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North Shore News and Views is proud to announce a new addition to our editorial stable. It’s a regular feature by Yogi Fell, who runs a horse sanctuary in South Granville, a magical refuge for people and horses known far beyond PEI’s shores. We hope you enjoy this new feature and will keep returning for more.
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Why not grow with us? To find out more you can email us at peijim@hotmail.com or contact the website’s editor, Jim Brown, at 902-886-2363 or 902-856-1870.
Resort Municipality councillors grapple over ‘tiny home’ definition
By Jim Brown
So how ‘tiny’ do homes have to be if they are to be considered tiny homes in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish? It was a thorny issue that consumed much of May 15 council meeting, and it stumped several councillors who were at a loss as to where to draw the line.
Councillors were flailing around trying to find a definition that would satisfy provincial regulators and fit within the Resort Municipality’s Official Plan.
If someone builds a permanent structure that is under 200 sq. feet would that run afoul of planning regulations, asked one councillor.
“Without knowing what we’re talking about, how big we’re talking about, it’s kind of hard to make a motion on something,” said Coun. Linda Lowther.
“Without nailing down every exact specification of a tiny home I believe all of us have a rough idea of the dimensions at least in principle of what a tiny home could be. Something that would fit on the back of a trailer, I suppose, and could be moved around,” said Coun. Chris Robinson.
But other councillors responded that anything that could be towed on wheels was not allowed under the current bylaw.
Mayor Matthew Jelley broke the impasse by suggesting Council adopt The International Residential Code (IRC) definition for tiny houses, which sets the maximum dimension of those homes at 37 sq metres or 400 sq. feet.
Anything 100 to 400 sq feet in size would be legal.
Councillors eventually voted to adopt the IRC definition, but a public meeting will be held in June on the issue to bring local residents up to speed.
Condo, duplex development gets warm reception at public meeting
By Jim Brown
It was smooth sailing at a May 2 public meeting for a proposed new condo, duplex and residential development on 44 acres in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish. The development, Eagles Landing Estates, is located off Cavendish Road at Eagles Glenn Boulevard. Applicant Roger Birt received solid support from the dozen or so people in attendance and from three others who submitted emails before the meeting.
One of the supporting emails came from long-time summer residents Murdock and Connie Morrison, on April 28.
“After reading about this project on the Roger Birt property in Cavendish we feel that such a development should be allowed to be approved by the Resort Municipality as it has been proposed many years ago but never carried forward by Roger at that time. We feel that this is the kind of development that would allow Cavendish to grow into a resort-type community that would support local business and create new opportunities for growth in the resort municipality,” they wrote.
“We definitely need this type of development and we encourage residents to voice their approval.”
Year round resident Brian Lowther, who attended the meeting, gave his enthusiastic backing to the proposal.
“I think it’s fantastic,” he said.
Sandy MacKay, a business owner and resident in Stanley Bridge, wrote in an email:
“I want to fully support this development, which will enhance our community. It’s great to see non-agricultural land being used and saving agricultural land for the purpose of growing food. It’s also great to see what hopefully will be more year round residents, which will further enhance small business to open longer.”
The final date for written submissions is midnight, May 8.
Resort Municipality councillor sticks to his masking guns
By Jim Brown
In a crowded room Chris Robinson stands out. He’s often the only person who wears a mask. Chris, a councillor with the Resort Municipality of Cavendish, was once again the only person among attendees at a May 2 public meeting on a proposed development to be seen with a mask on.
“I have relatives, senior parents, who I am still seeing who are vulnerable and somewhat immuno-compromised so I wear a mask to protect others,” he said.
“Public health has made a point that it’s up to each of us to make our own decisions (on masking). There is no public health guidance.
“I think people have been sold a lie of sorts that COVID is over and that COVID is mild and neither of those things are true. We still have, I believe, 10 per cent of people who are tested who are positive with COVID and just last week, I think it was, there were four Islanders who died. So, if you look at the total number of people dying from COVID it still four or five times the number of motor-vehicle accident victims, to give it some sense of proportion,” said Chris.
“It’s not a trivial disease and it’s not the flu, it’s something that has real serious consequences for people who are elderly or immuno-compromised particularly, so I wear a mask not just for myself but for other people as well.”
Can we make a dent in our housing crisis by turning cottages into homes?
By Jim Brown
I was driving through the Resort Municipality of Cavendish to North Rustico recently and caught a segment on CBC Radio’s The Cost of Living on Canada’s looming housing catastrophe. We’re going to need millions of new housing units to keep up with demand or prices will skyrocket even further and many more Canadians will find themselves with nowhere to live and little hope of a home of their own.
As I was listening to this disquieting story I couldn’t help but notice dozens, perhaps hundreds, of empty cottages along the way. And then I remembered every time I went to a planning board meeting there were always new developments seeking approval – many of them for new cottages. We keep building cottages here, there and everywhere on the Island and across Canada and millions of Canadians cannot find secure housing. Does that make sense, especially since cottages are only used during the summer months and seasonal owners with several cottages in their development rent them out to families for only a few weeks or less during the busy tourist season?
Isn’t the solution right in front of our eyes, or at least a partial solution? Convert many of those cottages, here and across Canada, into permanent homes at modest prices. The federal government could even buy them at market prices from seasonal operators and then make some structural changes to turn them into permanent homes.
Granted, there are lots of cottages that can’t be converted to permanent housing, since they are on private roads that are never plowed in the winter and lack access to basic services. But there are also many cottages in the Resort Municipality, for instance, that are on otherwise vacant lands, far from water, connecting to the main highway. It wouldn’t be difficult to hook them up to power and other services and plowing would not be a problem, any more than it is for many permanent homes.
Do we really need that many cottages and many more? When will it stop? When every last piece of property in the Resort Municipality has a cottage subdivision? I sure hope it doesn’t get to that point.
Are dogs a threat in Seawood Estates?
By Jim Brown
Roaming and sometimes aggressive dogs in Seawood Estates were on councillors minds at January’s Resort Municipality of Cavendish regular monthly meeting.
One councillor related how his wife was recently attacked by a dog that had slipped its leash as she was walking.
“My wife and I were out for a walk last week and a dog attacked my wife. Fortunately, she didn’t get hurt, but her coat got ripped,” said Coun. Lee Brammer.
“I don’t know if the dog was over-excited or aggressive or what it was. But it calmed right down.”
Another dog attack was reported by a planning board member at a planning board meeting a few days earlier.
There have several incidents of dogs roaming freely and menacing residents.
“Fun fact – Montreal’s dog bylaw requires dogs to understand commands in two languages,” said Mayor Matthew Jelley, in a lighter moment.
Councillors debated several ways to control roaming dogs including hiring bylaw control officers, utilizing the province’s Dog Act, which was originally drafted to protect livestock, and contacting the Federation of PEI Municipalities for advice.
“Have I ever had a dog loose in the community before? Yes,” said Mayor Jelley. “Did she ever hurt anybody, no…”
Other councillors suggested contacting neighbouring communities such as Kensington to find out how they control aggressive dogs.
People who are victims of dog attacks are reluctant to report those attacks to municipal officials, according to at least one councillor.
Enforcement can be expensive if a charge has be brought and then carried to court, rising to thousands or even tens of thousands of dollars.
And there are other challenges: “If we have a bylaw how are we going to enforce it? We’ve talked about partnering with neighbouring communities on bylaw enforcement,” said Mayor Jelley.
What if officers have to be hired? Is the cost worth it, asked councillors.
Planning Board Chair George Clark-Dunning said victims of dog attacks have to report to create a ‘case file’ and that many don’t want the hassle.
Without the provincial government intervening the municipality would need “a dog catcher, or we’d have to have a police force,” said Coun. Ryan Simpson.
Coun. Chris Robinson raised the possibility of hiring an off-duty RCMP officer to issue fines.
Coun. Simpson said Kensington charged an $8 fee for a permit to help cover the costs of dog control, but fellow councillors seemed cool to the idea.
Mayor Jelley explained there would be big challenges with licensing because of “seasonal and transient residents.”
The Resort Municipality’s population of less than 350 year round residents swells well into the thousands during the busy tourism season.
“Predictably, we’ve gone to the dogs,” Mayor Jelley said at the meeting’s conclusion.
No decisions were made at the end of the discussion other than to include information about dog control and who to contact with a complaint in the municipality’s newsletter.
Bridge near Cavendish likely won’t meet original January construction deadline
By Jim Brown
The new bridge on Highway 6 to Cavendish, near the Stanley Bridge roundabout, was a hot topic at a recent planning board meeting. Mayor Matthew Jelley told councillors an update had been received from the province recently, estimating its completion in March.
But that date was met with considerable skepticism around the table.
“Which year?” joked a planning board member.
It’s a different kind of bridge construction process because they are “actively demolishing” the old bridge and building the new one at the same time, said Mayor Jelley.
A temporary bridge went up last spring, while earth was moved at the site for the new bridge, which is being built alongside it. Large volumes of construction materials/equipment were placed on Mayor Jelley’s newly acquired property and he is anxious for the work to be done sooner rather than later.
“When I agreed to let things be put on the property it was under the understanding they were going to be done in January,” he said.
“Obviously the project has been behind and some of it was well before the hurricane.”
He went to say the ‘old bridge’ was a “little more stubborn than they thought” to take down.
One of members observed the temporary bridge is “starting to shift” and motorists driving into Cavendish were facing a three inch gap between the bridge and the road which can make for a somewhat bumpy experience.
Mayor Jelley reported the temporary bridge will be going down to single lane traffic “very shortly” to accommodate wide-bodied snow plows.
The best case scenario for the bridge’s completion, according to Mayor Jelley, is either just before or after the Cavendish Beach Music Festival, in early July.
“We’re lucky we have the temporary bridge. I think it will be there for a while yet…”
If your cottage was wrecked by Fiona, perhaps you shouldn’t rebuild it
By Jim Brown
I’ve done a lot of thinking since Fiona struck in late September and much of that has been about how that post-tropical storm proved to be even more devastating than Dorian, which struck only three years earlier.
Cottages were knocked down like matchsticks and debris was strewn far beyond property markers. Much of the damage was caused in exposed areas, which offered little protection against fierce winds and battering waves.
Of course, many cottage owners are preoccupied with cleanup and reconstruction. I’d like to take at least one of those off the table.
We are Canada’s smallest province at 5,660 sq. km and 1.4 million acres and PEI keeps shrinking every year due to accelerated shoreline erosion caused by climate change. Meanwhile our population continues to grow, at close to 170,000 as does the number of homes and seasonal residences (cottages). All on a steadily dwindling land base.
Now we’re facing the grim aftermath of post-tropical storm Fiona, which caused Islanders to lose power for more than two weeks.
Some coastal areas, such as the Hebrides around the corner from me, look like a war zone. Cottages have shattered and their debris has spread far and wide. Neighbours across the Island whose seasonal residences were intact after the storm were still confronted with a vast panorama of destruction, with their properties covered with debris. And it can take months to find a contractor to remove the waste materials.
But perhaps there is something good to come from all that bad. Perhaps the PEI government should ban the construction of new structures on properties in which cottages have been destroyed. If they were destroyed once by a hurricane that likely means they were in a vulnerable location and that could happen again. Why should insurance companies pay for rebuilding efforts after Fiona, only to do it again a few years from now? Clean up the properties and leave them bare of structures instead. That would also allow wildlife and their habitat a chance to recover. Why not restore the natural balance and let Mother Nature heal?
Here’s what one Island man, a self-described ‘caring carpenter’ who is well known in the environmental movement, had to say.
“Even now we hear time after time of developers destroying buffer zones. Maybe paying a tiny fine to build on a beach – to get a million-dollar view to sell. Now those million-dollar views are contributing to the multimillion-dollar losses shared by everyone,” said Gary Loo.
“Many of the people hurt the most here and by climate change in general are the ones who have the least and contribute the least to climate problems.”
Amen to that.
Breadalbane’s first election is over but big challenges lie ahead
By Mayor Irene Novaczek
Our rural municipality has only 80-odd households and a total annual budget of about $50,000, out of which come fire dues, staff salaries and the insurance and upkeep of a community hall and a park full of playground equipment. Councillors serve as volunteers, and staff are underpaid. The norm for our village and many others was to find six people willing to sit on council plus one for mayor, and they’d all be acclaimed for lack of any competition. But Municipal Affairs has made it clear that this is not acceptable. We must have free and fair elections. So, after 16 years on council, I ran for mayor because our tiny municipality is facing a significant challenge – complying with the new Municipal Government Act. Other small municipalities that were not financially able to comply with the Act have already been dissolved, or have amalgamated with neighbouring communities, and we need a plan for the future. The long term goal, stemming from the recommendations of the 2009 Report on Land and Local Governance, is to incorporate every inch of PEI so that we all belong to a municipality that can take charge of land use planning and regulation.
By forcing the first election in the history of Breadalbane I wanted to establish a proper mandate to govern, because change is difficult, and our new council will have to lead us through some significant changes. The election also sent a message to the province that we value the democratic process and are worthy of municipal status. I set about listening to the electors, knocking on doors and asking people what issues they wanted to see addressed. I learned there are seniors in our community who need access to senior-friendly and affordable housing so that they can stay in this community. Job No. 1 for the incoming council will be to work with our MLA to find a way to build comfortable, senior-appropriate housing under some model that makes the units truly affordable and well-managed. Other issues I heard on the doorsteps were vehicles speeding through the village and along Dixon Road – an especially dangerous situation when children on dirt bikes and ATVs also use these roads. Also of concern are several recent incidents of vandalism and arson that are unresolved. There are also newcomers to the community who asked for more community events where they can meet people. Overland flooding on one of the main access roads to Breadalbane is a concern that we need to work with the province to resolve, because extreme snow and rain events will be more common in the future. And then there is the issue of surviving as a municipality so that we can keep our community hall and playground in operation.
The bottom line is we need to find a way to become financially viable, preferably without raising the municipal tax rate. Should we amalgamate with one or more of the neighbouring municipalities? Or should we bump our boundaries out to encompass more of the taxpaying households that use our hall and playground? We will need to develop a process to inform and draw advice from our ratepayers, as we find the best path forward.
Parks Canada throws cold water on Remembrance Day services
By Jim Brown
Resort Municipality of Cavendish councillors did not get the answer they wanted from Parks Canada when they requested the use of their property for Remembrance Day ceremonies, thanks to extensive damage caused by Hurricane Fiona.
“We got a relatively unhelpful message today (by email) about Parks Canada’s willingness to open Cavendish Oceanview (Lookoff) to allow us to access the cenotaph,” Mayor Matthew Jelley told Resort Municipality’s councillors at their monthly meeting on Oct. 17.
“The first answer is ‘no way’, we can’t waste the resources.”
Mayor Jelley went on to say the only resources likely needed would be “to move a pylon out of the way and have somebody stand there and tell people not to walk to the edge of the cliff.”
It’s just “laziness” on the part of Parks Canada, he added.
Mayor Jelley said he didn’t respond to the email immediately because he wasn’t in a particularly good mood to answer.
“They are a very difficult partner,” he said.
“It’s too easy for Parks Canada to take the ball and go home and say they are closed and they are stressed and damaged and everything else.”
Coun. Chris Robinson asked if any efforts would be made to open Prince Edward Island National Park, run by Parks Canada, in the wake of Fiona.
“Are you referring to opening the park just for Remembrance Day functions alone or trying to talk a little bit of sanity about opening some parts of the park for walking?” he asked.
Mayor Jelley said it was an idea worth pursuing, but for the moment he was preoccupied with the Remembrance Day services.
He went on to say Parks Canada needed to make efforts to open up the national park, if only to “inspire some confidence for next season.”
Mayor Jelley said he didn’t believe opening up a part of the park for a few hours on one day would disrupt operators with heavy equipment and that efforts could be made to ensure visitors didn’t wander off into unsafe areas.
Visitors were unlikely to fall off cliffs or have “trees fall on their heads,” said Coun. Robinson.
Parks Canada is erring too much on the side of caution, was the consensus around the council table.
Chris Robinson called it “simple mindedness” on the part of Parks Canada to simply place a barricade at the entrance to the park.
Resort Municipality councillors have met with their federal, provincial and tourism counterparts to express their frustrations with Parks Canada
recently.
Just In: News release from the Resort Municipality
This will be followed by a special gathering at the Visitor Information Centre. Her Honour, the Honourable Antoinette Perry will be joining us at the centre to say a few words. There will also be a special presentation made to a long time serving member of our community and all this will be followed by a full lunch.
This is made possible as the Municipality is the recipient of a special one time grant provided by Canadian Heritage under the Commemorate Canada Funding program for the Queen’s Jubilee.
Brace for fiercer, more devastating hurricanes
By Jim Brown
Fortunately, there were no serious injuries or deaths, but it was a terrifying experience for 165,000 Islanders, many of whom cowered in their basements for more than 12 hours.
Time gives the gift of perspective and now, nearly three weeks later, we can start looking to the future and for anyone capable of connecting the dots it looks awfully grim.
Post Tropical Storm Dorian struck barely three years earlier, also in September, and it also took a heavy toll on our Island. Many downed trees have still not been removed, especially in the PEI National Park. And now this.
But this storm was different. It veered away from the US Eastern Seaboard, causing little damage on its way to Nova Scotia, PEI and parts of Quebec and Newfoundland. Since it didn’t make landfill before arriving in the Maritimes it slammed into PEI with its hurricane strength nearly intact. When the books are closed on Hurricane Fiona it will prove to be the costliest storm in Canadian history.
And that raises the question, when will the next one come and will it be even stronger and more devastating than Fiona?
Our ocean waters are up to 5C warmer than they should be this time of year, thanks to climate change, and warm waters are rocket fuel to hurricanes. We WILL get another one, sooner rather than later. How will we prepare for it?
I sure hope that our electrical infrastructure has been upgraded and maybe next time we will have more crews from across Canada and the continent in place to help prepare for restoration work. Waiting three weeks or longer won’t cut it if we are all facing fierce early winter weather.
We were lucky this time, but deaths are but inevitable if the next hurricane arrives later in the fall or even in the winter.
Will we have enough warming stations and emergency shelters? At least in our area we didn’t have enough. And many of us were desperate for showers, which warming stations weren’t equipped to provide. Can we please do something about that before the next one hits?
And let’s not forget that many large trees, around for decades, did not fall, though they were considerably weakened. Will they survive a run-of-the-mill northeaster? Will they collapse on farm buildings, hospitals, homes, cottages and other vulnerable structures?
We have to harden PEI against future storms, not just hurricanes, but powerful northeasters that follow. We have to begin that work now. Time is running out.
New development will feature yoga, yurt cottages, farm animals, culinary workshops
By Jim Brown
Cavendish area business owners Smita Prakash and Sharat Prakash are hoping to launch a lifestyle-themed development at their Graham Inn property (formerly the Wild Rose Country Inn) by next summer. The property is located on Cavendish Road in North Rustico.
Sharat Prakash pitched his rezoning proposal at a public meeting in North Rustico on Sept 19, with approximately half a dozen people showing up. There were no objections.
The rezoning application features a wedding/event tent, an animal centre, barns, an entertainment zone/guest culinary experience, a fire pit, yoga, yurt cottages and much more.
The request is for an amendment to the general land use map. 2.31acre parcel, to rezone it from current RD2 resort accommodations to RD4 resort commercial.
The new zoning would allow for accommodations in the existing rental house as well as yurts, cottages, yoga, food and drink, music, healthy cooking workshops, holistic well-being, and animals for petting. Plans include building a gazebo.
“We want to create an authentic PEI experience. We want our guests to come and harvest with us and create a ‘farm-to-table’ experience,” said Sharat.
He wants guests, including families with children, to “to go out and deep-sea fish, go to local markets and either cook with us or have us cook for them. We want to create lasting memories.”
Sharat and Smita want to expand the shoulder season in Cavendish well into the fall and perhaps beyond.
They are not planning big events, but events based on gatherings of 15 to 20 people.
The couple want to support and promote local artisans during shoulder season and workshops will be a big part of that experience.
Animals are close to the Sharat’s heart and he is looking at domestic farm animals such as goats and cows.
“We’re not talking about a big farm. People can pet the animals, work on a farm and create an experience,” said Sharat Prakash.
The proposal is modest in its aims. “We don’t want to make it too big. Whatever is manageable.”
Creating fun experiences is what it’s all about, he said.
“It sounds like a wonderful proposal. it’s very different from what others are doing,” said a woman at the public meeting, held at the North Rustico Lion’s Club.
“You won’t be in competition with anybody, you will be a draw for many people, particularly families – families who really want to have an opportunity to have a different experience,” she said.
“This will be something that will be very much part of PEI that they will take home with them and remember because it’s a hands-on experience. To me that’s something special.”
Four phone calls have been received at the municipal office so far and there have been no written submissions to date
Comments will be received in the municipal office until Sept 26.
Where have all the jellies gone?
By Jim Brown
I went swimming at the cottage in Fernwood on Sept. 3 and the water was bracing. I couldn’t believe how warm it was for early September.
It also brought me back to a question I had asked earlier this summer – where have all the jellies gone?
It’s September and I can’t remember seeing a single one. In other years purplish, pancake-sized blobs would be visible as far as the eye could see down the beach – dead and dying jellyfish.
The emerald waters were beautiful but strangely empty of marine life. Even seaweed seemed to be in decline.
I remember one day all summer where I saw schools of small, darting fish, perhaps juvenile herring or mackerel. Then they disappeared, too. Though friends and family say they’ve seen crabs scuttling underneath their feet while they were swimming, I have yet to see or feel one.
That is very strange. It’s been a memorable summer, one of the best I can recall in decades and yet it’s been very disturbing at times not to see marine life in the abundance I am accustomed to.
A much quoted line from “A Tale of Two Cities” springs to mind: “It was the best of times, it was the worst of times…”
Is red tape strangling democracy in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish?
Resort municipality over-regulated, says councillor
By Jim Brown
Too many regulations are strangling growth and new development in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish, says outspoken councillor Bill Drost.
“We’re the most regulated municipality in the province, with regards to our respective size. We have a lot of good regulations (for controlling) development, but we have a lot of things that are trivial and are barriers to our business community and our residents,” he said.
Things got a little ridiculous at a recent council meeting, he said.
A permit was required for a business owner to serve four bottles of alcohol to guests.
“Four bottles of wine in two ounce cups that were being given away and our bylaws don’t even require a permit for that. And yet we were still demanding they do it,” said Drost.
“It’s the heavy-handed governance that is practised in our municipality that gets me concerned. Let’s not regulate things that are beyond our scope of authority. For example, if a developer comes in and wants to develop a property, our municipality requires permission from a long list of other regulatory agencies that have absolutely nothing to do with our mandate as a municipality nor our bylaws.”
A big concern of Drost’s is the bonds required for projects to get off the ground. Are they necessary, and are they consistent? he asks.
“We routinely use bonding as a means to control developers. Maybe you want to build a little business in our municipality – you may be required to post a $5,000 bond. The explanation I’ve received from my colleagues is that “it’s easier ‘to control the developer that way’. Bonding should not be used as a mechanism to control developers. We have bylaws for that,” insisted Drost.
“If our by-laws are weak, we can look at reinforcing them. If the penalties under our bylaws are too low, we should be looking at making our penalties stiffer. The problem is that bonding is arbitrary, it’s subjective and it’s at the whim of whoever is setting the bonds,” said Drost.
“I personally don’t know how they get set. But at the end of the day some developers sometimes have to pay a very large sum of money for a bond and sometimes it’s a rather small sum of money.”
Bonds range from $1,000 to more than $25,000, he said.
“They’re essentially being considered convicted of a crime until their project is done and then if council says you’ve been a good developer, we’ll give you your money back.
It’s not a democratic way of administering the government. You are assuming these people are going to do something wrong in advance.”
But there are two exceptions where their use can be defended.
They can be useful if a developer has not followed development agreements in the past and if the municipality has to spend a lot of money in order to support a project that can benefit residents such as extending a sewer pipe and providing engineering services.
Mayor Matthew Jelley says he doesn’t think his municipality is over-regulated. As for the alcohol gift example, Mayor Jelley said everyone has an interest in ‘common sense’ rules ensuring the safe and legal consumption of alcohol.
PEI’s trails in great demand
By Jim Brown
Prince Edward Island’s private and public trails are being discovered by the world. Globe and Mail and National Geographic articles caused an explosion of interest among tourists who love hiking and cycling in the unspoiled Great Outdoors.
“I had published a guidebook about the Island Walk. The Globe and Mail did an article on the walk this month and I sold every book I had in less than 24 hours,” said Bryson Guptill, one of the founders.
“National Geographic did a story on Island Walk last week. We’re getting international interest and the interest is blowing up. September alone had 25 people do the walk,” said Bryson, a guest speaker at a symposium in Stanley Bridge on the wonderful opportunities offered by hiking and cycling to Prince Edward Island’s economy, especially during the fall season when everything is shuttered up.
Bryson said a couple were hiking on PEI that week and they had contacted an accommodation provider in Victoria By the Sea. They were told: “We’re shutting down and Victoria is closed for the rest of the year. Now that’s the wrong signal to be sending. In fact there are two restaurants that are still open in Victoria and there are several accommodation providers,” said Bryson.
He also said he fielded an inquiry that morning from a woman travelling to PEI next year with 18 friends.
On Oct 14 the Stanley Bridge Centre hosted a symposium on ways to capitalize on the exploding hiking craze in North America, which is washing over PEI’s shores and trail systems. After the session, which included a full lunch and morning snacks, participants were led on biking and walking expeditions around picturesque Stanley Bridge. The non-profit Heart of PEI organized the event and provided a video linkup with trail tourism experts in Gros Morne National Park, Newfoundland.
Click on a thumbnail to view images in a lightbox.
Nearly two years in the shadow of a terrifying pandemic, PEI and much of the rest of the world is finally emerging into the light.
Businesses are recovering and so are jobs. Leading the way is a new form of tourism focused on natural landscapes and seascapes.
PEI has already seen impressive growth, but the opportunities have barely been tapped, said Bryson, who has walked famous trails all over the world.
He said Spain’s famed El Camino Trail had just a thousand walkers who completed the walk in 1986. Last year 350,000 completed the trek and earned their certificate for doing so.
The same could happen with the 450 km Confederation Trail and the hundreds of kilometres of private trails linked to it.
“The Camino is a little busy these days,” said Bryson, who walked much of the trail himself.
What’s one of the biggest issues for walkers? How about a lack of washrooms? he joked.
All told the Confederation Trail, beautiful beaches, red dirt roads and private trails amount to about 700 kms – all managed by the non-profit Island Trails, which Bryson is part of.
All that’s needed is a big promotional push and that explains the concept of the Island Walk. Momentum has been created, signage erected and workers hired. Tourist operator Linda Lowther, based in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish, has managed the project for the past two years. Island Walk has developed brochures, a logo and a website and has partnered with accommodations owners, including bed and breakfast operators throughout the Island.
Time to lift passport requirements for border travel
By Jim Brown
If only I was a fly on the wall when the brilliant PEI Pass was conceived. I wasn’t there, in that room, but I can be reasonably certain the catchy PEI Pass wasn’t the first suggestion. You can take it to the bank someone had suggested PEI Passport, and then had that idea quickly shot down. The word passport conjures up images of stern-faced government officials going over documents with discerning eyes, behind thick glass barriers with narrow openings to allow papers to be exchanged and stamped.
The word Pass means something else to many people – such as permission to go back stage to meet famous musicians. It’s a ticket to something exciting and fun.
PEI Pass has unrolled about as well as can be hoped, given the overwhelming demand by tourists, family members and seasonal home owners. And it is a completely necessary program, since Islanders, who have sacrificed so much to be North America’s least infected state, province or territory, don’t want to open the doors to a fast-spreading, dangerous new variant that is springing up around the world.
We want to open our economy, not import disease and death.
Most people see that and will accept the reason for the PEI Pass, but if we want to preserve our tourism industry and revive our economy, we have to acknowledge there are millions of people on both sides of the border, who though double-vaccinated, will be barred from PEI and the rest of Canada this summer and into the fall, no matter how diligent they are in following public safety protocols.
The reason?
They lack passports.
My question is, why do we need them when drivers’ licenses and other forms of personal ID are available that are just good and don’t have to be applied for?
America instituted the passport requirement in the wake of the 2001 terror attacks which claimed 3,000 innocent lives and they are still required decades later even as there has been scant evidence of serious threats from the north.
The bottom line is 67 per cent of Canadians hold a passport while less than half of Americans can say the same.
Those people without passports, who are unable to travel across the border, represent a major source of lost income to desperate tourist operators, needing every dollar to survive in a post-COVID world.
Remember, over that 15-month span when everyone was stuck close to home many passports expired. I don’t think getting them renewed was a major priority in the midst of a pandemic.
We should be giving Americans and Canadians who are doing everything else right, including getting fully immunized, an incentive to travel.
And that means lifting the passport requirement.
Parks Canada brushes off fierce opposition to large sign from Cavendish councillors
By Jim Brown
Parks Canada appears to be moving full steam ahead with a massive trilingual sign in Cavendish Grove that dwarfs any other sign in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish, leaving councillors fuming in frustration.
“I’ve been around with the national park for over 30 to 40 years and they’ve never yet kept a promise that I know of. I’m annoyed as hell on this…because our community went through hell getting our signage bylaw finally approved,” said Deputy Mayor Linda Lowther, at the June 21 Council meeting.
The Resort Municipality’s signage bylaw had been in place since 1994.
“I’m sorry I just can’t be happy with this,” she said.
Parks Canada’s application had been denied earlier in the spring and it had since requested the application be reconsidered.
Planning Board Chair George Clark-Dunning said the sign simply ‘slipped off Parks Canada’s radar’ and that’s why they didn’t do more consultation.
Clark-Dunning said Parks Canada’s sign was actually made in December.
“The Province says we have the authority,” said Mayor Matthew Jelley, but “Parks Canada has mysteriously applied for a permit and then tried to claim we don’t have authority.”
At least one councillor questioned why Parks Canada even sought permission from the Resort Municipality in the first place.
Mayor Jelley added the sign would be approximately 144 sq feet and “the two they put up elsewhere (on PEI) are smaller, so there’s a lot of questions raised there.”
Mayor Jelley said Parks Canada argued that since the sign was to be erected on Crown land the municipality’s approval was not needed.
“Our bylaw for a single location would be a maximum of 32 square feet,” he said.
“Our bylaw does allow for up to three businesses to have 80 sq. feet and for a complex of more than five businesses to have 120 sq feet. There are no allowances or variances in the current bylaw for anything over 120 square feet.”
The Cavendish Grove sign would feature English, French and Mi’kmaq wordage.
“I’m just not sure there’s a compelling case of why the bylaw couldn’t be met, other than the fact they’ve already produced the sign without consultation,” said Mayor Jelley.
“The promise to do better in the future is the same promise that’s been made for a number of years on a number of projects even as recently as the Green Gables Visitors Centre when it was already designed before they showed anything to the community,” he said.
Council eventually voted to reject Parks Canada’s request for reconsideration, while also expressing support for the goals of the project.
Could a sign war be erupting in Cavendish?
By Jim Brown
Parks Canada wants to erect a large trilingual information sign at the entrance to Cavendish Grove, which is part of Prince Edward Island National Park.
But they are meeting fierce resistance from local politicians.
The 20-ft-wide, seven-foot-high sign, to be erected on Highway 6, was soundly trashed at the May 17 monthly meeting of the Resort Municipality of Cavendish.
Earlier, the Resort Municipality’s planning board recommended the application be rejected because it went against the municipality’s bylaw.
It was just too big.
“Why do they think they need a 20-foot sign? I mean, seriously?” said Deputy Mayor Linda Lowther.
“But it’s already made!” exclaimed George Clark-Dunning, the Planning Board’s Chair.
“Too frigging bad,” answered Deputy Mayor Lowther.
Mayor Matthew Jelley said the Green Gables sign is much smaller, at 4 feet by 8 feet, yet attendance is 100 times greater at Green Gables in an average year.
“And we’ve been waiting for the new sign at Green Gables for two years,” said Deputy Mayor Lowther.
“They’ve been busy in the shop making this one,” joked Mr. Clark-Dunning.
“Has there been any talk about whether or not we have the jurisdiction on this?” asked Mayor Jelley.
Brenda MacDonald, the Resort Municipality’s CAO, stated, “No, they just came and said ‘we already got it’ and they wanted to put it up and they asked for an exemption.”
Mayor Jelley responded, “They’ve never given us any indication they care what we think on normal planning matters.”
But Mayor Jelley then allowed Parks Canada officials seemed to show some desire to work within the municipal bylaw, but in the end it can still over-ride council.
Councillors voted to accept the planning board’s recommendation and reject the application, knowing the issue likely won’t be settled with that decision.
Cavendish Grove opened in the summer of 2007 as a day-use area.
Time for Parks Canada to clean up Dorian mess, says Cavendish Council
By Jim Brown
A group of women from the Avonlea Women’s Institute, who regularly walk in the Cavendish area, are very frustrated about the lack of progress cleaning up downed trees from Hurricane Dorian two years ago.
They are disheartened at the mess Parks Canada has done little or nothing about, said Deputy Mayor Linda Lowther, at the May 17 monthly meeting of the Resort Municipality of Cavendish.
Linda, one of the walkers, said the issue has been brought to council many times since Dorian struck the Island on Sept 7, 2019.
“We bring it up every time (Parks Canada personnel) come to this meeting,” she said, and she is losing patience.
She wished Parks Canada officials would join them for a walk down the trail where the devastation occurred.
“I don’t know if they walked the path between the beach and the campgrounds or if they walked on Cawnpore Lane.”
Deputy Mayor Lowther noted Parks Canada officials had decided to leave a piece of land with the downed trees on it untouched “to do an interpretation around Dorian.”
Mayor Matthew Jelley echoed her concerns.
“There is not a lot of appetite to do anything,” he said.
Perhaps a strong letter-writing campaign might have an impact, suggested Mayor Jelley.
He went on to say Council should consider looking at efforts to help property owners remove “overturned stumps” and other debris from Dorian.
“At some point should we be offering to collect them up or to send a contractor?” he said, adding permission would be needed to enter their property.
If the municipality got its own house in order perhaps it might provide the needed push to get Parks Canada clean up its own mess, he said.
The Resort Municipality took a “hands off appproach” last year in light of the hardships faced by business owners hit by Dorian and then the pandemic, said Mayor Jelley.
Deputy Mayor Lowther also said walkers were disappointed at the volume of garbage they encountered on their walks.
Mayor Jelley said he brought it to Parks Canada’s attention only to be told “why don’t you pick it up?”
“That proves to me (lack of work on garbage collection) that they don’t walk it. They don’t even know their own trails,” said Deputy Mayor Lowther.
Mayor Jelley suggested walkers take photos to send to Parks Canada, and he offered to take some himself.
Both agreed it was time to play hardball.
“We should say we want an answer to this question and we want it official and we want it in writing and if we don’t get it then we’ll escalate,” said Deputy Mayor Lowther.
That escalation includes approaching the local MP.
Council plans to invite key officials of Parks Canada’s conservation team to see the devastation themselves.
Highest sewer rates in province poised to take a big jump in resort municipality
By Jim Brown
Look up, look way up.
That’s where sewer rates could be going in the Resort Municipality of Cavendish for hundreds of users who face a potential 25 per cent increase in their bills.
“Our accounting firm has finished the document that would be submitted to IRAC requesting an increase,” said Planning Board/Signage Chair George Clark-Dunning, at the May 17 monthly council meeting.
“We’re still waiting for all members of the sewer utility to look it over and see if they have anything that they wanted to add to it. It’s a very substantial document so it will happen as soon as possible,” said Mr. Clark-Dunning.
The 98-page document calls for an increase in residential rates to $565 from the current $456. “That’s fairly hefty,” said Deputy Mayor Linda Lowther.
That $109 increase would be ‘across the board’ on commercial rates and frontage rates as well.
Mayor Matthew Jelley said he took a look at the IRAC website and found out the resort municipality is already at the higher end for rates.
“That is the challenge of our system – its size and its layout,” he said.
Mayor Jelley went on to say there were roughly 400 users and 15 lift stations.
“Our costs are far higher than any other system probably on PEI, just because of our layout in the hills and the length of our system,” said Mayor Jelley.
Projections show that by Year 4 or Year 5 “we should be into a surplus (position),” said Mayor Jelley. It could even happen sooner, he added.
He’s hoping for a slight reduction, but he admits that could be wishful thinking if the cost of goods and services were to continue to rise.
Cracked pavement makes stretch of Rattenbury Road treacherous for motorists
Photos by Jim Brown
On this date in late March the Rattenbury Road, near the Trout River Road intersection, looked like a column of tanks had gone over it. Cars trying to navigate that treacherous stretch had to slow almost to a stop and then try to edge over to the shoulder. The Rattenbury has always suffered during spring break-up but this season has been the worst in years. Residents sharing their thoughts on the road expressed hope that area politicians would move swiftly on the problem. They were also fearing much larger car repair bills this spring. Some were even considering avoiding the Rattenbury altogether until something was done to fix it.
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Islander Day celebrated at Stanley Bridge WI
Photos by Jim Brown
The pandemic didn’t put a damper on Islander Day celebrations in Stanley Bridge, despite protocols that had to be followed. Local residents still got to enjoy toe-tapping tunes from several area musicians and a delicious meal on linen-covered tables, garnished with colorful flowers and other decorations.
How to untangle that confusing mess we all know as recycling
By Michelle M Arsenault
Michelle M Arsenault is a prolific Cape Wolfe writer of erotic thrillers with edgy, political overtones.
We hear a lot of talk about recycling and to be honest, it’s often a confusing mess. One kind of paper goes in the blue bag but another doesn’t because it’s too shiny? But what about wrapping paper? Flyers? Good grief, no wonder people get frustrated and throw everything in the black cart!
The truth is that most people want to do the right thing when it comes to the environment, but it’s easy to get confused. Life is busy. People don’t have time to figure out what goes where. However, there are a few simple things you can do that can not only help you get rid of some of your old stuff without adding to the landfill, but also might help someone else in the process.
To begin with, old clothes, linens, household items and all those gifts you got for Christmas and don’t want can often be donated to various charities in your own neighbourhood. There are many second hand stores that would love items to resell to make money for their charity. If you aren’t sure where one is in your area, you’ll often find donation boxes for various charities in grocery store parking lots and in other handy locations.
As for old furniture, items can be large and cumbersome. They are not very easy to drop in the donation box so my suggestion would be to try to sell them or post them as ‘free’ items online. Lots of people could use that oversized desk that is taking too much room in your office. I think some charities like the Salvation Army sometimes take gently used furniture, so this might be another option. I always think back to when I had my first apartment in Moncton and how it was often second hand furniture that took the echo out of the empty rooms because I certainly couldn’t afford furniture.
I recently learned that old cell phones can be donated to a couple of places. The PEI Library takes old smartphones, refurbishes them and gives them to people in need. I had some older phones, pre-smartphone days, to get rid of and learned the PEI Mental Health Association was happy to take them off my hands to help those less fortunate.
What about books? As an author, I can appreciate passing along old books that you no longer want, and in a province of avid readers there’s always a place you can drop them off. PEI Libraries take books to resell, often in books sales. Of course, you can drop them off pretty much anywhere that sells second hand products, including second hand bookstores.
Of course, if you have a cause close to your heart, you can always look at specific ways that unused items can help out. I once donated some gently used (or not used) linens and other items to a women’s shelter just before leaving Moncton to move across the country. I saw it as a way of helping women going through a traumatic time, perhaps even giving them items to have when they moved out of the shelter and into their own place.
And of course, you probably know someone in your friend or family circle who might have a use for your old items. Maybe the set of pots you have just replaced could help a young person who just moved into their first apartment or an immigrant that is new to the country. Your second hand books or clothing might brighten up a friend’s day and you just never know when someone’s old couch is about ready to go to furniture heaven.
It’s easy to get caught up in a world where consumerism is not only prevalent, but encouraged. But sometimes you have to ask yourself, is that two-year-old smartphone really in need of replacement? It might also be time we re-examine our own, ‘easy come, easy go’ habits.
Can Islanders and Atlantic Canadians take a victory lap in the coronavirus war?
It’s been 10 months since the coronavirus pandemic hit our shores and life hasn’t been the same since.
But with the dawn of a new year things are looking up in Prince Edward Island.
Unlike most of the rest of the world we have thoroughly thrashed COVID-19. Every time it has threatened to flare up, we have snuffed out the sparks.
At the time of this writing (Dec. 30) PEI had six active cases and less than a hundred total cases since March. We never had a curve to crush. It never got that bad.
Meanwhile, cases are soaring across the country, especially in Ontario, Quebec and Alberta, where new records are being set on a weekly basis. So far more than 15,000 Canadians have died and 570,000 plus have become infected.
Yet, here in PEI our rate of infection per million is among the lowest in North America, with only three other Atlantic provinces and Yukon and the Northwest Territories having lower rates.
We, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland and Labrador have done this for 10 months now. It isn’t a fluke – it’s good management and inspired leadership from our health and provincial leaders, especially PEI’s Chief Public Health Officer, Dr Heather Morrison.
Sure, New Zealand, Australia, Taiwan and China have had lower overall rates of infection but all of those countries have also had COVID-19 deaths. PEI, as of Dec 30, had not recorded a single hospitalization.
How bad could it have been? The PEI government’s pandemic plan, released in 2006, had this to say about a potential flu pandemic: “The number of deaths in a six-to-eight-week wave is estimated to be similar to that which typically occurs over six months in a non-pandemic period. As in the health care system, demands on funeral industry services will increase at the same time as their workforce is reduced due to illness or caregiving responsibilities. A mass fatality plan for a pandemic will be established to deal with the predicted increase in deaths.”
The plan anticipated 140 to 200 deaths, 600 hospitalizations, 26,000 people with symptoms severe enough to require a visit to an emergency department and about 40,000 people with symptoms severe enough to keep them home from work for a minimum of half a day.
Again, that didn’t happen and with two vaccines approved and in the process of deployment across Canada and others on the way it is likely we will never see that grim scenario unfold.
If you want to know how truly horrible things could have turned out if the province and the Atlantic Region hadn’t closed borders, imposed two-week quarantines for out-of-province visitors, issued mask mandates, stressed social distancing and introduced ‘circuit breakers’ to shut down businesses, schools and public offices during an outbreak, have a glimpse at neighbouring Maine’s numbers. On this day, Dec 30, Maine, with a population a million less than Atlantic Canada’s 2.4 million population, had 11,839 active cases, compared to less than 90 for Atlantic Canada, 344 deaths, compared to 77 in Atlantic Canada and 23,499 total cases, compared to 2,560 in Atlantic Canada. Maine’s rate of infection, per million people, is of course much higher, 273.8. The rate for PEI (Dec 30) is 4.5, with Nova Scotia’s rate 3.8, and New Brunswick’s even lower at 2.0. Newfoundland and Labrador have the lowest rate (outside of the Northwest Territories) at a miniscule 1.6.
And guess what? Maine has one of the lowest infection rates in America.
Is it too early to take a victory lap? Perhaps, but with more than 1,500 Islanders vaccinated before the end of the year and the vaccine rollout bound to accelerate, I’d say we can safely take a half lap. Come summer I think it’s possible to have the Christmas everyone wanted on Dec 25. All we have to do is mask up, practice social distancing, wash our hands frequently and roll up our sleeves when our turn comes.
Princetown Road man wins quilt just in time for Christmas
A Princetown Road man will be sleeping extra warm this Christmas, thanks to a beautiful handmade quilt he won in a draw organized by the Stanley Bridge Memorial Society (SBMS). Claude Gallant, left, was presented with a quilt valued at $450 on Dec 23 at the North Granville home of Clayton Smith, on right in photo. Clayton is the SBMS president. Money raised from the sale of tickets on the quilt, made by Kensington woman Nancy Foster, with the help of another Kensington woman, Lois McLeod, will help pay operational expenses at the Stanley Bridge Heritage Centre. The SBMS would like to thank Mr Gallant for his very generous donation, made the very same day.
Christmas Craft Fair lights up Stanley Bridge
Photos by Jim Brown
A fixture of the Christmas shopping season has returned to Stanley Bridge, with a few changes to fight the coronavirus pandemic. Shoppers and vendors alike practiced physical distancing and wore masks at the community’s annual Christmas Craft Fair on Nov 28.
But the Christmas spirit still shone through and the parking lot behind the Sterling Women’s Institute was filled with cars for much of the morning. Dozens of business operators were on hand to help visitors find that perfect gift to place under a tree or in a sock.
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A sweet addition for Stanley Bridge
Chocolate shop near roundabout open for business
By Jim Brown
Something delicious has come to Stanley Bridge.
Sisters Jane Woodley and Sue Humby are the owners of Jane and Sue Chocolate on 4880 St. Mary’s Road, near the roundabout.
The sisters create hand-made artisan fine chocolate and confections using local and organic ingredients whenever possible.
They held their soft launch on Nov 5, after it took much longer than they had expected to open. Jane and Sue were delayed for several months by planning hurdles and then the pandemic.
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“I thought we were going to be across the street (at another house) but we couldn’t get the zoning done. They (Province) sat on the file for four months in Summerside,” said Jane, with a laugh. “We kept getting an extension on the closing…in the meantime, they (homeowner) got another offer on the property and we couldn’t extend the closing.” The bottom line was they couldn’t close the deal on their original house because of the drawn-out process but were fortunate to find their current home.
The two sisters have close roots in the area, having lived in South Granville.
“We like this area, and it’s close to Cavendish for the summer months, which is nice, and it gave us the production space we needed,” said Sue.
Jane and Sue’s chocolate shop is open year-round, Wednesday to Saturday, 11 am to 4 pm and Sundays from 12 noon to 4 pm.
The fearless chocolatiers joked they know they will be successful in their new location when they can afford to pay themselves a wage.
The two had hoped to have their unique Belgian chocolate offerings, cupcakes and cheesecake available by the summer. Instead, they’ve had to be very patient as the months drifted by.
“Terror” mingled with “excitement” is how Jane described her thoughts on the decision to finally open their doors.
The two entrepreneurs, who also own the Simply Splendid chocolate business in Summerside, get their Belgian chocolate supplies from a Montreal supplier, who imports them from Belgium.
They have a commercial scale kitchen in the house to make their unique chocolate products.
Things are looking good so far with very enthusiastic responses on Facebook from older and newer supporters. Many of their current customers come from all over the Island.
In a Facebook post Jane and Sue wrote of their fledgling Stanley Bridge shop:
“We love this beautiful island…The support for our little business and the sense of community we have continues to amaze us both.”
Lobster take out lunch a smashing success
By Jim Brown
The lineup started forming even before the doors opened at the Stanley Bridge Heritage Centre at 11 am on Oct 24. The Stanley Bridge Memorial Society’s first lobster lunch was a sell-out, with demand so great more tickets had to be printed. Initially volunteers were given 315 tickets, at $25 each, to sell. Dozens more were sold after a pitch on the local CBC. Many of those additional tickets were sold to lobster lovers living in Summerside and Charlottetown.
The building’s parking lot was filled for much of the morning and afternoon and lobster meals prepared by Chef Chris Nicholson were still being picked up after the closing time of 1 pm.
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The Stanley Bridge Memorial Society, which organized the fundraiser to help cover renovations and ongoing bills, wishes to thank everyone who participated in the bash, by volunteering and by purchasing tickets. The support was greatly appreciated.
A Cavendish tourist operator’s pandemic survival journey
By Sandi Lowther, Fairways Cottages, Cavendish
Is there anything good to come from living through a pandemic?
We want to share some of our positive experiences running a tourism accommodation business in a climate of immense uncertainty, fear and sadness, which began more than five months ago.
Sandi Lowther, standing next to a plexiglass barrier that had just been installed in Fairways Cottages’ office.
The date standing out the most was April 28, when the PEI government announced our borders would remain closed for the foreseeable future. Despite actively participating in numerous industry-only and industry-government Zoom meetings we were completely caught off-guard with this announcement.
On this date and for the next 72 hours we were absolutely inundated with cancellation calls. Eighty per cent of our confirmed guests cancelled and it was even worse with our spring golfers – a 100 per cent cancellation rate. During those three days when we felt completely overwhelmed, our company’s focus was to serve our customers’ needs and attempt to remain calm, fluid and flexible.
We immediately waived all of our cancellation and reservation change policies, ensuring our guests’ needs were our key priority. Within 24 hours following the announcement we developed three new inventory management systems and worked closely with our valued business-to-business golf course partners and their inventory management systems.
You may now be wondering where is the positive in all this?
We knew there were no ‘playbooks’ designed to guide our province and tourism operators through a pandemic
In the face of this growing despair we simply knew there were no ‘playbooks’ designed to guide our province and tourism operators through a pandemic. Not a single government individual, agency or country was to blame. We were living in a serious pandemic environment and our only collective responsibility was to ensure the safety, care and well-being, not just of Islanders, but of those travelers absolutely in love with our Island.
A couple of days following the April 28 announcement we were attending another industry Zoom meeting. It was during this meeting we were informed cottage resort properties were deemed essential and we had an opportunity to serve Islanders in need of self-isolation and/or staycations. Our focus quickly shifted to ‘do we or don’t we’ open our business? Despite immense uncertainty, our collective management decision was ‘yes, we open our business.’
This shift in mindset took us from “woe is me” to a “let’s care for others” approach. This decision-making process required us to immediately reach out to our many vendors asking for relief, as we anticipated our fixed business costs would probably not be offset by future revenue potential. We were humbled by the immediate support we received from our industry business colleagues such as Eastlink, Simmons Canada, Play Pal Canada, and so on – to waive our company’s contractual obligations and to work with us to help us be as successful as possible.
During this company-planning phase our provincial and federal government colleagues were also developing support programs to assist business owners’ ability to survive over both the short and long term. Not only did this support involve program funding; it also came in the form of emotional support, demonstrating immense compassion and understanding. We were forever grateful for the numerous calls our government colleagues accepted. Their individual support talking us through the many difficult decisions such as, but not limited, to the development of a new Covid-19 operational plan, was most sincerely appreciated.
Our next step prior to opening our doors was a meeting with our staff. It was absolutely imperative they were comfortable working in a pandemic environment. Their safety and comfort was, without question, our No. 1 priority. We incorporated all of their comments and concerns into our new COVID-19 operational plan. Their input was invaluable. If they were safe, we knew our guests would be safe.
The planning was complete and we set Friday, May 15 as our soft opening date. At this stage so many unanswered questions ran through our minds. Would people actually want to stay? Would our on-Island marketing message be well received? Would we be able to deliver on our promised new Covid-19 operational plan and would our guests feel safe? Would we be in a position to exceed our customers’ expectations? So many questions to answer.
To say we were humbled with Islanders’ support would be a deep understatement
To say we were humbled with Islanders’ support would be a deep understatement. While our May and June room night sales were down by 75 per cent over last season, we still had an opportunity to serve and care for others during these two months. Islanders trusted us to keep them safe, to provide them a respite from pandemic fears, an opportunity to laugh and play, and finally, to leave them with happy memories during this most difficult time.
Thank you, Islander staycationers. We are forever grateful for your support.
To date, there has not been a single week on our property where we have not enjoyed support from Islanders booking units. We are simply blown away with this level of support. A word we keep overusing is “humbling,” but it truly is the only word that best describes how we feel.
We are now entering the last six weeks of our operating year. It is September and we can finally reflect and share our experience from the July and August peak-operating season, while we continue to develop our strategy for the fall shoulder season.
The phones were so busy extra staff were called to assist with the reservation demand
It was during our own Island Mill River Resort Stay and Play Staycation when the Atlantic Canada travel bubble was announced. We were actually in the Pro Shop preparing for our golf game when we received word. After the game we called our office to determine Atlantic Canadians’ reaction to the announcement. To our surprise we were informed the phones were so busy extra staff were called to assist with the reservation demand. This level of demand continued throughout the peak-operating season, and it appears Atlantic Canadians’ adult travel demand will continue throughout the fall.
Several staff members at Fairway Cottages’ 2019 Christmas lunch
Our company has received much required provincial and federal government funding support. Should the Atlantic Canadian border continue to stay open and barring another hurricane hit, our company’s financial contribution to the provincial and federal government will far surpass the much-appreciated government financial aid we received, which we consider a major achievement.
While our operating numbers may be down a forecasted 30 to 35 percent from previous years, with the highest number of visitations taking place this past July and August, these results far surpassed our early predictions.
We wish to express a sincere thank you to our Atlantic Canadian travel friends and neighbours, our Island friends, family and neighbours, our valued staff for their dedication and exemplary customer service standards, our business vendors and our provincial and federal government colleagues.
Our greatest pandemic takeaway will be how strong we are when we openly communicate and work together.
We knew from early research that during this pandemic rural cottage operations and vacation homes would be the traveler’s accommodation of choice. We also know not every business will experience a success story. Other businesses were not as fortunate, through no fault of their own, and will require ongoing support from government programs.
Island tourism entrepreneurs take great pride in the tax support they provide to our province. These tourism-generated dollars build roads and schools, hire teachers and health care workers and support our higher-learning institutions and more.
As Islanders, we are truly blessed. We have not experienced any loss of life from this horrible virus. There haven’t been any Covid-19 cases within the Atlantic Canada travel bubble. Not every region in our country or world can report the same.
Our hearts are with all the families worldwide who have lost a loved one or whose health has suffered from this awful virus. It is important we continue to remember and honour their lives with love and most important, a committed effort to ease future suffering. #strongertogether
Seeking a brighter future in the Resort Municipality while a pandemic rages
The building blocks for a new strategic plan are being lifted into position for the Resort Municipality of Cavendish, even as a COVID-19 pall descends over much of the world.
Reading through the 70-plus pages of the draft strategic plan (which will be discussed at a public meeting on Aug 18, from 6-8 pm at the North Rustico Lion’s Club) I was immediately struck by how dated much of it seemed, given all that has happened over the past six months.
The pandemic has changed migration and tourism patterns. Even if a vaccine is discovered tomorrow that is effective and safe the world will not return to what it was for a long time, if ever, and neither will the Resort Municipality.
Air travel has collapsed by more than 90 per cent and several airlines are close to folding. Cruise ships, which disgorged tens of thousands of visitors to PEI’s shores over the past several years, are unlikely to return. They have been exposed as floating petri dishes of infection and death.
Tourist operators in the Resort Municipality and much of PEI were lucky to get 30 per cent of last year’s bookings. Imagine how dire things would have been without the Atlantic bubble?
Against this grim backdrop comes a strategic plan for the Resort Municipality and its 328 permanent residents, a plan that looks 20 years into a future that was once predictable and for which all previous bets are now off.
We can no longer count on continued growth in tourism and in aquaculture to protect and improve our quality of life. We need to learn to live in a world with shrinking horizons.
Here are some of the close to 30 recommendations, to be implemented over the short, medium and long term. A great deal of these goals are practical and achievable, but some will have to be revisited.
- Encourage a variety of housing options.
- Support energy independence.
- Review waterways and aquaculture regulations.
- Re-examine recreational vehicle regulations
- Encourage home businesses.
- Improve cycling conditions within the municipality.
- Improve cycling connections to nearby trails and destinations.
- Prioritize the provision of healthcare and social services.
- Protect and enhance shoreline access.
- Co-ordinate an extended tourism season.
- Protect municipal land from flooding and erosion.
- Encourage the protection of agricultural land.
- Foster community involvement.
- Encourage economic diversity.
- Work with all levels of government to expand rural internet.
- Explore areas for an off-leash dog park.
One area that desperately needs to be addressed is health care delivery in the region. From the draft strategic plan: “Access to health and emergency services is…of particular concern, and with no ambulance stationed in the area residents worry about safety during peak tourist season.”
Cyclists on the Homestead Trail in Cavendish
A pandemic certainly shouldn’t get in the way of boosting active transportation opportunities, such as cycling.
According to the draft strategic plan, “Current cycling opportunities are limited to those along the Route 6 paved shoulder and within the (PEI) National Park. The local boardwalk system serves as a wooden sidewalk, though access is only provided on one side of the road and they are not maintained in the winter…safety and inconsistent infrastructure are a concern along Routes 6 and 13.”
And it’s right that the Resort Municipality’s planners are looking at the on-rushing catastrophe that is climate change, which could raise local sea levels by as much as a metre by 2100.
But do we need to be thinking about building infrastructure and accommodations to support hundreds of thousands of visitors?
Do we need more cottage developments when tourism has fallen off sharply? Perhaps we should consider narrowing the focus for the foreseeable future to staycations and the Atlantic bubble.
The impact of the coronavirus has been incorporated into the draft plan, with its writers admitting projections could be thrown off.
“Restricted travel and a national recession effectively cancelled tourism seasons across the world, and put heightened pressure on agriculture and food production…With an economy built on tourism, businesses within the Resort Municipality were particularly hard-hit. At the time of this plan’s writing, the duration and full extent of the impacts are still unknown.
“While the COVID-19 crisis will eventually pass, it has highlighted vulnerabilities within communities and economies. In planning for the future, the key question then is, “how can we establish systems, services, and businesses that can weather major disruptions?”
PEI’s outstanding success keeping the coronavirus from getting a beach-head here could make our province a desired destination for people around the world seeking a sanctuary from this and future pandemics. Housing prices have held steady or even increased since March when global economies were shut down everywhere. On many days Canada has less than 10 coronavirus deaths compared to several hundred and more recently as many as 1,500 a day in the US.
Our schools are opening on the Island and the same can’t be said in much of the United States or many countries around the world.
Perhaps we need a shift in thinking to consider what a growing influx of permanent residents from around the country and the world could mean to our Island life.
We need more white elephants in the age of the pandemic
Story and photos by Jim Brown
It’s truly astonishing how a global pandemic will free up tax dollars for white elephants.
Two new arenas, in North Rustico and Tyne Valley (replacing a building lost to fire), both costing upwards of $10 million, have been announced in the blazing heat of early July. All three levels of government are sharing the cost.
In the case of North Rustico the new arena will replace the 50-year-old North Star Arena. The new arena will feature an Olympic sized rink surface in a community with a population of barely 600 souls, according to the 2016 census. There are, of course, hundreds of other potential users from neighboring communities, but it still doesn’t seem like enough people to make this ambitious project practical.
But what if there is something else we can take from this? What if, instead of criticizing governments for this huge cash outlay on two small communities, we instead look at what the investment represents – a return to some semblance of normalcy.
What price do we place on restoring Canadians’ faith in our institutions and our resilience in the face of a darkening shadow that is engulfing the civilized world?
Twenty million dollars is a small rounding error in an unimaginably large federal deficit of $345 billion, nearly six times the size of the largest to date.
Many Canadians, even those blessed to live on this enchanted island province where less than 40 cases of COVID-19 have been recorded, are burdened with the crushing realization that things will never return to golden age that preceded the pandemic.
Will our children ever go back to school for six or seven hours a day and not be confronted by educators and others wearing face masks? Will we be able to walk into restaurants and grocery stores, pharmacies, banks and other businesses without seeing signs to separate ourselves at least six feet from others, or clerks barricaded behind plexiglass barriers?
It seems so quaint now to think of a time when kids practiced 20 aside in small town rinks, fired shots off the boards, rushed the length of the ice to score on a breakaway.
There is a gnawing fear gripping the land, even in a country with less than four per cent of the cases of that giant behemoth to the south. Canada is becoming smaller before our eyes, shrinking to the size of a community or even a neighborhood. Many of us have greeted anyone travelling to PEI from outside the province with a wary suspicion. ‘Plate shaming’ has become a thing as we try to protect ourselves against sources of possible infection.
Why is a new rink so important: an arena with an Olympic-sized ice surface? Why do we need more arenas when there are already 3,000 across the country and participation was falling in ice hockey even before the pandemic?
Of course the new North Rustico arena isn’t just about hockey. A new fitness centre and walking track is planned as well as other bells and whistles and environmentally friendly features. It will be fully accessible and there will be lots of space available for large gatherings of all kinds, when and if they become safe again.
Many of us feel as if we are trapped in a science-fiction writer’s nightmare dystopian vision and we need hope that it will all end eventually. We need to be building things, to be dreaming of something larger than ourselves.
Even if they turn out to be white elephants.
Cavendish tourist operators suffering
By Jim Brown
It is almost impossible to contemplate the level of misery of Cavendish area business operators – cut off from their lifeblood of tourists during the pandemic.
Unless the bridge opens soon and some sense of normalcy is returned to the business community, the situation could get very dire, warned the Resort Municipality’s mayor, Matthew Jelley, at the June 15 monthly council meeting.
“If that bridge doesn’t open soon there are going to be businesses that are already open that are going to have closings, because results are going to be quite low. There is (also) the possibility that public health could pull the rug out from under us any day, which is part of where the stress is coming from and businesses would have to close for two weeks again or longer after just getting ready to open.”
Councillor Linda Lowther, who is helping to coordinate the Island Walk, aimed at drawing more Islanders to struggling tourist operators, says she’s heard from hundreds of business owners from North Cape to East Point and “it’s a pretty depressing picture. Every second or third day people who thought they would be interested are calling and saying ‘I’m not opening this year.’ It’s really, really, bad. I don’t think people understand how bad it is.”
Linda, whose family makes an effort every week to dine at Cavendish area eateries, urged other Islanders to get out and support local restaurants and other businesses.
The Cavendish community is probably the most tourism reliant municipality in all of Atlantic Canada, said another councillor.
Mayor Jelley said he is working on a Mayor’s Tourism Roundtable, which would provide desperately needed resources, advice and mentoring to struggling local operators.
Tourism dependent businesses run by newcomers have been hard hit by the pandemic, as have everyone else in the area, but there are owners who don’t know about government programs that provide subsidies to cover employees’ wages, making it easier to reopen during difficult economic times, said councillors.
They expressed a desire to reach out to those operators whose first language isn’t English and who may still be out of province and unable to return.
Festivals are a big part of the tourist season in the resort municipality, but the business community has been reeling after the cancellation of many major events such as Cavendish Beach Music Festival (CBMF). Negotiations are underway to bring a scaled down version of Anne of Green Gables from the Confederation Centre to CBMF grounds and with the event held outdoors and restrictions placed on attendance and strong physical distancing regulations in place, the risk of coronavirus transmission is greatly reduced.
Mayor Jelley said the Anne of Green Gables opportunity and others may “start to turn the tide and we might see some positive announcements.”
But it’s been a terrible run of bad news lately for Island operators.
Over the previous week “We’ve seen the postponement or cancellation of The Festival of Spirits, the International Shellfish Festival and the Fall Flavours,” said Mayor Jelley.
There is no excuse for ignorance or racism
By Zane Affa
Zane Affa is an Island artist working in North Granville.
It’s odd that when I explain to my white friends or acquaintances examples of discrimination I have gone through in my life they are downplayed or negated. They see it as my perception being off.
The subtlety of racism is that it can be interpreted differently depending on your life experiences. That doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t hear what is being said by someone who’s suffered from it.
My experiences with racism have been so subverted that it’s led me to distrust my own feelings. Just because someone says something that doesn’t cross the line into hate speech, doesn’t mean it should be dismissed.
I remember my father telling me that when he first came to Canada in the 1950’s to go to university and was looking for a room to rent, he was often told the room was gone, even though the ‘For Rent’ sign was still in view. He told them to take the sign down.
In the 1960’s, when I was in elementary school, I was singled out for punishment even though white kids did the same thing with no repercussions.
In the 1970’s my parents joined a golf club where at one time our family was referred to as the “black” Websters. Whereas the other family was never called the “white” Websters.
In the 1980’s my mother went shopping during a grocery worker strike and when she crossed the line she was told to go back to where she came from. She told them to go back to where they came from.
As a privileged person of colour I’ve had less interaction with the police than most people of colour and that interaction had been positive. I’ve lived in mostly white neighborhoods where there is less of a police presence. That doesn’t mean that I don’t fear what could happen to me when I speak up for my rights or see examples of what could happen to someone like me when faced with someone who hates the colour of my skin.
I’m followed in stores, have to listen silently while family members of all colours make racist comments or jokes regarding marginalized people, including their own.
When I worked with white people who never or rarely spoke to me and something happened to do with black people doing something they didn’t like, instead of educating themselves on why they felt this way, I was automatically singled out in order to reinforce their white view of the world. Not only did I have to do my job well, I also had to be the person who was responsible for making their white experience safer. I usually just kept my mouth shut and my head down in order not to be targeted.
Was it racism or just ignorance? There is no excuse for ignorance any more than there is an excuse for racism.
When you are a person of colour in society ruled by the race of another, colour is ALWAYS an issue.
These last couple of weeks has taught me a lot – like most people, I am still a work in progress and still learning. I’ve come to realize that I am also part of the problem, in my past re-telling of racist, sexist and gay jokes. No matter how harmless they may seem, they make a whole group of people the “other”.
As human beings we can choose to behave morally or not. All of us.
Peace and justice for all!
Some of Zane’s views of the world can be found at AffasViews.ca.
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