can build a few bridges between business and politics. I myself believe that's truly needed and would benefit the continued development of Sweden," she told the press conference after her largely unexpected nomination. Hatt was among the most popular candidates to take over after Muharrem Demirok stepped down in February, but left professional politics more than ten years ago and had only a week prior to her nomination dismissed the idea that she would be returning any time soon. She took on her first role for the Centre Party in 1991 as a local politician in Hylte, a municipality in south-western Sweden with a population of just over 10,000. She was IT minister in Fredrik Reinfeldt's centre-right coalition government from 2010 to 2014. Advertisement Why does Hatt matter? It's easy to think of her appointment as a minor event in the Swedish political calendar – the Centre Party is after all polling at no more than 3.6 percent, according to public broadcaster SVT and pollsters Verian. But that would be a mistake. Let us explain. Swedish party politics is these days based on minority governments having to form coalitions with smaller parties, which gives some parties the role of kingmakers. The Centre Party is one of those parties that could go either way. It has in the past collaborated with the Christian Democrats, Liberals and Moderates on the right-wing side of politics, but refuses to work with the far-right Sweden Democrats, which effectively bars it from working with the bloc currently running the country. The party also refuses to work with the Left Party, which is one of the four parties in the left-wing bloc, meaning it has found it difficult to find a place in the new political climate. Advertisement It has however in recent years leaned more towards the left than the right, which is not entirely uncontroversial. In fact, internal criticism of Demirok's perceived attempts to get the party to officially unite behind Social Democrat opposition leader Magdalena Andersson as prime minister is believed to have partly sparked his departure. Sweden's two political blocs have a roughly even split of votes. The current ruling bloc has 176 seats, whereas the opposition including the Centre Party has 173 seats. So if the new leader of the Centre Party were to switch allegiances, it would be a shift to the right for Swedish politics and make it impossible for the left wing to form a government under the Social Democrats, unless strange things were to happen. Hatt avoided taking a stance when fielding questions at the press conference. "I can promise you that we will of course arrive at a clear approach well in advance of the next election. I haven't been part of those discussions, but I look forward to taking part in them," she said, using her ten-year political hiatus to her advantage. Anything else I need to know? She isn't technically party leader yet. The Centre Party will formally appoint its new leader at an EGM on May 3rd. However, based on the fact that Hatt is the election committee's nominee and enjoys wide support within the party, she's likely to win. Politics in Sweden is The Local's weekly analysis, guide or look ahead to what's coming up in Swedish politics. Update your newsletter settings to receive it directly to your inbox.
BBC News
12-03-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Wiltshire College to teach builders sustainability skills
A new centre will train plumbers, electricians and construction companies how to build to sustainability new Green Skills Innovation Centre at Wiltshire College and University Centre Lackham campus will teach about solar panels, solar thermal heating, air source heat pumps and renewable college received £100,000 through the Wiltshire Council Shared Prosperity Fund to develop the Iain Hatt said: "It's a really exciting project that will benefit our students on construction apprenticeships and employers across the area." The college will offer short courses to construction sector employers who need to develop their plumbing and heating engineers, electricians and builders' renewable skills as demand Hatt said: "Climate Change is presenting us all with a growing challenge and the construction industry is having to adapt quickly to meet that challenge. "We are seeing the demand for sustainable housing grow, and not just because of global warming but also rising energy bills."Our Green Skills Centre will be there to meet this demand for new skills and it will be convenient for employers because it is based here in Wiltshire at our Lackham campus."The college is also converting a former residential house at Lackham into an eco-house to act as a showcase for renewable has been developed in partnership with Chippenham energy firm Good Energy, which will use it to train its engineers."Both of these projects are vitally important to the training we offer," said Mr Hatt.
