Five Topics That Defined Lunenburg County Politics in 2024

Lunenburg County had a busy year in 2024 in terms of politics.

An attempt to capture proceedings for the last twelve months is a truly overwhelming task that cannot fully convey all the stories of local residents working to better our community.

We went through two elections at the same time as we watched climate change and war devastate communities around the world.

At the same time, we struggled to afford food, energy, and housing.

The following are five of the biggest political stories that we covered in the past year in Lunenburg County.

To jump forward to each section, click on the links below:

The Battle for Coastal Protection
South Shore’s Ceasefire Movement
Setbacks on Reconciliation
Low Voter Turnout Where Choice Was Lacking
The Cost of Living Crisis

The Battle for Coastal Protection

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During a year that saw record hurricanes batter the southeastern United States with devastating effects, the Nova Scotia government decided not to implement laws and regulations that would determine how development can take place on its extensive coastline.

The Coastal Protection Act was passed in 2019 by the previous Liberal government, but it was not proclaimed due to the need for the province to consult on drafting accompanying regulatory documents. 

Flood risk mapping established under the Coastal Protection Act would have determined where property owners can develop. The act also would have established measures to protect coastal infrastructure and protect sensitive ecological and cultural areas. Coastal protection regulations, however, were also perceived by some coastal landowners as coming with a negative impact on property values. 

Despite two favourable rounds of public consultation, Environment Minister Tim Halman announced in February the provincial government was going to scrap the new act and proceed with a voluntary online mapping tool instead. 

The decision by the Minister was made due to low participation in a third round of consultation conducted through postcards that were mailed out to coastal residents. The minister assumed that the low response rate to the province’s survey means property owners rejected the legislation, an assumption that has been widely criticised by coastal residents and researchers.

This ultimately leaves climate hazard planning up to property owners and municipal governments to voluntarily abide by land use restrictions to prevent hazards related to climate change. Researchers argued that leaving coastal protection to individual property owners will result in uncoordinated and ecologically-destructive responses such as the construction of protective dykes.

The province’s decision to scrap the Act created administrative headaches for local municipalities in Lunenburg County.

MODL was in the process of developing regulations that would work in accordance with the Act, but the province’s change in direction forced the municipality to restart the process to implement a new, municipal set of regulations. MODL also learned from municipal staff that the province’s new approach would be based on outdated climate data.

MODL ultimately passed a motion to establish a local coastal protection bylaw in April. Several councilors, however, spoke out against what they argued was a downloading of responsibility for coastal protection from the provinces to municipalities without providing the resources necessary to cover the costs.

Prior to MODL’s establishment of a local coastal protection bylaw, Members of Kingsburg Coastal Conservancy gave a presentation to Council detailing how a private property owner was granted permission by the province to construct a bunkhouse and boardwalk protected ecological area at Kingsburg Beach. They feared that this would set a precedent that would lead to more similar developments along the Lunenburg coastline.

In June, former MODL Mayor Carolyn Bolivar-Getson formally demanded that the province reconsider a provision in the Beaches Act that grants the Natural Resources Minister authority to approve private development in protected areas.

MODL passed its own, local coastal protection regulations on June 18, prohibiting development within 30 meters of a coastal bank or wetland, only allowing habitable structures to be built above 3.97 meters above sea level. The regulations were passed with a provision for annual checks on its effectiveness, as well as a mandatory review of the regulation in five years.

The Ecology Action Centre in September commissioned a poll through Narrative Research, which found among a sample of 400 residents of the province 68% of them thought the government should have implemented the Act.

Since the decision to scrap the Act bright blue lawn signs popped-up throughout Lunenburg County demanding, “Coastal Protection Now!” Hundreds of people attended a rally at the Nova Scotia Legislature on May 8 demanding that the government implement the Act. The NDP also tabled a petition on September 13 in the Legislature with more than 2,700 signatures.

Coastal Protection featured prominently during the 2024 Nova Scotia Election, with the NDP, Liberals, and Greens asserting that they would implement the Act if elected. The re-election of the PC government, however, means that it is doubtful that the Act will be enacted unless local government and public pressure on the government increases.

South Shore’s Ceasefire Movement

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This past year saw the growth of a sizable group of local residents, called South Shore Ceasefire Now, mobilizing for an end to the Israeli occupation of Gaza.

The group’s mobilization convened a new community of anti-war activists and has made ceasefire demands a matter of local politics throughout Lunenburg County.

The group began in the autumn of 2023 opposing the actions of the Israeli Government, which saw the Israeli military invade and occupy Gaza in response to Hamas militants killing and taking Israeli hostages.

The International Court of Justice ruled in July the Israeli occupation of Gaza is illegal. The International Criminal Court (ICC) recently issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and former Defence Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The group organized a series of six protests in Bridgewater and Lunenburg between October 2023 to March 2024 ranging from just under 70 to more than 150 participants. It has also held a letter writing event at the LCLC, a “Pass the Mic” session at the Mahone Bay Centre, and a Benefit Concert at Broad Cove Hall raising $1,762 for the Palestinian Red Crescent.

Several volunteers with the group made presentations to Bridgewater and MODL town councils, calling on local governments to demand a ceasefire in Gaza and to donate money to the Palestinian Red Crescent. They were successful in getting the Town of Bridgewater to make a statement calling for a “sustainable ceasefire”, but were unable to convince them to make a donation for the relief effort.

South Shore Ceasefire Now triggered controversy at the MODL when demands for a ceasefire statement and donation was met with hesitation by town council. 

MODL, in 2023, voted to donate $10,000 to Red Cross Ukraine Humanitarian Crisis Appeal in response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Council held a heated debate with some councillors stating that making statements about Israel’s occupation of Gaza was beyond the role of local government. 

Other councillors pointed out the hypocrisy and bad optics of deciding to donate to humanitarian relief in Ukraine—a mostly white and Christian population—and to not donate to relief efforts in Palestine to aid largely non-white, Muslim people.

The group continues to organize and advocate for a lasting peace in Gaza, the Westbank, and Lebanon as the conflict evolves into a regional war beyond Palestine.

Setbacks on Reconciliation

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Mi’kmaw communities experienced a disappointing year in terms of settler action in Lunenburg County on reconciliation.

The year began, already at a low point, when the Town of Lunenburg bungled the task of renaming Cornwallis Street to something that would reflect respect for L’nu people. The Town, however, chose the name “Queen Street”, which catastrophically missed the mark.

The choice came after an online ranked-choice survey, including a variety of Mi’kmaw words as well as “Reconciliation”, was concluded with Queen Street as the top choice with 35%, even though most respondents chose one of the Mi’kmaw terms. 

This sparked outrage among some councillors, like Ed Halverson who stated it would be, “like a slap in the face to our Indigenous neighbours”. 

Council then proceeded to pass a motion accepting the name Queen Street.

Myra then attempted to contact Mi’kmaw leaders to request that they draft a statement to say that they liked the Queen Street name option. This happened at the same time as he claimed publicly that he would seek advice from “the Indigenous community” before the name change was put to another vote in the Spring. 

Myra had already said during his election campaign in August that he would consult Wasoqopa’q (Acadia) First Nation on renaming options, which never happened.

Councillor Ed Halverson was then removed from his position as deputy mayor by council based on allegations that his criticism of the decision was “disrespectful” and “disruptive.”

Little progress was made during the Spring and Summer on the matter except for a statement from the Mayor over Facebook stating that the renaming process will be done in time for National Day for Truth and Reconciliation in September. 

Lunenburg Town Council considered a final attempt in October to rescind the decision to select the Queen Street name. The vote resulted in a tie, killing the motion. The town went into an election shortly after.

But this story was only a small example of poor settler relations with L’nuk in 2024. 

That winter saw Mi’kmaw groups targeted with arrests and fines by the Department of Fisheries and Oceans for exercising their moderate livelihood lobster harvest. Numerous Mi’kmaw fisherfolk reported finding their lobster traps tampered with or damaged.

The moderate livelihood fishery was also attacked in August when the Unified Fisheries Conservation Alliance filed a suit in the Nova Scotia Supreme Court to declare the practice illegal, despite its recognition by the Supreme Court of Canada.

In the Spring the elvers harvest was marred by a rash of settlers poaching the baby eels seeking high prices from international buyers.

Things turned ugly when DFO shut down the harvest for the year, despite Mi’kmaq treaty provisions guaranteeing them the right to harvest elvers. 

Two L’nuk, Blaise Sylliboy and Kevin Hartling, were arrested near Shelburne and had all of their gear seized by DFO forcing them to walk along the highway at night without boots or cellphones. A move by DFO that is reminiscent of “starlight tours” inflicted upon Indigenous peoples by police across Canada.

This prompted protests, an investigation by Federal Fisheries Minister Diane Lebouthillier, and an eventual apology. The Federal Government is now proceeding to transfer a portion of existing commercial elver quota to Mi’kmaw fisherfolk based on a lower court order, amid settler company objection that this could violate their commercial interest.

Looking back on 2024 it is clear that the symbolic failure to rename Cornwallis Street in Lunenburg in a way that genuinely reflects a spirit of reconciliation is perhaps a symptom of deeper colonial structures and ideologies. These factors are clearly at play in the uneasy relations between settlers and L’nuk in other areas of society like the lobster and elvers harvest.

Low Voter Turnout Where Choice Was Lacking

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The past year in provincial democracy was a story of two very different elections. First, the province-wide series of municipal elections resulted in a wave of new mayors and councillors along with either stable or strong voter turnout. Then, the provincial general election saw Houston’s PC party return into government with historically low voter turnout.

The thing that seems to unite these two elections, however, is where voters perceived there to be viable options for political change, they were more likely to vote.

Residents of Lunenburg County first went to the polls in five different municipalities on October 19 to vote for their mayor and local councillor. 

MODL voted for a new mayor, Elspeth Maclean-Wile who ran primarily on promises of greater transparency at the municipality. This decision ended an eight-year run for former mayor Caroline Bolivar-Getson. There was also significant turnover in councillors with six out of ten councilors returning to the role.

Proponents of gender diversity in local politics expressed concern that the achievement in the 2020 MODL election of selecting women as mayor and 80% of councilors could be lost due if fewer women were elected. However, the council maintained a strong level of female representation of 70%.

The Town of Lunenburg re-elected Jamie Myra as Mayor following a competitive race with challenger Jesse Ward, who was previously the Editor-in-chief of the Lunenburg Barnacle. The Town of Lunenburg also saw a complete turnover in its six councillors, making it an entirely new council.

Mahone Bay saw Suzanne Lohnes-Croft exchange her councillor role for that of mayor. The town also saw high councillor turnover with half of incumbents returning to their role.

The Municipality of the District of Chester re-elected four out of seven councillors, which then voted to return Allen Webber Warden to the position of Warden.

Bridgewater Mayor David Mitchell secured his role at the beginning of the writ period in September through acclamation when nobody registered to challenge him for mayor. Bridgewater selected three newcomers out of its six councillor positions.

Voter turnout for municipal elections in Lunenburg County was rather mixed. MODL experienced a slight uptick in turnout from 43.9% in 2020 to 45.4% in 2024.

The Town of Lunenburg saw a similar if stronger increase in participation from 64.1% in 2020 to 65.8%.

In 2024, turnout in Mahone Bay was down significantly, but still quite strong, from 70.3% in 2020 to 64% in 2024.

Chester similarly declined from 60.4% in 2020 to 51.5% in 2024.

Bridgewater saw a significant decline of an already weak turnout from 36.4% in 2020 to 30.1% in 2024.

The differences between these municipal elections seems to be that those with increased voter turnouts had publicly competitive mayoral races. Those with lower voter turnout had no outsider candidates running for mayor. This suggests that voters were looking for change, and showed up to vote more when it seemed like there was a viable chance for political change.

These findings seemed to be reflected a month later with the results of the Provincial General Election. Elections Nova Scotia data demonstrates that there was already a steady decline in voter turnout in the runup to the 2024 provincial election from 68% in 1999, 57% in 2006, and 53% in 2017. The 2024 election was a continuation of this trend, reaching a historically-low of 45.2%.

A 2022 Statistics Canada study of low voter turnout for Federal Elections suggested that people are most likely not going to vote because they are either too busy working and taking care of family and that they don’t like any of the available options. One can therefore infer that low voter turnout at the provincial-level reflects the outcomes of this year’s municipal elections. In other words, where citizens do not see a competitive or desirable option for change they won’t show up.

The Cost of Living Crisis

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The political issue that was top of mind for the majority residents of Lunenburg was the economic hardships caused by an increased cost of living—estimated to be $25.20 per hour in southern Nova Scotia—amid wage stagnation, which is estimated to be around $24.62 per hour.

Canadian researchers attribute recent increases in the cost of living to a combination of disruptions to global supply chains and monopoly power of corporations. Factors such as war, pandemic, climate change, and corporate consolidation have been shown to increase prices on basic necessities like food, housing, and energy.

Food prices have proven especially punishing to residents of Nova Scotia as indicated by an record-high 27% increase in food banks across the province. This has pressured food banks across the province to limit the amount of certain items they give out to its users.

Some Canadian consumers pushed back against high food prices in 2024 by organizing a nation-wide boycott of Loblaws-owned grocery stores. They drew on evidence showing that market concentration has produced monopoly conditions, where the largest companies are able to increase food prices to boost profits without facing losses to rival companies.

The boycott and food justice advocates have therefore implored governments to break up large grocery corporations to bring down food prices. Monopoly conditions, however, have been a trend across the Canadian food system resulting in both hardship for many farms and consumers alike. 

Nova Scotians managed to avoid the worst increases in energy rates due to a recent decision by Ottawa to bailout Nova Scotia Power.

Emera, the multinational energy corporation that operates Nova Scotia Power, struggled to make a profit as a result of the decision to rely primarily on hydroelectric power produced in Nitassinan (Labrador) to transition off of fossil fuel. Software-related setbacks forced Emera to source an additional $343 million worth of oil and coal to operate the province’s power grid.

The corporation and Province of Nova Scotia, in February, asked the Government of Canada for a bailout to avoid Emera having to take a financial loss, have Nova Scotia Power take a credit downgrade, or to pass the cost to ratepayers.

Ottawa agreed in November to a $500M loan Nova Scotia Power to avoid what it claimed would be a 19% increase in electricity rates, which is to be paid back over a 28-year period. The Government of Nova Scotia has otherwise responded to increases in energy rates by incorrectly asserting that the federal carbon tax is the major contributor to energy inflation.

The cost of housing has arguably been the greatest factor impoverishing Nova Scotians in 2024. The “financialization“–increased ownership by financial investors–of rental housing has resulted in a massive increase in the profits of landlords and investment trusts at the cost of renters. Meanwhile, both federal and provincial governments decreased the rate of public investment in housing since the 1990s.

Nova Scotia’s lack of affordable housing stock was exacerbated by a large influx of Canadians priced out of accessing a home in Ontario and British Columbia, and an increase in the hiring of temporary foreign workers by companies seeking to lower labour costs to boost their profits.

This has had the dual effect of producing a poor quality of life for migrant workers and increased racism and xenophobia from Canadians perceiving migration—not poor public policy choices—as the cause of the housing crisis.

These factors have combined to form a housing market that is prohibitively expensive, resulting in the proliferation of mobile homes popping-up on properties throughout the rural countryside of Lunenburg County and the growth in encampments of unhoused people in urban areas.

Tim Houston, during the November 21 CTV Leaders’ Debate, was asked about the latency of his government’s housing strategy to which he replied, “government can only do so much” and that development of housing should be left primarily to the private sector. 

The PC Government has interpreted their reelection as a mandate to continue this approach to government. This means that the government is relying on the leadership of corporations to improve the quality of life for Nova Scotians. Time will tell if it pays off, but the events of the past year suggest that it will not.